Not sure what your looking for here but my 9" has .350 wall dom tube's,35 spline cromo shaft's and a strange N third member with billet pinion suport and I'm pretty sure It's a lot stronger then a 60

 

http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/gears.html

 

Not sure what your looking for here but my 9" has .350 wall dom tube's,35 spline cromo shaft's and a strange N third member with billet pinion suport and I'm pretty sure It's a lot stronger then a 60

I'm sure it's stronger than a lot of axles crawldaddy. I was looking at this more in the context of the stock junk, so if you don't mind me asking, why you don't run a stock 9"?
If you could only make ONE modification to a stock 9" what would it be? You seem to have invested some bank in your axle, so I think your input would be valuable here. Thanks.

 

If you could only make ONE modification to a stock 9" what would it be?

IMO, the most important upgrade an off-road 9" deserves is a Strange, "N", or similar heavy duty third member housing with a better pinion support. I have witnessed a mass of broken 9" axles as well as busted third members. I will explain my contention.

Axles, read NOT high $$$ 35 spl. cryo treated etc., are relatively cheap and very easy to change out on a 9". This is too say that you have already loaded up a spare with wheel studs, retainer plate, seals, bearing, retaining collar and can pull the third member out to scavenge the shattered pieces.

On the other hand, time and my curiosity have illustrated to me that the most inherent weakness in the 9" is the pinion support. While some may rebut with "that's what gives it its strength!", I have seen too many 9" break at this location. When the support breaks, the pinion then attempts to crawl up the ring gear. Usually, this results in the pinion shaft severing. This is what happened on my Bronco.

I am not bashing the Ford 9 in any way. I have abused two of them behind a 429 in my severely overweight 78 Bronco for many years... I am only replying to the question regarding ONE upgrade to a stock 9".

 

If you are talking about old junk you might want to compare housings.
I recently twisted my 30 year old EB 9" housing right next to the traction bar.
Not sure how a stock 60 would have faired.

 

They both suck ass unless you put money in them.

 

i have never ran a d60 (yet) but my stock 9 is still holding up to the mini-spool and my heavy foot, if my 9 dont break when i swap the 44's on ill probly stick with it if not im dropping a 60 or a 14bolt in.

 

There is nothing to bring on really, in stock form a late model 31 spline 9" is marginally stronger than a stock 30 spline D60 and has better ground clearance. 9" wins in my book. Modded, they are both still comparable but in the end i would take a 35 spline 9" over a 35 spline rear 60.

 

I have broken ffd60 30 spline shafts on the street, in a heavy ass waggoneer. OTOH, on a F9, i have broken the pinion support a couple times, twisted some POS 28 spline axles, and bent the housing jumping. Im with welndmn, they are both in need of aftermarket parts to be strong, and IMO a 9" can be built stronger, and thats what i will continue to run

 

i have a ford 9" from a 79 f150 that i put d60 rear spindles on and made it a ff 9" with 31 spline axles and it works like a champ under my 396w ranger. so i guess if you combine them the 9" is perfect. you dont even have to jack up your truck to change gears. and it only cost me 50 bucks to do

 

i have a ford 9" from a 79 f150 that i put d60 rear spindles on and made it a ff 9" with 31 spline axles and it works like a champ under my 396w ranger. so i guess if you combine them the 9" is perfect. you dont even have to jack up your truck to change gears. and it only cost me 50 bucks to do

how did you do this? sounds interesting and i might do it for my 44" boggers when i mount em

 

IMO, the most important upgrade an off-road 9" deserves is a Strange, "N", or similar heavy duty third member housing with a better pinion support. I have witnessed a mass of broken 9" axles as well as busted third members. I will explain my contention.

Axles, read NOT high $$$ 35 spl. cryo treated etc., are relatively cheap and very easy to change out on a 9". This is too say that you have already loaded up a spare with wheel studs, retainer plate, seals, bearing, retaining collar and can pull the third member out to scavenge the shattered pieces.

On the other hand, time and my curiosity have illustrated to me that the most inherent weakness in the 9" is the pinion support. While some may rebut with "that's what gives it its strength!", I have seen too many 9" break at this location. When the support breaks, the pinion then attempts to crawl up the ring gear. Usually, this results in the pinion shaft severing. This is what happened on my Bronco.

I am not bashing the Ford 9 in any way. I have abused two of them behind a 429 in my severely overweight 78 Bronco for many years... I am only replying to the question regarding ONE upgrade to a stock 9".

Ya what this guy said... The stock third member's come apart cuz the stock pinion support's are shit. So if you want to run stock stuff "31 spline shaft's" I say at least get a Strange pinion support

 

Ya what this guy said... The stock third member's come apart cuz the stock pinion support's are shit. So if you want to run stock stuff "31 spline shaft's" I say at least get a Strange pinion support

So now your into money that you could have spent on 35 spline shafts and/or a spool for the 60. And yeah, you can change 9" shafts it they break, unless you just destoyed your entire rig because your wheel fell off halfway up the side of some "cliff" and you rolled it 6 times.:shaking:

By the time you spend all that cabbage on a 9" rear, you could have gotten a welded 14 bolt and spent the money on a 60 front instead. :flipoff2:

 

So now your into money that you could have spent on 35 spline shafts and/or a spool for the 60. And yeah, you can change 9" shafts it they break, unless you just destoyed your entire rig because your wheel fell off halfway up the side of some "cliff" and you rolled it 6 times.:shaking:

By the time you spend all that cabbage on a 9" rear, you could have gotten a welded 14 bolt and spent the money on a 60 front instead. :flipoff2:

Ok well i would not just replace the pinion support the guy just asked if there was only "one thing I could change about a 9" " :flipoff2: IMO the 9" Is the better axle, Ya It cost more to build then a 60 or 14 bolt but I think those rear axle's suck ass. It all depend's on what you like and how much money you have. I like buggy's 40" tall tires and smaller wich is why I like the 9" It's a smaller lighter package and when built right stronger. Ya don't see all the top comp guy's running them for nothing..:flipoff2:

 

i have a ford 9" from a 79 f150 that i put d60 rear spindles on and made it a ff 9" with 31 spline axles and it works like a champ under my 396w ranger. so i guess if you combine them the 9" is perfect. you dont even have to jack up your truck to change gears. and it only cost me 50 bucks to do

Do you have words and pictures of this?

 

Do you have words and pictures of this?

x2


I have heard of welding up GM14 spindles, hell even Mog portals to a 9", but I haven't seen any D60 rear spindles on a 9".....

 

In stock form I'd say a 28 spl. 9" and 30 spl. 60 are about the same strength. Im no 9" expert by any means, never messed with one, but with my 60 I just bored out my spindles, dropped in a set of alloy 35 spline shafts and now as far as shafts go, theyre stronger than stock 14 bolt or D70 shafts. The D60 gears are a little bigger than the 9" but once the gears get that big, its a little rare that they break unless set up incorrectly. The 60 center kinda hangs down low, not as bad as a 14 bolt but still low. I just shaved mine, saved 1.25" of clearance. I figure the 9" has alot more clearance than a 60 stock anyways. Personally Id rather have a 60 because Im more familiar with it, and Im not really a ford fan to begin with. Both have great aftermarket support, with the 9" having more probably than the 60. Though if you were going for lightweight and good stregnth the 9" is where its at.

 

I think compairing a 60 with a 9in. is like compairing apples and oranges. If your going to haul stuff go with the 60. If you want to play go with the 9in.
The 60 wasent designed to hold horse power it was designed to hold weight IE full floating axles with two axle berings.
The 9in on the other hand was put behind 427s, 428cjs and 429scjs and boss429s, but in passenger cars and half ton pickups.
Leadmic

 

The ring gear on a 60 may be bigger, but all that does is cost ground clearance.. The R&P on a 9" is still far stronger.

you can complain about broken housings on a 9" all you want.. I've personaly never seen it happen, and only seen a whopping TWO people post pictures of it on here... Now lets compare that to the number of broken rear 60 shafts floating around...

As for the 60 getting you home, and a 9" not.. thats debatable...
a broken 9" shaft will USUALY stay in the housing after boken, and if you have disc brakes, it's deffinatly not comming out.. Your not going to be driving home 70mph on the interstate, but it will get you off the trail..
granted you COULD pull a broke shaft on a 60, and drive it home like tha provided the broken shaft didn't fubar the spindle... and you were dumb enough to drive that far without being able to properly clean the housing and bearings out first...

I still stand by my therory a dana 60 is the dana 35C of the full floater world.. yeah, it's a FF, but thats all it has going for it..
The 9" has it beat in every other aspsect, lighter weight, better R&P, more aftermarket, cheaper parts..
If you need a full floater, get a sterling, 70, or 14 bolt.

 

I think compairing a 60 with a 9in. is like compairing apples and oranges. If your going to haul stuff go with the 60. If you want to play go with the 9in.
The 60 wasent designed to hold horse power it was designed to hold weight IE full floating axles with two axle berings.
The 9in on the other hand was put behind 427s, 428cjs and 429scjs and boss429s, but in passenger cars and half ton pickups.
Leadmic

There was a D60 in the RoadRunners with a 440 Six Pack.
390hp 490ft/lbs

 

a dana 60 is not the dana35 of the ff world....even th eold 16 splines arent THAT weak...i mean come on...nothing in the full floater world compares to a dana 35c

i busted a 30 spline 60 shaft and drove 30 miles at 55-65 mph home with the shaft still in it...but i sold the rear to upgrade to a sterling

 

If you need a full floater, get a sterling, 70, or 14 bolt.

Yup, I have big $ into my 9 inch, if I did it again I would do a Dana 70.

 

The 9" has it beat in every other aspsect, lighter weight, better R&P, more aftermarket, cheaper parts..
If you need a full floater, get a sterling, 70, or 14 bolt.

Lighter weight and stronger R&P are the only things a 9" has going for it. In my experience, a stock 60 housing will hold up to a lot more shit than a stock 9" housing will. I wouldn't think about running a 9" in the front unless I plated the shit out of it. Granted a stock 60 cover is weak as hell but that's an easy fix. In a rear application, the 9" third member is vulnerable as hell--as is the yoke/driveshaft with a low pinion 9". I can drag my low pinion 60 over the rocks all day and not worry about that.

 

D60 ring gear:9.75"
9" ring gear:9.00"

D60 pinion diameter:1.626"
9" pinion diameter:1.313"

D60 pinion splines:29
9" pinion splines:28

An interesting fact I found, the ford 8.8 axle has the same 1.626" pinion diameter as the D60.

 

I'm no engineer, but I've broke lots of stuff. I sit and stare at it afterwards and think sometimes. One of those times what occurred to me was that this " 9" gears are the strongest " hype is crap. Hear me out. If you look at the pitch of the gear teeth they are more like a screw. That's why the pinion support needs to be so strong in a nine.
The pinion uses all that contact area and offset to load the force into the case and actually push the ring gear rather than rotate it like other designs do. In my mind it's more of a worm gear than a helical gear. The strength has to be in the whole assembly, not the gears themself. Does this make sense?