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Bent rear Dana 60, need advice. Mothfuckle

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redneckengineered

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Bent the hell out of my heavily trussed rear Dana 60 from this attempt
YouTube - Dobosh on Bounty Hill - Dixie Run 2009

Here is what the axle looked like

Image


Now it's so badly bent it's not worth fixing, both tubes are bent upwards like a mothfuckling smiley face, truss is cracked in a few areas, etc. My dilemma is how to fix it. I always like to take breakage as an opportunity to upgrade. Here are my options...

1) Center section is a 60HD and seems fine, retube with 3" OD 1/2" wall DOM and build a new truss. This is probably the quickest and most cost effective option but will it be stronger?

2) Get a 70, tube it with some huge 3.5" shit, reuse my 35 spline shafts, buy a spool and everything else, build new truss.

3) Build something totally new all together

What's got me is that the internals of my 60 (gears, axle shafts, detroit locker) all look perfect so I really don't want to just start over but then again I don't want to deal with another bent housing. This is prime time wheeling season so downtime is a factor. I'm leaning towards option 1 but wanted to make 100% sure before I pull the trigger.
 
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#2 ·
Option 1 would be the fastest and cheapest way to do it. It gets you back out, and if you break it again then you know you need to upgrade it. From the video it looks like how you landed that killed it.

FWIW I was glad to see you did not flip it over without headgear on because it looked like you almost hit your head.
 
#3 ·
It's a pity that you can't move those air bumps farther outboard such that they bottom closer to the end of the axle.

The bottoming forces are acting directly in the center of the axle tube, hence, the dreaded smiley face.

That said, a 3" x 1/2" tube, especially if you used quality material (4130?) ought to hold up to all kinds of abuse.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
afecko said:
That said, a 3" x 1/2" tube, especially if you used quality material (4130?) ought to hold up to all kinds of abuse.
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What's the factory tube and wall thickness? Will DOM be enough or should I look at something more.

kerndogg said:
Damn, just by watching the video i wouldn't have thought you bent anything. I was expecting a stadium jump or something! Do you have any pictures of the damage, maybe it would give some ideas as to what caused it?
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Sumbitch hit hard! My passenger side trail ready blew in half, CB antenna ripped off, truck nutz flew off (worst breakage IMO), and the side panels to my console came off. My neck was sore for a few days too.
 
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#9 ·
Since in your own words it's not worth saving, can you do a little experiment that will take about 15 minutes?

Run a couple HOT stringer beads on the underside of the tubes (directly opposite of where the truss welds are) and cool it while the welds are still hot using a shop fan or blowing compressed air. Then see how much bend came out of the the tube. I'm trying to figure out how much bend you can put in an axle tube by *purposely* warping it.

You may have had some residual stress that contributed to the "bounty bend" since the tube had a lot of heat on just one side when the original truss got welded in. One good shock load would be enough to crack the truss welds if that were the case. A quick experiment would show.
 
#12 ·
by the looks of the video, your truss wasn't helping all that much, your truss is vertical above the tube, and all of the impact went forward of the truss, If I was you I would go with option #1, but build your new truss with those kind of hills in mind, and those kind of hits in mind.

badass buggy though, what motor? sounds good:D
 
#14 · (Edited)
Andrew,
Since you like to take the time to upgrade then do it and do what is necessrily the easiest. Now that you have a motor with some power why put the time and money into that 60R to rebuild it. The next thing on your breakage horizon will be busting the ring and pinion...Build a 70 rear, or 14 bolt rear....or get crazy and have adam build a rear steering version of either :idea: But, in the LONG run I think you would be better served put to the time and money into something with a stronger R/P set-up.
 
#15 ·
jeepmike887 said:
by the looks of the video, your truss wasn't helping all that much, your truss is vertical above the tube, and all of the impact went forward of the truss, If I was you I would go with option #1, but build your new truss with those kind of hills in mind, and those kind of hits in mind.

badass buggy though, what motor? sounds good:D
Click to expand...
that's what i was thinking. A simple truss along the back of the axle tied into the diff cover probably woul dhave helped quite a bit.
 
#17 ·
what gears in it?
the locker/shafts thing sucks but if you go 14 you won't have to worry any more.
If you are 4.56, find a cucv rear with detroit already and disc it, rock out. They go about $375. I just bought one for $300 complete.
Gears for aforementioned axle are $200.
I make a shave plate and cover to fit the shave to give it more clearance than a 60 and all the homework is already done, just whack, weld back in and go to it.
 
Discussion starter · #18 ·
jeepmike887 said:
by the looks of the video, your truss wasn't helping all that much, your truss is vertical above the tube, and all of the impact went forward of the truss, If I was you I would go with option #1, but build your new truss with those kind of hills in mind, and those kind of hits in mind.

badass buggy though, what motor? sounds good:D
Click to expand...
This is a great point. Next axle will be trussed over the top and the back just for that reason. Motor is a Mast Motorsports LY6 HO. It breaks shit but I love it :grinpimp:


onetonwillysands10 said:
Andrew,
Since you like to take the time to upgrade then do it and do what is necessrily the easiest. Now that you have a motor with some power why put the time and money into that 60R to rebuild it. The next thing on your breakage horizon will be busting the ring and pinion...Build a 70 rear, or 14 bolt rear....or get crazy and have adam build a rear steering version of either :idea: But, in the LONG run I think you would be better served put to the time and money into something with a stronger R/P set-up.
Click to expand...
I hear ya man, I hate replacing broke crap with the same so after thinking about it over the weekend I've decided to build a Dana 70. I've already got one lined up, same WMS-WMS so I can reuse my moser axle shafts, it has 4.56 gears, going to weld the spiders for traction, sell the detroit out of my 60, disc brake it, and I should have the same amount if money in this 70 as I would to fix my 60 so I think that's the route I'm going to go. Oh, and it has 3.5" x 1/2" wall tubes which should be a massive upgrade strength wise over the stock 60 tubes.

Haggar said:
GO with 3.5" if you can find it. 3.5" even in 0.25 wall is stronger (bend wise, not dent wise) than 3.0 x 0.500" wall.
3.5 x 0.500 wall is 70% stronger than 3.0 x 0.500.....
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Yup, if I bend the tubes on this 70 I'm just going to find a new hobby like knitting or something. Now to come up with a badass truss.
 
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#19 ·
I have the CTM Floater hats that will bolt up to your 70 spindles if you had the desire to go 40 spline at the hub. You can change the side gears in a 70 ARB to 37 spline side gears out of a 80 ARB. I have them laying around since Jack made me 40 spline drive flanges when I put on 6 lug Solid wheel hubs.
 
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