I am looking to put a Dana 60 in the front of my '96 Z-71 and I've read the ones to use come from a Ford 250 or 350 because they have the driver side diff. What years should I be looking for?? Are some years better then others?? Also don't Fords use coils in the front? If so what does it take to put spring perches on the axle?

Thanks.

Dont know bout the driver side diff(mine is on the passenger side), but anybody who can weld can put spring purches on the housing for ya.

ford used coils on 1/2 ton 4x4s not 1 tons

I have a 1978 RC Dana 60 out of a 1978 f250 HD in mine, it uses leaf springs and the perches are the perfect width for this swap, 62" which puts your spring mounts just inside the frame rails and gives you no tire rub on the springs. You can get these axles I believe on 78-79 f250 HD and f350's. I think other years had different spring perch widths and requires more screwing around to make them work. Good luck finding one though, they're getting pretty hard to find and they arent cheap.

id look for a 77-79 250 HD or 350 dana 60. im using a97 f-350 60 and have problems with the tire rubbing on thesprings at full turn. i run 38.5x16 tsl's on 16.5x12 eagles with 4 5/8" BS. a 1" spacer might solve it but the lugs hit the spring pretty good. ive also had some problems with the tire hitting the frame but thats not that bd.

Just a note...

Don't head off to the boneyard and expect a 78-79 "F250HD" to be staring back at you. The Dana 60 front was optioned separately as the "snowfighter" package. I've yet to see an F250 with any markings indicating the D60 - get under there with a scraper to dig out the "60" cast into the webbing.

My buddy's 79 F250 crewcab came with a HP44 - not a 60 (much to his surprise)

I have the axle you seek. 79 ford dana 60 front. in for sale section.

Montzer: Are the spring perches really 62" from what I have seen it should be 32 1/2" ?? How did you install yours?? Did you use ORU's kit?? What does ti take to hook the direveshaft up and waht do you have to do with the steering??

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to get all the info I can. I want to do this swap next winter. I also found a D60 right now and I'd like to buy it when I know for sure it will work without too much extra effort.

Thanks

That was a typo they're 32"(32.5 to be exact), sorry for the confusion. :rasta:

No I didnt go with ORU's kit, a little pricey. The front mounts were fabbed up and welded to the frame, the shackle hangers are modified rear shackle hangers(you can get them from the dealer) cut to fit.

The driveshaft for my rig had to be custom made, the factory one doesn't move up and down enough (its made to stay in one place all the time) and I needed a fairly high angle shaft because of the lift (9") and plenty of slip because of the use of drop away shackles. And an adapter plate will have to be made to mount it to your t-case (it uses a round bolt on flange instead of a normal yoke) Just a warning it wont be cheap! Try giving Jess (onetoncv) at High angle drivelines a call he can hook you up

For steering I went with a simple crossover system. You'll need to find a pitman arm and buy a steering arm. The pitman I went with is for a jeep YJ and it was reamed to fit the tapers on the rodends I'm using(the pitman seems a little short, I lost some turning radius, you might want to find another application). Try to get the same length steering arm as your pitman arm center to center, I'm currently in the proccess of making a new set of highsteer arms with the proper offset. I made my draglink out of 1.25" DOM tubing with .875" threaded rod ends, the lefthand tap for the one end was to hard to find so I had a buddy turn the inside threads on his lathe.

Good luck with he swap, its worth it. A little advice, plan on paying a lot more than you expected, when you put the word "custom" in front of anything the price goes up big time.

I thought the 771/2 - '79 Fords were 31.5" spring spacing? Can you verify the 32.5 for the Ford? I think the Chevy 60 is 32" and the Dodge is 32.5? Are these numbers right?

Also, I swapped the front input shaft on my NP241 with one from a Dodge. Got rid of the "flange" and put a standard yoke on. Gained about 3" or front driveshaft length and it's 32 spline so the standard NP yokes will work. I just picked up a core np243 from a '97 or newer Chevy truck with the electronic shift. It has a fixed front yoke also. I haven't torn it down to see if the shaft is interchaneable with the 241 but I'd be really surprised if it's not. Using the standard yoke will allow you to use 1310 or 1330 U joint. I think there is a 1350 and 1410 yoke also but I don't know for sure.

I will be finding out in the next few weeks because I'm sick of breaking 1310's.

Originally posted by lt1yj
Can you verify the 32.5 for the Ford? Are these numbers right?Yup the one I have is 32.5"

Also, I swapped the front input shaft on my NP241 with one from a Dodge. Got rid of the "flange" and put a standard yoke on.
Interesting, never thought of that. What they did on mine was make a flange plat and weld a yoke onto it, it uses 1350 ujoints at both ends, work pretty well. I plan on putting in a doubler later on so it'll work for now.