I have an 78 ford 150 and was thinking of swappin in a dana 60 and taking the nine inch out. I run 38 inch swampers and what I was wandering is there a specific truck I should take the axle out of to get disc brakes on the back or should I just stick to an axle from my year. I'm looking to spend the least amount possible on conversions so I can buy any replacement parts I may need.

I have an 78 ford 150 and was thinking of swappin in a dana 60 and taking the nine inch out. I run 38 inch swampers and what I was wandering is there a specific truck I should take the axle out of to get disc brakes on the back or should I just stick to an axle from my year. I'm looking to spend the least amount possible on conversions so I can buy any replacement parts I may need.

Frankly the D60 ain't THAT much better than the 9". For the money you'd be much better off putting in a 14 bolt. They're easy to find, cheap to buy, and relatively cheap to add disc brakes to.

Rear 60's suck...

go with a sterling 10.25 out of a 84-97 f250HD/f350

35 spline, 1.5" axleshafts. Cheap as shit,very tough,and better ground clearance than a 14 bolt.

for disc brakes you can buy some weld on caliper brackets for chevy 3/4 ton brakes and use a 96 e-350 rotor.

So do you think the 9inch will hold up to my 38inch boggers?

So do you think the 9inch will hold up to my 38inch boggers?

I know a guy that runs a 9" with 39.5" boggers and is powered by a healthy 351M and Nitrious Oxide :shaking: through 5.13 gears. Its is a mud racing truck and he twists a shaft sometimes, im not sure what it would do on the rocks.

I agree with the GM 14 bolt in the rear, there cheap & they are strong. I'd use GM 3/4 ton 8 lug Dana 44 knuckles out on you front axle to match up the lug pattern, or go to a Ford Dana 60.

So do you think the 9inch will hold up to my 38inch boggers?

i run a 9" with 35 spline shafts turning 42,s no problem
400 lbs of torque from the engine aswell

Well I guess I'll hold on to the 9inch for a while longer. Thanks for the input.

well I'll be the one who totally disagrees. I GUESS YOU FOLKS HAVE NEVER SNAPPED AXLES ON 9" IN THE WOODS. I HAVE and it sucks. WITH A DANA 60, I CAN GET BACK OUT ON 1 AXLE. ALSO, 35 SPLINE IN A DANA 60 IS AN ENTIRELY OTHER STORY FROM regular dana 60 never mind A 9". oF COURSE, A DANA 70/80 WOULD SOLVE ALL THE PROBLEMS BUT WATCH OUT WITH YOUR HOUSING WIDTHS BECAUSE THEY DID CHANGE (1979 is diferent from post 1979 and there is another width change right around 1992, as my memory serves). If I'm off on those dates, I'm some here will let me know.. (now if I could only type as well as I can swap axles):homer:

Dont use i 9", i agree with mgawat, i blew one wheelin once and it sucks to replace them, i run a 14 bolt now, if i were to brake one i can replace it without even taking off the tire... 9" are semi-float, 14 bolt is Full float=way better and i got it for less then a new axle shaft cost for the 9"

for a cheap, strong, and reliable axle - go 14 bolt. A dana 60 is an ok bolt in, however with a 1.30" axle, it is not much larger than the 9" you have. The only thing it would have is full float.
A factory 14 bolt has full float, 1.50" axles and a 10.5 " ring gear. Three pinion bearings, and a disk conversion is easy as pie. ( or bacon :D )

a 9 " is more than enough for 38s - but not stock. With some 35 spline shafts and a stronger center section - 40s are no prob. ( most race trucks use a 9 " variant - 40 spline axles - full float - 800 hp - 90 mph 37-40" tires )

A dana 60 would be a big improvement over a 9" i'd say, but the problem is that if you're going to put a whole new rear in anyway you could just as easily find a 14 bolt or dana 70 or sterling as you could a dana 60, so you might as well go with the bigger dogs...

No, the rear 60 is no big improvement over a Ford 9.
Don't get caught up in the myth and drama that the "legendary" dana 60 is the holy grail of all strong axles. Cause its not.
60 front, good enough. 60 rear?:shaking:

If you want to talk about big improvements, just do a comparo of Dana 60 pinion vs. Ford 9 pinion.
Lets just say that the 60 pinion is lacking a little whereas the 9 pinion, we shall call him Gigantor.

A dana 60 would be a big improvement over a 9" i'd say, but the problem is that if you're going to put a whole new rear in anyway you could just as easily find a 14 bolt or dana 70 or sterling as you could a dana 60, so you might as well go with the bigger dogs...

My 1972 9" axle shafts minor diamter is .002" smaller than a D60 rear, and has more splines.
get some currie axles and a good center section. You won't break it with 38's

I still say a 60 would be an improvement over a 9", for one it's full floating, that gains a lot of points in my books, and it's kind of hard to compare full floating shaft to semi shafts in terms of strenght because they're designed to do different things. For another they're a hell of a lot easier to work on than a 9". If you need to service the diff in anyway, take 8 bolts out of the shafts, pull the pan, and you can do anything you want to it. To service a 9" you got to pull the third member and all that, they're easier to set up once you get it all apart but if you've set up a dana before it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

But...like i said, doesnt really matter anyways. If you're just going to swap a whole new diff in, you'll be able to find more 14 bolts than dana 60s, and dana 70s and sterlings arenty hard to find either, cost wise it would probably all be about the same too. So might as well just go as big as you can and be done with it, hell you could even get a rear rockwell for about the same price, be about the same amount of work to fab one in.

14 bolt like i said earlyer, you can get them on craigslist for 100 bucks or less sometimes and if your replacing it anyways go bigger while your at it so you dont got to do it again later like i had to

and if you want to build up a 9" its or use currie axles it will be strong but its goin to cost you

he did say "looking to spend the least amount possible"

Sterling 10.25 cheap as hell.