Hello;

I'm not having a technical issue, just looking for information.

I have the DANA 60 front and DANA 80 rear. On average, how many miles have these been known to go before needing major work?

I know there are may factors, such as use, maintenance, etc.... Just assuming very well maintained and not abused.

I'm asking, because I've gone through pretty much every other part of my truck, and wondering if I should start planning for axle issues.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

--Matt

 

Mine has 210K miles, still perfect.

I don't beat on mine too hard unless I have to though.

 

never,but
(280000 miles)it all depends on the way you drive

 

Having worked on these trucks for years, I found that the Dana 70 rear axles tended to be a bit light for the job at times. The carrier bearings would wear out, causing the races to spin in the housing and destroy it.

The Dana 80 rear axles were fairly bulletproof, I only ever saw a couple needing overhaul, and both were on 1 ton commercial trucks with high miles (over 200k).

Never really saw any common gearset/bearing problems with Dana 60 front axles, probably due to the relatively small amount of time they are engaged and working. Saw lots of CAD related problems such as worn splines etc that I attributed to drivers trying to engage 4WD while they were stuck and the rear wheels were already spinning.

 

The dana 70's I see fail are nearlly always in 5 speed 1st gen trucks. The 1st gen autos I don't really remember repairing any unless they were 400,000 miles or more. But the manual trucks that got used as heavy haulers would spit carrier bearings and possible destroy themselves if not caught in time.

The 2nd gen truck would do the same thing with autos and Dana 70's but not near as often. The 2500 trucks got a hybrid Dana 80 axle, essentially a Dana 80 ring and pinion with necked down axle tubes and Dana 70 outer bearings and hubs. The only dodge trucks that came with an actual Dana 80 where the 3500 dually axles. So any 5 speed 3/4 truck does not have a Dana 80, it has a mis matched 70/80 combination. I am sure you can thank the bean counters for coming up with that combo.

 

The problem with differentials is people tend to think they're impervious to stress loads or regular maintenance. Therefore never changing the fluid and towing copious amounts of weight are common practice. So yes, you can only expect something to last as well as you take care of it.

 

Mine had 350k on it when I sold it last month with no axle problems at all. Though as Katoom suggested I did do regular maintenance on them

 

Changing oil in the differential?

What is this practice you speak of?