I have some questions. I just bought a Dana 80, and it all seems to be in good shape, gears look perfect, and pinion to ring gear mesh feels great, but the pinion bearings feel like they are gone to me. The shaft is a little wobbly and wants to move in and out some. My question is, how hard is it to just redo the pinion gears, and put it back together. Im pretty sure I could probably just put new bearings in it, and then shim it back up exactly how it came out when I put it back together. This should work fine, right? The pinion bearings would be causing the ina nd out play of the pinion gear, right? Any help is appreciated. Guess im gonna fix this one, and then sell my 70 when I get this one right.

Eric

 

Easy just pull the axels then the cover pull the 4 bolts that hold the ring gear and with a big pry bar pry the carrier out be sure to keep the shims seperate on both sides take the nut off the front of the pinion and it will fall out. Check the book for pinion spaceing

 

At what point did you feel your Dana 70 wasnt up to the task? I figured it could take a pretty good beating.

-Dustin-

 

Well, I busted my last 70's ring and pinion, and I just feel like the 80 will be stronger for pulling and drag racing. The 70's like to snap the pinion shaft with much power sled pulling.

Eric

 

I see that now, I ended up digging into old threads and finding yours on that topic. Maybe I'll track one down.

PS You've posted some very informative thrads, I read a bunch today when I got stuck in the office. I learned alot and I'm changing up a few different things due to what you found. So thanks man for posting up alot of your experiences and info.

-Dustin-

 

It really just depends on what you are doing with the truck. John Porterfield is running a Dana 70, and he has a 900hp daily driver 12 valve(11 sec 1/4) that he drag races some. But they seem to not like pulling as well.

I appreciate the kind words. I try to post anything i find that might help someone else out in the future. I dont have a lot done to my truck, but im working on it as i can, and learning things as i go with a lot of trial and error.

Eric

 

I busted my D70 just accelerating hard

D80 is waiting to go in.

 

I was coasting when my old one busted