HOHN

I saw this and thought this would be a sweet kit for those of use who don't have the CAD. I don't know much about this stuff, but it appears to me that a manual hub conversion would be great for a couple reasons:
1) Better mpg
2) option for 2wd low if you don't have CAD

Anyone have more info?--jh

shawn085

If I remeber right it also gives you servicable wheel bearings. The kit will work with the CAD axels and with ABS. I would get it right now if it wasn't so much money. I need to save up for a Smarty

LanceD

I wanted to do that to mine but instead I bought me a D60 out of a 95 Ford F-350. I paid 800 for the axle, 40 bucks for some coil brackets off a dana44, 130 bucks for some nice braided brake lines (different fitting). I ended up putting new ball joints in it and all new seals just to make sure it was good. measured my stock axle for placement of the brackets and welded them on. then I pulled the stocker out, and put the new one in in a few hours, some benifits of doing this instead of the dynatrack kit is you get hi pinion, you get a 1 piece passenger side axle shaft and tube, serviceable wheel bearings, more options for lockers/gears, 35 spline inner axle shafts, dual piston calipers. here is a link to all of my pictures: AXLE PICS

Stamey

Lance,
WOW!!!

How about a list of parts, and sources for those parts. I'd love to do that to my trucks.
How did you calculate the exact positioning of the brackets?
Did you have to get the tracking arm brackets off another Dodge, or did you cut them off your old axle, or what?
Was it difficult to match the gear, or are they exactly the same since it is a D-60?

Thanks,
Chris

G1625S

That's sweet! In order of coolness (according to ME)
--dual piston calipers
--35 spline
--hi-pinion
--etc-etc
Way cool!

rush47

The dynatrac kit is nice but expensive. It gives you the wide separation of the wheel bearings which is good for big tires. Also it upgrades your axles to 35 spline just like the good old days had.

Nice conversion with the ford front axle. And I just happen to have a 93 ford dana 60 in my shop back home. Idea's.

bwillard

How close is the width of the late Ford D60 to the Dodge D60? I believe the older ('78-'79) single wheel Ford D60 is only 69" WMS to WMS and our Dodge trucks is around 78"?

LanceD

no its not that much different, I think mine was only 1 inch shorter from the WMS, maybe 1.5 I forget but it aint much. Someone told me the pumpkin is farther toward the drivers side, but its only an inch or so. The inner Cs where the ball joints are sit farther in because the hub design takes up more space so that required trimming the brackets around the Cs and welding them to the Cs, which I think makes it sronger anyways. And for the brackets I just found a guy selling a broke D44 from a half ton dodge on ebay, bid 30 bucks for it and emailed him and asked him to just chop the tubes where the brackets were attached. then I torched them off the tube and cut them in half so I could weld them easily to my new axle. here are pics of the brackets and stuff:

Brackets after I torched them off the axle tubes:


Here are the brake lines I got. I got them from www.extremecrawlers.com basically just called them and told them the axle side needed to be for a ford f350 and the frame side needed to be for dodge. you can get any length you want too.:


I bought these to help align the brackets, but only used the one on the right, I made a tool to measure the caster of the axle so I could weld the brackets on in the right spot so when it bolted up the caster would be close enough to adjust it:


basically just line up the ends of the bolts on the centerline of each ball joint, then put the angle protractor on the straight edge of the flat steel and it will tell you what degrees you have. I pretty much measured my brackets angle in relation to the caster and transferred it to the new axle.

Another thing you will have to do is shorten your drag link and tie rod a tad. I think I chopped an inch and a half off or so. it wasn't much.

it took me a while to get the axle ready to go in, but my truck was only out of commision for about 3 hours to put in the new axle. carefull planning and measuring twice or more was critical. I even had to buy some bigger 4 link bolts from the dealership because the brackets I got came from an 01 which has bigger bolts. I just bought new bottom ones and moved my stock bottom bolts to the top.


I also welded the track bar nut to the back of the bracket because once the bracket is welded on the axle you can not get the nut in because it is welded halfway on the Cs. here are pictures from what it looked like when I bought it and through the welding process and finally after letting it rust for 2 weeks in the rain, I applied POR15 to it.

LanceD

in this picture you can see how far over the coil spring will sit, it almost sits right on top of the ball joint. you can also see that half the bracket is welded to the spring perch.

LanceD

Out with the old: also a side note if you have dual shocks like this, you can't use the one on the outside of the spring, there isn't enough room on the bottom for it.


in with the new 3 hours later:


it works great! Another benifit I left out is you will have 2wd low if you don't lock the hubs in 4lo, haha.




here is the old axle driveshaft angle:


compare with the new and improved driveshaft angle:


hope this helps anyone looking to do it. another guy I know used a kingpin axle but he had to move his coil buckets inward to clear the kingpins. I think this axle is the same in any F350 from 92-99 I believe. It came with 4.10 gears so I bought some 410s for my rear end to match. If any of you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask.

LanceD

oh yeah I didn't mean to hijack the thread but I can't see spending whatever crazy amount that dynatrac charges for that kit and I wouldn't want to see any of you guys either when this offers so much more benefits and cost. Plus it probably takes less time to install once its put together.

Stamey

Lance,
That is truly an amazing job. I just hope I can get up enough gumption do do it to mine. I'd like all the advantages you mentioned in your threads. I have always believed that a smart driver will know if there is a possibility of needing 4x4, so he'd lock the hubs before-hand, and only need to pull the shifter inside the truck if it was actually needed.
Were there any issues with the fit of the tie-rod ends? I'd think the tapers woudl eb the same, but you never know.
What about mileage? Have you seen any noticable increase in mileage since the switch?

Thanks for the great information,
Chris

LanceD

I agree about locking the hubs before you need them. I can't comment on the tie rod ends fitting or not because of the custom steering setup I had made before, it uses 3/4 inch bolts instead of tie rod ends so I just drilled out the knuckles. you could always go to auto zone and ask them to see a tie rod end for a ford and a dodge and compare them. Can't comment on the mileage either because my tranny is junk and I get bad mileage with it messed up.

HOHN

Wow-- thanks so much Lance.

Too bad I have not the knowledge, tools, or facilities to pull off such a swap. It's definitely better than stock in all regards: strength, pinion angle, bearing/hubs, etc.

How much do you charge???? hehehe