This is about the Dana 61.

[sweetguardian001]

I POSTED IN GENERAL TECH BUT THOUGHT ID ALSO GET A GOOD ANSWER HERE.

According to ECGS (East Coast Gear Supply)

To run a 5.13:1 gear in a Dana 61 (1987 E-350) and NOT use a spacer ring,

I'd have to get my hands on a Dana 60 4.56 and UP carrier, and then run Thick Cut Gears.....

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

[82F100SWB]

That sounds about right, unless you can find one of the does not exist Factory 4.56 carriers(Ford used 'em.) Or one of the 3.54/4.10 61 carriers for a dodge app, which ran standard 60 3.54 and 4.10 gears. My 89 W250 had that setup in it's front with 3.54's

[sweetguardian001]

Originally Posted by 82F100SWB

That sounds about right, unless you can find one of the does not exist Factory 4.56 carriers(Ford used 'em.) Or one of the 3.54/4.10 61 carriers for a dodge app, which ran standard 60 3.54 and 4.10 gears. My 89 W250 had that setup in it's front with 3.54's

wait, what were you talking about with the does not exist carrier......

I've gotten mixed answers.

some people tell me that I can use the Dana 61 3.54 and UP carrier with thick gears and I will be just fine,

other people said I must use a 4.56 and Up Dana 60 carrier and thick cut gears....

Im just trying to avoid the ring gear spacer.

[82F100SWB]

Ford used 4.56 gears in 61's in vans 82-3 I think it is, the BOM is in the Dana books if you poke around... Rare as shit, but it does exist.

If you can find the 3.54 and up carrier, it uses standard 60 3.54's and 4.10's, so thick gears should work.

[sweetguardian001]

Originally Posted by 82F100SWB

Ford used 4.56 gears in 61's in vans 82-3 I think it is, the BOM is in the Dana books if you poke around... Rare as shit, but it does exist.

If you can find the 3.54 and up carrier, it uses standard 60 3.54's and 4.10's, so thick gears should work.

see that's what I was looking for.....

from what I understand, if you have 3.07 carrier you're screwed.....

BUT if you have the Dana 61 3.31-4.10 carrier, and run Mr. Gasket 5/16 spacer ring, you can run standard Dana 60 gears, and the THICK CUT gears are made specifically to do what the spacer does, so one can assume that the THICK CUT gearset is infact 5/16" thicker than a standard set....

Therefore: Dana 61 3.31-4.10 carrier AND Thick Cut gears = Dana 61 geared WITHOUT spacer......

Is my logic correct?

[82F100SWB]

That sounds correct to me, being the 3.31-4.10 carrier allows you to run standard 60 gears, and if you wanted to run 4.56 up gears in a 60 with a 4.10 down carrier you would use the thick gears, it should work.

[cperry]

Originally Posted by sweetguardian001

I POSTED IN GENERAL TECH BUT THOUGHT ID ALSO GET A GOOD ANSWER HERE.

According to ECGS (East Coast Gear Supply)

To run a 5.13:1 gear in a Dana 61 (1987 E-350) and NOT use a spacer ring,

I'd have to get my hands on a Dana 60 4.56 and UP carrier, and then run Thick Cut Gears.....

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

Just happened to see this so for tech sake this is not what we said exactly.

With a D61 3.31 and up carrier you can run 3.55, 3.73. 4.10. 4.56 thick, 4.88 thick, 5.13 thick, 538 thick. With a D60 4.56 and up carrier it is the same offset as a 3.07 dana 61 case so with a 3.07 D61 case or a D60 4.56 case you have to run thick gear and ring gear spacer to gear it. In addition to this there is still and additional say .045 to take up this can be done by running a 382A race with a shim outside the carrier race. 382A race is more shallow then a 382S and allows carrier to come over farther. However the cage of bearing sits outside race so it will contact housing when installing carrier. Outside shim allows for you to still install case in the housing.

I have geared 10 or so Dana 61's with little issue so it can be done.