Why did Dodge change fron the Dana Axles for the newer Gen 3's, to go to AAM? They had been doing Dana's for 15 years or so.

 

just installed an aam in my duramax, so far so good, cost was around 600 dollars installed... hope they last like the dana

 

I remember hearing or reading something about Dodge not being happy with the quality control at Dana or something like that.


phox

 

AAM makes better axles, plain and simple. The corporate 14 bolt used in the rear of most of the chevys was an AAM axle. AAM used to be owned by GM but was then bought out and started making axles for use in other vehicles. It has been proven that the new front ends in the gen3 trucks is stronger than the Dana 60. Granted, Dana has been around for a long time. But thefact of the matter is that the Dana 80 had to be used behind the manual trucks because the Dana 70 was failing. The Dana 80 (however nice it is to have, I have one myself) is WAY overkill in these trucks. So far, I haven't heard of any of the pinion gears eating through the diff housings on the AAM axles like they did on the Dana 70's. Just my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions......

 

I always figured it was a cost issue. AAM just under bid Dana. Got to love the bean counters.

 

Fredw,
Didnt your Duramax come with an AAM to begin with?

 

i am not sure what they call the oem part, thought it was a g80, i do know the aam i installed is totally different than the one i took out so far no problems

a few of us now have switched to the aam locker for the max

 

I personally wish dodge had stayed with dana. Parts and gear ratios are more available. However I have looked at the AAM's and they are no slouch. Dodge had been running dana axel's for a lot more than 15 years. More like 40 years in a lot of there models. Had to be for cost.

grant

 

It was a quality issue. Dana supplied the rear end in Grand Cherokees and the had a ton of problems with those. Chrysler had to eat lots of dollars of warranty work on those and Dana refused to make them right. Next thing you know Dana is not much of a supplier for them anymore. Most all of their axles now are either produced in house or by AAM.

 

scook, you're sorta right. Dana is ordered from Dana at Jeeps spec's. There was a noise in um the customer was complaining about. Jeep said to get the noise out. Dana told Jeep, we built um like you said. A stand off, and Dana went off to other venues and American came in. Are we better off? Who knows.

The diesels are the same. That's why the engine in our trucks don't look like the engines in other vehicles, although it's the same one. They are built to Dodge's spec's

..Preston..

 

I Googled the American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM) site and found it interesting. The specs are in metric but you get the idea. It looks like the model number of axles is near the size of the ring gear in inches. i.e.: 950 model has the 9.50" ring gear. They have 1050 and 1150 sizes, the last of which is slightly larger than the 11.3" Dana 80 ring gear.
They do have an array of lockers/LS's and other traction aids that I was told didn't exist.
What I'm not so fond of is the way the cover hangs down slightly from the cast pig. If you drag it on a rock it will peel it back, just like one on my old jeep Corp 20 axle. The Dana's have a little better armour on the bottom for off-roading, with less cover exposure.
Yes, I have dragged my D-80 on rocks. It does hang down there mightily. The AAM looks to hang down mightily too.
Time will tell if the AAM's are a worthy substitute for the Dana's. My suspicion is that they are.
regards, as always, jefe

 

The Dana corporation was actually called (It may still be named this) The Dana Spicer Corporation. And when it was first formed, it's parent company was the Chrysler Corporation. That is why GM and Ford went with there own axles earlier than Dodge did. GM went with what they call the Corp. series (The 10 bolt front end, and the 14 bolt rear ends in full & semi float versions). These axles were built in house by AAM which is now, as we all know, a private company. Ford started using thier "Sterling" rear axle in the 90's to get away from the Dana axles as well. I just can't understand why they are still using the Dana 60 front in the super duty's.

 

I like the overkill... One less part not strong enough to take the abuse I will give it..

 

I too like the overkill, but the 80 wouldn't even be in these trucks if Dana had engineered the 70 correctly. There is no reason that the 70 couldn't be used in the manual trucks. It was just a band-aid fix that led to Chrysler using AAM becuase Dana couldn't make the 70 work, and was charging up the ying-yang for the 80.

 

I find it ironic that Dodge had quality issues with Dana. Like no one has quality issues with Dodge. As a jeep guy, I think Dana just made axles to Chrysler and jeep specs for all these years, based on how much those companies were willing to spend on the axles. I'm sure they were Dana-Spicer's bread and butter, so Dana had to comply with their demands. . . I do like the AAM axles on my rig though.