dana 60's ?

[FJ40Dude75]

looking in to putting dana 60's on my 40 I am thinking of 3 link coil spring rear and spring over front with 55 springs my questions are will the cruiser brake master cylinder work . how good is the np205 or is there something better maybe 203 . Is there anything i should look for when getting my 60's and how much bigger are the 60's compared to my toy axles ??? thanks

 

[theferg]

Actually, a landcruiser axle is very comparable to most Dana 60s. I saw numbers once (can't remember where damn it...) and the LC axle shafts are thicker than some Dana 60s. I say "some" because there are different Dana 60s. Some are 35 spline and a wee bit thicker than others at 30 (or 31?) splines. A LandCruiser axle shaft is 30 spline and as thick as the 30 spline Dana 60s. Really the only advantages would be if you wanted a centered rear diff to possibly match a centered output on a t-case or if you wanted to gain some width. Oh and you could want to get rid of of the birfields on the front, but if you're breakin' birfs, you'll most likely be breakin' ball joints on Danas... And of course, once again, I'm no expert, and it's only my opinion....I think...

 

[theferg]

Ah!!!  Found it:

Here's how the Toy axles stack up.

VEHICLE          LOCATION  AXLE   AXLE     RING GEAR
                                   DIAM   SPLINE   DIAMETER
PRE-68 LC        FR/RR     1.31"       10       9.5"
68-89 LC          FR/RR     1.31"       30       9.5"
90- LC             RR          1.31"       30       9.5"
90- LC             FR          1.31"       30       8"
79-85 Pickup     FR/RR     1.31"       30       8"
86-   Pickup      RR         1.31"       30       8"
86-   Pickup      FR         1.31"       27       7.5"
NOTE:  the outer stubs in an IFS front end are smaller diam and have fewer
       splines than that, but I don't have the number handy.

The Danas etc. are harder to do because they're not as standardized.

AXLE             LOCATION  AXLE   AXLE     RING GEAR
                                   DIAM   SPLINE   DIAMETER
Model 20                   1.25"        29       8.875"
Dana 30          FR        1.16"       27       7.5"?      
Dana 35          RR        1.16"       27       7.5"?
Dana 44                    1.31"       30       8.5"?  Not sure
Dana 60                    1.31"       30       10.25"?
Dana 60                    1.5"         35       10.25"?
Ford 9"                    1.32"        31       Could it be 9"?  
Ford 9"                    1.20"        28       9"
GM 10-bolt                 1.31"      30       8.5"
GM 10-bolt                 1.20"      28       8.5"
GM 12-bolt                 1.31"     30       8.5"
GM 14-bolt                 1.37"     33       9.5"

This as per an email from Rob Mullen on the LCML (http://www.barneymc.com/toy_root/techtalk/whls_hub/axles.htm)

So I guess the Dana 60's have a bigger ring gear too...


Sorry, the cut and paste is kinda messy, but I think you can read it...if not, click the link and scroll down a bit...

 

[FJ40Dude75]

my thinking is 250.00 for longfeilds and still have to deal with snaping rear axles and pinions or 100.00 for dana 60's which I heard are bomb proof and I can sell my cruiser stuff and get a new set of 40's yehaa

 

[woody]

rear pinions don't snap because they are weak...they snap because your axle wrap is not properly controlled. I run a 350 TBI, granny gear, stock coarse spline 4.11 gears, a welded rear diff, and a wrap bar. 5 years with this setup and the only time I've busted a pinion is when my initial poor wrap bar design was busted earlier in the day.

dana 60's for $100...maybe for the rear....now deal with either cutting it down on one side to offset like a FJ40 or with a different t-case setup. And front D60's are regularly in the $1000-1200 range, and that's with stock shafts. Add in a set of CTM joints and alloys to beef them up and the prices skyrockets...plus you gotta cut those down two.

There are a lot of doners for D60 axles, but most common are fullsize 70's-80's Ford, Dodge, and Chevy trucks.

 

[FJ40Dude75]

at the eazy pull they are 36 for light truck per axle and 50 for heavy truck axle my main concern is rear axle snaping my buddy has  had alot of problems with snapping rear axles when he is aired down and I have allredy snapped a t-case Im just thinking I can make my truck more stout and sell my toy stuff and make some money but is it going to be that much more stout or am i just wsting my time also I was going to run them full width nothing custom but the driveshafts and suspension and fender flares

 

[cruiserrg]

looking in to putting dana 60's on my 40 I am thinking of 3 link coil spring rear and spring over front with 55 springs my questions are will the cruiser brake master cylinder work . how good is the np205 or is there something better maybe 203 . Is there anything i should look for when getting my 60's and how much bigger are the 60's compared to my toy axles  ??? thanks

Dana 60s front and rear is a really stout setup. The front will be the big benefit of stronger ujoints and slightly better turning. A rear Dana 60 will likely only be a 30 spline setup and not a lot stronger than a cruiser rear axle shaft, although you have the benefit of a full floater. If you want stregth in the rear look at a D70 or 14 Bolt because of larger axleshafts. The down side to all of these is less ground clearance, and the cost of a front Dana60 around $1000 for a good deal.

If you don't want to cut them down I would look into hummer rims, they offer a much larger offset which will make up some for the added width. If you run these you will have to run high steer arms made for hummer rims, but this is a mod normally done anyway.

Tansfercase: you should run a NP205 since its gear driven and can be twin sticked for Front wheel only which is a nice option with cutting brakes. THe NP203 is a chandriven monster that is long and heavy, good for a boat anchor.

HTH

 

[Medusa]

a landcruiser axle is very comparable to most Dana 60s

I reckon that is why the majority of hard-core and competition rigs are running Land Cruiser axles Seriously, 35-spline D60 axles are far superior to LC axles. In addition to larger shafts the D60s have a larger ring gear, a significantly stronger pinion shaft, considerably thicker axle tubes, much better aftermarket gear sets (up to 7:1 R&P ratios), and no Birfields or C-clips.

 

[FJ40Dude75]

can any one tell me how much wider a 60 is over a cruiser axle

 

[woody]

http://www.ih8mud.com/tech/centered-diff.html

 

[theferg]

That's why I said comparable to MOST.  It only makes sense that a thicker shaft with more splines will most likely be stronger.  But, I would wager that alot of wheelers run D60s because they are wider and have centered diffs and of course the bigger pinion and ring gear--or they didn't start with a LC, they started out with a Heep or somethin'!!

Well, anyway, I'm not a hardcore wheeler, so I definitely don't know for fact, but I could think of alot more things that could be upgraded on a LC before I would spend $1000 for a new front axle assembly...