I have a 74 with stock axels I put ARB and 4.88 gears in them .I just picked up a 85 chevy 1 ton 4x4 with dana 60 front and back has hyd brack booster in it also.and I do have a spring over in it.Can some of you with the dana 60 s in your`s tell me how much you narrow them?I also have a mini truck disc brake set up in front.I just but in alot of $$$$ to get it set up like that but dana 60s oh,oh,oh.I think thats how Tool Time Tims say`s it would be sweet.One more thing the motor is a 383 just rebuilt oh,oh, oh.

Go 64-62 inches if you are sprung over 64in. will be perfect (nise and stable but not to wide)

The thing to do for the least amount of money is to stick them under your rig full width and use Hummer Beadlocks to suck the tires in.

I run 62" axles and 10" wheels with 3" backspacing and 14.5" tires for an overall width of 79".

My buddy put full width D60's under his truck with Hummer beadlocks and 15" tires and he is 79".

Difference? He spent $2500 and I spent $10,000.:(

how wide is the stock set up ?

that should be a 14 bolt on the rear, not a dana 60. just make sure you do some grinding on the hook area and never worry about snaping a rear axle. mike

I agree with Nolen that the cheapest solution is to leave the Danas full width. I don't particularly like the Hummer wheels, so that option is not the best in my personal opinion.

The next easiest solution is to narrow the long side of the front by 4.5". This allows you to keep the Cruisers springs in their current location (i.e., not outboard them). Front D60s used in GM trucks are 69" wide, so this yields a front width of 64.5". IMO this width works well with 3-4" backspacing in the wheels. My rear D60HD is 65" wide, so I don't have to do any narrowing on it. That axle was a great find -- a full floating, 1.5", 35-spline D60 with the perfect width for only $200. With a locker and new gears, I will have less than $800 in my D60 rear.:)

Medusa,
What kind of doner did you find that D60 from?

I was curious how long it would take before I was asked that question.;) My HD came out of a '72 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup. I am not sure that info will be all that valuable because in my experience the use of the HDs does not appear to be at all systematic.:mad3:

Almost any 3/4 Ford has a Dana 60 rear.

I agree with Medusa for the front - another option for the rear is the cab and chassis dually 14 bolt - it is 63" wide - and no, you dont have to run dually rims:D To improve the clearance shave the bottom of the center section.

Landcrusher,
The stock offset cruiser rearend is 55" WTW/
My frontend w/ toy disks is 56.5" WTW

Sooo...going full width up front would be 12.5" wider than I am right now:eek:

Going full width on the rear would be 10" wider than your stock rearend:eek:

You're gonna be pretty wide. Take a look at WOLF359 if you want to see a BIG CRUISER!

After going Full Width all I can say is "I Love It",,,,
69" Front 60
67" 14 bolt

Does this seem wide??? Wait until you side hill then answer that question.

Here is what My Cruiser looks like with Full Widths,,, Do you think it looks wide?

One more:D

Ok another question if I narrow the front long side by 4.5" and I do want to keep the stock spring set up.Will the 3rd member line up with the stock 3 sp transfercase?And what about the rear end it is a dually rear end can I cut the long side down to stay with the 3 sp t-case ? If so how much?Or do you think it would be better just to stay with the 465 tranny and 205 t-case that is in the doner truck.I have the 420 and 3 speed case in it at this time thanks for the help.

i am thinking about doing the exact same thing, dana 60's under my 71 fj40. And i am really interested in what to do about the rear because i have an H55F with the offset transfercase. How well does the rear line up if i was to find a 69" axel and cut it down on the right side, how offset is the stock axel? And am i correct if i was to say that by cuting down the front 4.5 in on the long side that the spring perches will line up, how about the driveshaft, does that line up? Can you please post some pics of cruisers with 65" axels.

Thanks

I wouldn't recommend keeping your stock t-case if your putting in dana 60s. Your aluminum t-case will be your weak link and I know that people rip them in half once in a while.

I've had friends put front dana 60s in their vehicles (cjs or fjs) and have front driveline/oil pan clearance problems cause the pumpkin on a front 60 is so large that the pinion flange sits about a couple inches further towards the center of the vehicle than a dana 44 or a cruiser front diff does.

Swap in a 205 if you can. 71RCKCRUIZER did this and made a plate to clock the 205. He said this actually helped with driveline clearance.

If you are set on keeping the stock t-case and want a dana 60 rear then you could probably just shorten one side about 10 inches. Your t-case output and rear pinion don't have to be perfectly in line...just parallel on both X and Y axis.

For my front dana 60 ( 88 ford) I had the tubes swapped and cut 8 inches out of the long side to get to 61 WMS to WMS, this is on the narrow side of what most people seem to do, 61 - 65. In the rear I got a Dynatrac housing, 1 month before the Terra 60 came out ::( . Another thing to consider is driveline angle in the back, there is a reason Dynatrac is getting ~ 500 for there hi angle option the there 60's. I don't know if the 14 bolt have a pionion oiling issue where you tilt them up in the 18 -24 degree range.
I live in So. Cal and I have to drive it to and fro which means I have POLICE problems if I get too wide. The transfer case in my rig is ATLAS II, but a 203-205 would have work for a FJ wagon, or even FrostyFJ's 105" wheel base cruiser. I would not want a stock case in a rig with 60's simply cause of the wonder factor. I wonder when I'm going to spread this damn case all over the trail, I know it will happen.

I don't know if the 14 bolt have a pionion oiling issue where you tilt them up in the 18 -24 degree range.

FYI, My pinion angle is at 26 degrees and at this point I have had no problem with oiling,,, I have added two qt's of Lucus (sp?), that is some thick, sticky shiat,,,,

Shawn,

If your experience is average then that is a very good reason to go 14 Bolt. I was talking with gearman about the how to avoid a pinon bearing burn up, as best i can recall a 17 degree was pushing the comfort level for a RC 60 that was a driver. But everyone has heard of burn ups @ 13 degrees and life at 25 degrees. A loose factory on pinion preload sure helps extend life on break in of the diff.

Do you ever get questioned about the tire exposure? If not rock on and side hill away. By the way what is the rear driveline length and what is the wheel base??

Originally posted by krcruiser
Shawn,

If your experience is average then that is a very good reason to go 14 Bolt. I was talking with gearman about the how to avoid a pinon bearing burn up, as best i can recall a 17 degree was pushing the comfort level for a RC 60 that was a driver. But everyone has heard of burn ups @ 13 degrees and life at 25 degrees. A loose factory on pinion preload sure helps extend life on break in of the diff.

Do you ever get questioned about the tire exposure? If not rock on and side hill away. By the way what is the rear driveline length and what is the wheel base??

Hummm,, how to answer this question,,,,
If your experience is average then that is a very good reason to go 14 Bolt.

I would like to know what this statment means.

Simple I talk with 100 guys and I get roughly the same answer from 70 it's a pretty good chance I will have similar results. Nothing negative intended I was was really surprised that a rear end would survive at that angle and I was curious if a lot of other 14 bolt owners had the same experience. I know as a D60 owner I would be VERY nervous to run the pionion angle up that high.

the tire comment means just curious if the cops hassle you about the stick out, ie are the cops in UTAH cool and look the other way.

Wheel Base 97"
Rear shaft 23"
Cops,,,, Not as much as I expected, over the summer I was only pulled over once, and he just said to cover up the tires and let me go.

When I first did this conversion I to was verry nervus about the degree of the pinion. But after 6-7 trails countless trips to work, a 500 mile trip to Moab. I'd say it holding up purty good,,
Oh, and I have No Drive Line Vib:D

What I was trying to say in my post was that I'm verry happy with the way the Crusier works off road. Off camber issuse are nothing any more.

I love my Full Widths and would put them up against any thing any day.

I saw four 3 speed tcase crack in half this summer with cruiser running gear. I am taking mine out and putting a split case behind my SM420. I know it going to take 5" +/- adapter but it solves two problems, the weak tcase and the rear crossmember support when you run a V8 (hate it like Ben Laden).

So...my point is, if I were putting in heeeaavy axles, I would not set them up around a 3 speed case.

I see alot of guys running a 2.7 dana 300 with that setup.

My -0.02 cents.

Kman

so what do you guys think about the t-case that comes behind the H55F, am i going to blow it to peices? What T-case do you recomend that is affordable and can be adapted. I was told marlin makes gears for my t-case, is this true (or even worth it). I would like to get to the 100:1 range or lower. From what it sound like i should go 14 bolt in the rear?Thanks for all the great advice.

The split style tcase is stronger case wise and gear wise. A toy 5 speed should have a good split case behind it. I think the lowest set of gears you can get is around 3:1 and they are mucho $$$$$.

If you want to stay offset than a split case is good....I don't know about 100:1 though.

If you are going center dump with a GM rear axle than I might look into selling that 5 speed setup.

mmmmm....SM465 mated to an atlas case.....with heavy axles....
that is a serious setup.

6.54*4.3*4.10 = 115 close to what you want

It is easy to dream after eating all this food

Kman

as much as i want to get a nice setup, atlas t-case. My problem is i don't have a lot to spend. I need to keep this as cheap as possible. would an 80's t-case bolt up to my tranny so i could run dual split t-cases? Give me guidence

Not sure about that....I think 1985+ tcase. I would post this question to get this answer.

good luck

Nolen with the atlas t-case is your rear 3rd member centered and did you narrow it on both sides.I have never seen an atlas but I would think the front is off center still so did you narrow both sides on it?and are the springs in stock location? thanks for the help