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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!!!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Stupid unit bearings



Ball joints torqued to;
35 Lower
70 Upper
150 Lower

Stock Ford 30 Spline Dana 60 Axle Shaft mated to the stock 97 Dodge Inner axle shaft. New spindle seals/bushings installed as well to keep dirt/grime out of the spindle.





Screwing in those super duper cap screws. Or whatever they're called.

 
#3 · (Edited)
Regarding the brakes obviously upgraded to dual piston calipers! Pretty self explantory although the banjo bolt is the right size, it is the wrong pitch. The brake line is plenty long enough as well.



Tie rod bolts right in, my truck was toed out slightly so adjusted the sleeve one turn to get 1/8" toe and it was set to go. All said and done the Ford knuckles only make the tires stick out an extra three quarters of an inch. I had used hubs from a 78-79 Ford which have smaller wheel studs so the lug nuts from the Dodge did not fit. If I used the hubs we had from the 92-93 Ford the wheel studs would have been the right size and the lug nuts would have fit from the Dodge-fail on my part. We used the 78-79 hubs because they were already prepped and ready to go and didn't realize the stud size difference till it was already assembled.
.



Another nice product for the BJ 60's that might be worth looking into!

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/ProSte...ep-p-20296.html

 
#293 ·
Banjo was covered VERY early in the thread:
although the banjo bolt is the right size, it is the wrong pitch. The brake line is plenty long enough as well.
The slinger is a bitch to press on. I skip them on my Dakota's 60.
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-11781-d60-axle-shaft-slinger-outer.html

Good raise on that lip, thanks. I'm going to have to care about that on my dually if the Ford hubs aren't 4.77" - I hadn't thought of that detail. Still looking for the right axle, I'm being picky and waiting for a 95-97 DRW.
 
#5 ·
EXCELLENT information!! When I saw the pic and caption of, "Me doing...." I had to scroll up and look at your user name. :laughing:

But great to know that 92-96 Ford knuckles bolt in place of 94-98 Dodge stuff. :beer:
 
#8 ·
Im starting to get all my parts together to do my 96. I have deal wobble everytime I drive the truck now. I will be doing 5.13 gears, 37" H1 Tires, recentered 12 bolts and lots of engine work. Its my daily driver to get me around.... Ill be getting the D50 knuckles and out and will be trying that. If those dont work ill get swaping all the D50 parts to a D60 for knuckle and that should work. 35 spline shafts and a detriot are in order.


Truck before 37's.
 
#16 ·
You can change my knuckles anytime. I like it. Sexy.
 
#25 ·
Rumor has it that the F-250 D50TTB front has a 44 center different beams than the 1/2 ton and 60 outers from the balls joints out.
I've seen a few in the wrecking yard and those F-250 TTB outers sure do have big hubs!

As for the half ton, I would guess pretty much any Ford ball joint 44 knuckle would fit especially if the D44 TTB knuckles are the same as the solid axle ones.

Just need to get rid of the coupler axle and mechanism on the long side.
 
#27 ·
Thanks for the confirmation!
I've seen several F250 TTB's in the wrecking yard since the dialing for dollars rebate program. WTF did they call that again? Oh yea Cash for Clunkers, that encouraged people to trade in good old American steel and buy a friggin Toyota with unintended acceleration tendencies!:laughing:
 
#29 · (Edited)
I need to go to a scrap yard! I have 4 dodges begging for this conversion.

This would be a great upgrade for 94-01 dodges that have the central axle disconnect (CAD). No more vacuum to worry about. And no unitized bearing!
I believe that the front axle parts are the same from 94-02 for the most part. In 98 they went to 32 spline shafts from the 30 splines found in 94-97. In 02 the got rid of the CAD and went to a one piece shaft on the passenger side.

So to do the conversion what all do you need to steal from the ford... D50? or D60
Knuckles
Stub shaft
Spindle
Hub
New ball joints
New disks
What calipers did you use?
Anything else....?

Great write up and pics.
 
#31 ·
I need to go to a scrap yard! I have 4 dodges begging for this conversion.

This would be a great upgrade for 94-01 dodges that have the central axle disconnect (CAD). No more vacuum to worry about. And no unitized bearing!
I believe that the front axle parts are the same from 94-02 for the most part. In 98 they went to 32 spline shafts from the 30 splines found in 94-97. In 02 the got rid of the CAD and went to a one piece shaft on the passenger side.

So to do the conversion what all do you need to steal from the ford... D50? or D60
Knuckles
Stub shaft
Spindle
Hub
New ball joints
Dodge disks I assume?
What calipers did you use?
Anything else....?

Great write up and pics.
I would take everything from the ball joints out. The write up included the use of the Ford dual piston calipers and Ford rotors because she said the stud sizes were different. Just use all the Ford stuff from the ball joints out...and the 60 outer stub.
 
#34 ·
Not to go too far off topic, but I did my hub bearings today and ended up using some length of pipe to go between the rotor (i have the pressed on rotors) and a suspension mount on the axle, had dad sit in the truck and crank the steering. After doing it for about 30-60 seconds on the front and then back of the rotor, they popped right out and the bearings were no worse than they already were.

As well I was told today that Snap-on makes a socket specifically for the socket method for about $35, that was original plan B, but didn't get to it so I don't know for sure if its true.

The new plan B was the OTC tools (HIGH quality stuff for daily use in shops, but can be found easily on Ebay and Amazon) makes a puller specifically for this application. It also fits other applications for GM and Ford. I found it on Ebay for less than $100 and it seems like it would be the shit for doing these fuggers. The part number is 6290 I believe.

Just thought it was something to add to this and the other threads with bearing removal stuff in them.
 
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