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Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Dana 60 Hub removal and converison to Ford Knuckles

533K views 715 replies 159 participants last post by  NorCalJalopy 
#1 · (Edited)
So all in the efforts to avoid replacing a wheel bearing and stop the death wobble, I converted my 97 Dodge cummins knuckles to 92/93 Ford knuckles.




Place two pickle forks behind the rotor and hit it really really really hard and it'll come off!




Me setting up the ball joint installation/removal tool

My techinique for pressing the ball joints in and out. =] Gotta put my whole body into it!

Dodge Knuckle off, time for ford knuckle!!!
 
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#239 · (Edited)
You can see in the first pic the bolt at the about 2 o clock position was the stock Ford hole, but had to be widened out toward the outside of the spindle(the edge) and the bolt around 4 oclock was another Ford hole, but had to be widened up toward the other(2oclock). For this reason, I stepped up in bolt size just to be safe, not that I was that worried. As far as difficulty, this was pretty straight forward for a novice, Im no fabricator
 
#240 ·
Ive got a few Ford 60's laying around but have been scared to try this exact swap.:laughing: Do you have any pictures of how you ground the caliper mounting tabs? Will it still have room when the brake pads wear? I'm sure the bolt holes will be fine, most of the load will be held by the friction of the spindle to the hub. Also, you kept the Dodge rotors, ive heard some people using the Ford rotors for the swap, is there a reason you went with the dodge rotors? Or would the ford ones of worked? Thanks, Matt
 
#242 ·
Has anyone compared these ball joint outer parts with the kingpin style? Besides redrilling the GM spindles for 4 holes, what other critical issues are there going this route? I'd be using ONLY the GM wheel hub, rotor, stub shaft & locking hub to mate up w/ the rest of the Dodge outer assembly.
 
#244 ·
I thought my '79 kingpin Ford stuff was 10.9" but I can't swear to that, and I think the bj are different.

check broncograveyard, they list specs in their by-application stuff if I recall right.
 
#248 ·
I'm going to take a shot at putting this all in one post, but if I'm wrong, correct me so I can edit and have the answer in one post.

92-97 Ford BJ D60 w/ knuckles: transfer ALL parts knuckles out + stubs
92-97 Ford BJ D60 w/o knucks: xfer spindles out(less stubs),redrill spindles, use 79 stubs
Dana 50 TTB: xfer spindles out (less stubs), redrill spindles, use 79 stubs

I'm not 100% on the stubs. I remember the D50 needs the older KP D60 stubs for the extra length, not sure about the spindle out conversion on the 92-97 D60.
 
#253 ·
The Ford D60 stubs are interchangeable for pre-92 kingpin and post-93 ball joint D60s, correct? Are the hubs and spindles interchangeable as well?

I'm starting to compile my conversion on my new DD:
Already have a set of used 96 lockouts and stubs ($50 shipped)

Waiting to order:
- set of new spindles 95-97 ($200 shipped w/ new bearings)
- set of used hubs pre-93 ($100 + shipping)

Hoping to get this done for under $500 w/ new ball-joints and reuse my rotors to keep the thicker Ram rotor. Do the hubs interchange?
 
#258 ·
what about hubs and spindles being the same on KP & BJ?? I knew about the stubs. Thanks! I'm not a Ford guy, so this is all Greek to me....
 
#259 · (Edited)
Ford D60 Hubs and spindles are the same 70-97. Only thing different among the ford dana 60's is the inner axle shaft lengths and the kp / bj knuckles everything else is the same. 78-79 Dana 60 had spring perch mounts 32" on center. Later year's had 36" on center. Inner shaft differences was due to the diff offset.


A few pages back Nascarfreak posted up some pics of the differences between TTB d50 vs D60
 
#260 ·
The brake size, caliper, and bracket all changed through the years as well.

Using RockAuto for reference, here's the caliper breakdown:
76-79 twin piston caliper
80-85 twin piston caliper
76-85 use the same caliper hardware kit, probably same bracket

[here's the kingpin to balljoint year break]

86-88 twin piston caliper
88-94 twin piston caliper
86-94 use the same caliper hardware kit, probably same bracket

[on to bigger brakes for '95]

95-97 twin piston caliper, completely different floating pin type mount with 2 bolt mounting - also used on E-350/450 through '07 in some applications

78-94 12.56" rotor
95-97 13" rotor
 
#265 · (Edited)
Your year break is off. 86-91 were still kingpin front ends.

Different manufacturers listed different year breaks for rotors. There was some pad weirdness not lining up with caliper year breaks too - most odd of all was a mid-'91 year break for pads that Bronco Graveyard lists.

I have to assume that there may be some different hat heights and thicknesses to go with pad, caliper, and bracket differences. I'd suggest matching the rotor and pads to whatever year your calipers are from...

Maybe someone with better data than RockAuto, or more time to sift through dimensioned drawings there, could break down the friction parts better.
91 year break makes sense, as 91 was the last year for Fords Kingpin front axles. so 91.5 would be a balljoint axle.
 
#261 ·
and the rotors changed as well if I remember. Most people use the 76-79 1.25" thick rotor as it does not need a spacer, but is .25" narrower meaning you have to watch pad wear to avoid possible piston blow out.

The Dodge rotor will press onto the Ford hub, but you have to add a spacer to align with the bracket.

I have the 79 rotors on my EMS conversion and I always feel nervous about them. Wondering if it would be worth the extra time and cost to put the OEM rotors w/ a spacer instead.
 
#262 ·
Different manufacturers listed different year breaks for rotors. There was some pad weirdness not lining up with caliper year breaks too - most odd of all was a mid-'91 year break for pads that Bronco Graveyard lists.

I have to assume that there may be some different hat heights and thicknesses to go with pad, caliper, and bracket differences. I'd suggest matching the rotor and pads to whatever year your calipers are from...

Maybe someone with better data than RockAuto, or more time to sift through dimensioned drawings there, could break down the friction parts better.
 
#268 ·
To ask another question...on one of the first pages, someone mentioned they did this swap on a dually...or at least I'm assuming it was, since he mentioned having to run a new spacer for the rim to clear. Since all the parts are coming off of a Ford F350, could I just run a stock Ford F350 DRW spacer for the front, to clear my rim?
 
#269 ·
Exactly what I'm planning to do, Dennhop. Trying to get parts together this week (and failing at not having to spend $$$ to do so, so far)
 
#270 ·
I built a Dana 60 to replace the one in my 96 Ram. I got the axle swapped in yesterday. I installed the EMS one piece axle shaft on the RH side. Now, I want to get rid of the vacuum switch and hoses that activate the CAD. Is there an electric switch that will replace the vacuum switch on the transfer case that will turn on the 4WD light that is in the dash?
 
#273 · (Edited)
The Late 02 trucks had Non-cad axles and used an electric switch instead of the vacuum switch. The wires running to the switch are part of the main harness on my 02. I'm not sure where the 4wd light is triggered on the CAD trucks.

The electric switch from the 3rd gen gen 271 transfer case will screw into the hole on the 241 transfer case but I think you have to shim the switch to make it work properly.

I know the 241 switch screws into the 271 transfer case. And I've been told that you have to shim the switch to get it to work. I really don't know about using the newer switch on the older transfer case.

My switch quit working before I swapped transfer cases and mine is a manual shift so I never fixed it.
 
#271 ·
the dash light is extremely important, keep in mind that if it doesn't light up your 4wd isn't working. Always be sure the bulb isn't burnt out!
 
#275 ·
1992-97 Ford F350 Dana 60 for knuckles out (95-97 being the better brakes)

1980-97 Ford F250 TTB Dana 50 or some F350 1980-86 for spindles out - no knuckles
 
#279 ·
Ok.. so I found a 96 Ford f250 give locking hubs. 8 lug.. what can i. From this? And whats the breakdown of parts.. what's the differance is knuckle and spindle? I know stub shaft, and ball joint.. but still
Being from NY has nothing to do with this. We don't speak "Two Brain-Cell Idiot" here. Rear that shit, it makes no sense. Don't fuck up this good tech thread with a bunch of nonsense. If you have a question that hasn't been answered, then ask it intelligently so everyone can understand it. Stop huffing your boyfriend's ass and make some goddamn sense.
 
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