Land Cruiser vs Dana 60

[nukegoat]

A lot of people say that the cruiser drivetrain is basically an import 1-ton in overall strength. I took some pics of the lower trunnion bearing off a dana 60 kingpin and compared with my cruiser's trunnion bearing.

Just for people who want to see some numbers, here's the static load bearing ratings for each (from Koyo and Timken, respectively)

Cruiser: 8138 N
Dana 60: 55800 N

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Ya-LC axles no where close to D60.

Compare ring gear size/overall mass, axle tube diameter etc, the D60 is a much stronger and robust axle. The outer stub shafts are not that different though.

It's amazing we get away with as much as we do.

 

[Douglas S]

Who would possibly think an 80 is built as heavy as a domestic 1-ton?

 

[nukegoat]

Ya-LC axles no where close to D60.

Compare ring gear size/overall mass, axle tube diameter etc, the D60 is a much stronger and robust axle. The outer stub shafts are not that different though.

It's amazing we get away with as much as we do.

Yep - I like my cruiser gear as much as the next guy but I had no idea there was this much of a difference in beef.

 

[cjmoon]

Aren't most people comparing the 9.5 to a 60 based on pumpkin strength? Pinion and ring gear options? I dot think I've seen front knuckle comparisons.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Aren't most people comparing the 9.5 to a 60 based on pumpkin strength? Pinion and ring gear options? I dot think I've seen front knuckle comparisons.

It doesn't really matter. A D60 ring gear and pinion have much more mass. The diameter alone is misleading.

 

[Jason hansen]

How would fj80 trunion bearings compare to Dana 60 ball joints. I thought most Dana 60s had ball joints except for a few years or custom axels.

 

[Sc0-]

Older 60's had trunnion bearings...

 

[Corbet]

It's more like a built 80 series axle is close in strength to a stock D60.

 

[rc51kid]

It's more like a built 80 series axle is close in strength to a stock D60.

What kind of mods make the 80 Axel stronger?

 

[Jason hansen]

I am no expert but I would assume Cromolly shafts and birfs. Stock cruiser housings should be strong enough unless you are doing some extreme rock crawling and running 44s. I had a crawler with a Dana 44 axel, ball joints, cromolly shafts, ctm u-joints and a locker running 38s. I would get down right stupid in tha rig and never broke anything except stock u-joints.

 

[Douglas S]

What kind of mods make the 80 Axel stronger?

Only things that exists would be chromo shafts, solid pinion spacer, cryo'd gears. No significant gains IMO, nothing that makes it comparable to a 60. I'm talking about the rear, the front isn't even close.

 

[nukegoat]

The outer (smaller) wheel hub bearing on the dana is the inner (larger) one on the cruiser, interestingly

 

[ChaseTruck]

... The outer stub shafts are not that different though....

You're supposed to install 35-spline outters on a 60...

 

[Douglas S]

In fairness to the 80 domestic 1 tons are much larger/heavier vehicles designed for towing.

The 80, in relation to its size, is still ridiculously overbuilt. A stock 80 would have to be abused to an extreme level to cause the failure of any of the drivetrain.

 

[Rivman1243]

I love the high pinion dana 60 front axle in my Ford

 

[80t0ylc]

For me, this is an interesting comparo. My armored 80 weighs within 100 lbs (6400) of my mostly stock F350 Crew Cab that has a D60 in the front. It kind gives me pause to what kind of abuse to subject it to while over-landing. Fully loaded for a trip, probably pushing 6700 or more. Thanks, Nukegoat! I might be looking for an off road trailer...lol

 

[ChaseTruck]

... A stock 80 would have to be abused to an extreme level to cause the failure of any of the drivetrain.

That's what everyone on here believes... I suppose that's good.

And then there are those reports of stripped front ring gears (clearly the fault of the installer, every time...), and that you're not supposed to lock the front when the wheels are turned, and you're not supposed to lock the front and get on it when backing up...

I suppose it's what "extreme level " means to each individual. By the way, stock 60 stuff breaks as well. That's why you're supposed to have 35-spline shafts, perhaps aftermarket u-joints, Reid/Dedenbear knuckles, and perhaps Reid inner Cs...
By the way, the polyurethane plugs to replace the kingpin springs are the shiznit for killing death wobble.

P.S. Sure, stress increases significantly for birfs (or u-joints, for that matter) when being asked to transmit torque while being at angle. It's just that some engineer forgot to tell all the trails about that little tidbit...

 

[bugsnbikes]

You are only as good as your weakest link- not strongest link. A built 80 axle does fairly well at minimizing the weakest links.

keeping an 80series light/ close to stock weight helps minimize those weak links.

Also i guarantee that when you start to dynamically compare bearing loads and race material, and a host of other bearing life modifiers like vibration/ oscillatory duty/ temp effects/ angular alignments/ fit/ elastohydrodynamic effects/ etc etc the 80 bearing above will start to reel in the 60s seemingly higher strength. Furthermore i would say that as the life cycle (miles) increase- the quality of the 80 bearing starts to further decrease the strength gap.

 

[White Stripe]

I think more aftermarket companies like trail gear, marlin crawler, etc, should start making kits to transform the 10.5 rear tundra axles into mega front and rear Toyota axles. How cool would it be to have 10.5s front and rear with mega birfield and shafts? It would be bulletproof cool.