sooty

anybody seen one in a prefab weld on or? im going down the freeway and hit a pothole, my right/shortside tube snapped clear up the edge of the housing, pretty sure the only thing that kept it from blowing off the side of the vehicle was the axle shaft itself, im needing another housing, and wanting to prevent this from happening in the future. if ive got to weld up my own I will.

andyt

This kit looks pretty nice.

Dana 60 Front Axle Truss Kit, 79-93 Dodge

sooty

that's like artec, top truss, need bottom because of leaf spring mounts, that one is used in a coil spring 3 point link conversion, and looks a lot like what ill probably have to build.

MrFusion

Must've been one epic pothole...jeez.

sooty

ive spent a lot of offtime exploring western back country, with the fourwheel camper loaded down, I have to think the weight took its toll where it stress progressed to failure, that tube is 1/2" thick. the vendors for the rock crawling community, like me, have heard of tube breakage, but most have not seen it personally, im not feeling lucky, sourcing a housing that represents gold to the offroad community, the closest ive seen is a chevy kingpin housing, the short passenger tube is 1" longer, and spring pads 1" wider, the weird thing is, the drivers side axle tube length is the same. still looking, thanks.

cougar

I bought a brand new 81 W250. The dealer hid the fact that the truck had been in a serious accident. Long story short, they had to replace the front housing. Not only was it cracked at the bearing journal, it was bent as well. The district service manager had a cow.

MrFusion

You could hit up Ollie or ThrashingCows for one. It'd be pricey to ship but may be worth it.

u2slow

IMO, a broken D60 housing from what you're doing is a fluke. Logging crummies don't even do that with any frequency.

I would seriously consider the GM housing if you can't find a Dodge one. It's almost 2" wider overall, and only 1/2" difference in spring spacing. The pumpkin is slightly more centered on the GM, and is why only one shaft is a different length.

You could also size up your broken housing for a re-tube. Add some extra width while you're at it (Dodge seems too narrow IMO) and work out the perch spacing together with the truss you build.

sooty

sooty

heres a pic of the carnage, god bless our 35 spline axles, I rounded up another axle and welded a solid 1/2" x 1-1/2" lateral support and gusseted with 1/4" plate, aint no way this is breaking again, im going to try to remove tube from broken axle, and replace, ive never removed a tube, but I have re-oriented knuckles for high lift situations, im thinking blowing the plug welds out, welding a piece to the tube to grab with a hydraulic spreader, any suggestions?

u2slow

Nice work!

I wouldn't break my neck to save that housing... you could have a high-pinion instead, and re-use your kingpin outers.

jtamulonis

I THINK high pinion axels are driver side drop only. could be wrong, but never saw a pass. side high pinion #60

u2slow

Yeah, the high-pinions are driver drop Fords. You're re-tubing anyway was kind of my point... but a sleeve could work in this case. Use a 78-79 Ford shaft on the 'short' side (~3" longer than Dodge) to get the spring perch onto the axle tube more.

I've redneck cut'n'pasted a couple axle housings before... its tedious work, but not highly technical.

deere country

What is the tab welded to the bottom side of the tube in the broken axle picture?

PapeCAT

good catch. Perhaps the axle was already compromised at some point and patched up.