Pirate 4x4 banner

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!!!
 
See less See more
9
#335 ·
EMS custom machines a blank spindle to fit the Dodge knuckle, they don't just redrill a Ford spindle. The newer EMS kits actually have all custom parts: spindle and hub. It's only on their older kits that they used some Ford parts. I have one of their older kits and am very satisfied, but would have done this had I known at the time.

In a pinch, the D50 spindle out conversion is cheap and simple, but in no way is it the BEST method. Every modification has pros and cons. Like said above, the spindle out swap does sacrifice some strength and safety, whether it in "unsafe" is arguable, but it is definitely not as strong as either stock setup. Use your best judgement. Since many of us use this on our tow rigs that haul large loads, long distances, worth tens of thousands of dollars at times, I think spending the additional few hundred dollars to swap everything from a Ford D60 axle to be worthwhile.

As for the draglink, each truck will be slightly different. Your springs may have sagged, you may have a small lift or you could have modifications that will change everything. It's nearly impossible to match the track bar angle perfectly. Swap the TRE to the bottom of the pitman, install a new pitman, change the track bar or something else. These modifications are recommended to get you close and you need to change them to match your truck.
 
#339 ·
I was getting under 10mpg, 8-9mpg, w/ a V8 auto 2500 on 35s & 4.10s prior to the conversion. I installed an EMS kit, 4.88s and lockers at the same time and have been consistently getting 11-12mpg for the last 2+ years. Considering that I'm slightly overgeared w/ 35s, I think a 2-4mpg was well worth the upgrade. Once I switch to 37s this fall I think I will be closer to 12-13mpg.
 
#340 ·
Should be getting a 95-97 F350 D60 complete for this swap this weekend.

Going to throw the dodge parts on that housing and hopefully get some money back out of it and have this be a nice cheap brake job :)
 
#341 ·
I have a 95 Ford D60 sitting in the shop to do the swap on my other Dodge. I'll throw some more pics up once I do it. Took me awhile to find a 95-97 for a reasonable price, jump on it if you can get one for under $800.

Going to use the leftover housing to build a custom Jana 76. :grinpimp:
 
#344 ·
Wow an 02 I would have guessed you would see an even bigger improvement than mine. 02 shouldn't have the CAD so your drive shaft used to spin all the time... Stuck caliper(s) or something?
 
#346 ·
Just read through this whole thread. Lots of good info, but I am still confused on the 99 year specifically. So will the knuckle out switch be possible or only spindle out? It sounds like both depending on the ball joints. Is there something I could measure to see what swap method would be possible?
Thanks
-Garret
 
#347 ·
nothing to measure, just observe. if the ball joint studs are up with nuts on top you're good to swap Ford knuckles... If the ball joint studs are down with the nuts on the bottom you're not.
 
#351 ·
Tangentally related to this topic. A couple of us are doing/want to do this swap for the better brakes. I didn't end up getting my axle last weekend and had a caliper stick so I had to do a brake job before a trip to Rausch Creek this weekend.

I found my outer pads at 50-60%, and my inner pads at 5% on the driver side and -5% on the passenger side. My slide pins have clearly not been doing too good a job at sliding.

I replaced the stuck caliper (piston got cocked with no pad left; damaged the seal when I tried to reseat it) and cleaned up the slide pins on the other and even with pitted, glazed, grooved, un-resurfaced, garbage, scrap-pile-ready rotors, I have the best brakes my truck has had in the 25-30k I've put on it.

I found my ball joints and unit bearings all in tip-top shape so I'll probably burn through these brakes before I swap knuckles, but wanted to point out two things

- don't just look through your wheel to check brake wear, the inner wears about 50% faster if your slide pins suck :homer:
- if your brakes suck, see if your slide pins slide. I'm honestly floored at how much better my brakes got.
 
#352 ·
just joined pirate 4x4 to say thanks 79fordgirl for sharing this valuable info.

sure wish I'd found this a bit sooner ... just laid out $$$ for two new bearing/hubs for my 96 12v 4x4.

now on the hunt for a ford with a Dana 60, hopefully with late model rotors. have not read this entire thread yet, got to about page 8 before running out of time. seems vital information has been repeated several times.
 
#353 · (Edited)
been searching up and down local for the correct Dana 60 front axle with only one hit for any year F-350 SRW ... salvage wanted $1400 for entire axle from a 97 F-350, would not part out.

don't thinks this has been asked before...

it it possible to use hubs only from the more plentiful F-250 axle with large Dana 60 sized hubs?

1. drill out F-250 hubs to fit stock Dodge knuckle's four hole pattern.
2. purchase new Ford F-350 outer axle stubs that fits larger ujoint Dodge inner axle stub.
3. then reuse stock dodge rotors and brake calipers

much prefer to use F-350 Dana 60 SRW parts ... but seems those are mighty hard to come by around here. vs plentiful F-250 parts.

can anyone tell me any holes in my logic above????
if above works, then any machine shop can precision drill holes in hubs. two new Ford outer stubs would be a LOT cheaper then other alternatives.
 
#362 ·
Just up on the lift it all looks good. There is no binding, but I have yet to put it in 4wd; waiting on the correct front d-shaft u-joint.

I used the Dodge caliper with the Ford rotor.

And yes I did forget the seal on the stub. Totally forgot it when getting parts. I packed extra grease in there for now and I plan on pulling it apart before soon (before winter).
 
Top