Hey Guys,

Well, it now looks like I have a Dana 61 instead of a dana 60.

Aw man! I bought all of my parts for it thinking it was a dana 60.

What's the difference? Can I get some good parts for it?

I entered the dana part number at the web site and they told me it was a dana 61 for under a e350. Here's my dana part number: 60502213.

Advise, guys!

Adam

okay - i just got done making my old dana 61 (new ) into my new dana 60- buy a dana 60 and don't bother trying to convert your 61 into something it cannot be - i spent 10 hours on mine thne realized well it had issues on ring and pinion contact with my 4:56 gear ratio- no contact what so ever - needed a .250 spacer and that's plain rediculas - so please spend your time on a real 60 - hope this helps- Jess

61 is a semi floater right?

I think all of them came under the vans...so naturally you got the E350 result...

SUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that blows, 61 is so uncool. but id seriously re do it and get a regular 60 , as jess said, making something it is not is so much work and usually doesnt work! jiMMy

I've spent hours reading the archives on this, as I have a 61 sitting in my garage. Do a search and you'll find quite a few threads on it with generally coinciding information. The *supposed* big benefit to running the 61 is that the spindles are *supposed* to already have an inner diameter large enough to fit 1 1/2" 35 spline shafts through them, saving you the trouble of boring the spindles out. Dana 60 gears and diffs can be used, but like Jesse said, a spacer is required, and there's conflicting info as to how thick a spacer will work.

Now, I say *supposed* above regarding the spindles, because my 61, verified by the BOM #, tube diameter, housing beef, etc., has the smaller ID spindles. First one I've ever heard of, but for anyone who cares:

BE AWARE THAT NOT ALL 61'S HAVE THE LARGER ID SPINDLES.

I am currently looking for a 60 to build, which would most likely give you the least amount of grief as well.

Originally posted by reddwarf
61 is a semi floater right?

I think all of them came under the vans...so naturally you got the E350 result...

There might be some out there, but all the 61's I've heard of or seen have been FF.

You might not want to give up yet. Like Jess I got and wasted some time on a 61. Like Ryan says they don't all have big spindles, however, mine did so I could use 35 spline axles. You might want to check yours. Finding a cheap small spindle 60 was easy and I had the ends grafted on to the width of my choice. To make the disc conversion work I had to turn a little off the hub's but its been a great setup. The bearings are bigger but that's not an issue.
Some pictures, start here.....http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/tech/project.html

Originally posted by FearMe
Finding a cheap small spindle 60 was easy and I had the ends grafted on to the width of my choice.

Question for you. I know Dean sells some jigs for welding on the spindles. I'm wondering if there is a cheaper way to line it up right. It's kinda something I wouldn't want to screw up, but there's gotta be a cheaper way then droppin' $200 on jigs for a one time deal. Any help?

No matter how you approach it, either you or someone else needs to put in some lathe time. How cheap can you get it?
At the very least you need 4 pucks machined- 2 to clamp in the carrier bearing bores, two to center off the spindles, and a good accurate rod to go through the whole works.

Originally posted by Ryan


There might be some out there, but all the 61's I've heard of or seen have been FF.

Hmm, am I confused?

What are those SF rears you always see in HD Ford work vans? :confused:

Awww... CRAP. After reading this I decided to finally take a closer look at that FF "60" I pulled from the yard a few months ago. Compared the BOM to the listing at Patooyee's site ( http://www.patooyee.com/ ) and waddaya know, it's a fawkin' D61 :mad: I'm in the same boat as you now Adam. I haven't checked the spindles yet so hopefully it's the big bore variety. If it is, then with the supposedly thicker tubes and the beefier housing it's a damn shame that the gear selection blows for these.

There's been quite a bit of talk on here about using D60 gears in a D61 by using a spacer, but there's some conflicting info out there. I've seen posts stating the spacer as being .160", .250", and .277". Which is it? I've also seen posts stating that you can use a D60 carrier and others saying it has to be a D61 (for instance there's apparantly a D61 version of the Detroit??). Could the spacer variation simply be a factor of whether you're using a 61 carrier or a 60? Sandy Cone is apparantly the D61 guru, but only offers 40 and 46 spline spools. Can you use a D60 35 spline spool in a 61? Those of you running the 40 spliners, what did you do for spindles? Did you get those from Sandy too? I checked Mark Williams and they don't list jack for a D61.

I only paid $33 for this beast so no biggie if it ends up back in the boneyard. Just seems a shame to have supposedly stronger tubes and housing (and possibly even big bore spindles) yet be screwed on spool and gear options. Kinda reminds me of the 16.5" tire dilemma... nice tire selection, clears big brakes just fine, but the bead design blows :rolleyes:

RedDwarf, those semi-floaters under Ford vans are probably C-clip Dana 61's. D61's can be found in both SF and FF configurations. :(

FWIW, here's the BOM on mine:
603932 FORD 61 REAR 1979-80 E-250 - FULL FLOAT

One thing to keep in mind is that there are tons of Ford Diesel burners out there that came from the factory with the D60/4.11 combo. Even with overdrive, it's too tall of gearing for lots of folks that don't tow.

I have a (freebe) D61 w/ 3.08's that is going into a friends 2WD Ford Dieselguzzler, and in turn he is giving me his D60. It's a good deal for both of us, and maybe even a bit better deal for me.

for a jig, why can't you just use the hub and axle assembly? Seems like that would work to me. Then take your time welding it up ensuring that the axle spins freely during the process.

I had thought of that, but didn't really think it through. Has anyone done it this way(I'm sure they have, I don't think everybody whose ever shortened an axle had a set of jigs)? I would imagine if you had everything put together, including the shafts, you could have a few guys hold everything in place and weld it up. It seems like as long as the shafts were bolted to the hubs and slipped inside the carrer, you're pretty much lined up. Hmmmmm... For the $50 I paid for my 61 it would be worth a shot.

anyone know if I can find a 61 centersection and put in my dana60 front outers off a 96 dodge deisel?

i remember reading somewhere you could you mill the inside shoulder where the carrier bearing race rides and use a spacer under the other side race to offset the carrier the .250 or .277 or whatever is needed. would this be easier than cutting off the spindles and welding them onto a 60?