torkmnstr

Ran across this and thought sweet until.....ferd axles were found underneath Oh well to each is own

BigBlue

Not a bad idea. You can get a high pinion ford front axle to help with u-joint angles and the ford front ends are usually stronger in terms of ball joints and serviceable hubs. Makes perfect sense to me.

displacedtexan

I was thinking the same thing. They are good axles, superior to the Dana 60 Dodge speced in some ways, if it is the full 60 font and not the 50/60 hybrid.

torkmnstr

YeaH I guess so, call me old fashioned but I like to stay brand specific oh well.

Sidewinder

I think some people switch because they want the manual lockout for the 4X4 and NOT the vacuum system on the Dodge.

LOGAN

high pinion, no vacuum crap, lockout ready(see dynatrac conversion), serviceable wheel bearings(see dynatrac conversion), no unitized hubs(see dynatrac conversion), stronger ring gear since its high pinion and runs on face of ring gear, 78-79 60's are kingpin instead of ball joint, which is very superior, stronger axle shafts than dodge 60 and more aftermarket upgradable parts. just a couple things better than a dodge 60. well worth the money to swap under a dodge nose, ill be using one when i swap my 1st gen to 4wd. to even get the dodge close to the ford you will need all the dynatrac stuff i listed above.

Gotlift01

I'd do the swap......way better axles IMHO!


~Nick

Gotlift01

OHHHHH and what the heck is up with that UGLY wing on the back of the truck



~Nick

74dart

Down force for the high speeds.

the_fox_man4

You know you have to think of it not as a ford axle but as a true DANA 60 and not a hybread 60. After Just putting hub bearings in this week I got the vote to put a diffrent axle under there.

Ggg

Well,since that is a Super Duty front axle, I don't know if it is all that much better. It still has unitized wheel bearings, it still used vacuum to actuate the lockout when it is in the "auto" position on the stock lockouts. But you can easily change them out for a set of Warn premium hubs. Brakes need occasional attention to keep the sliders from seizing up. As far as the king pin v/s ball joint argument I would agree if it was a true rock crawler. But there are literally thousands of street queens running 36"-40" mudders on ball joint axles with no reliability issues as a result of the ball joints. Even if it is a D50 or "hybrid" as someone said it is still a good axle with only the R&P and the diff splines being a different size, the rest is D60. That axle is a good strong axle, just not the end all for some of the issues Dodge has with theirs.

Boz007

I was gonna say it looks like a super duty axle. If it was a D60 out of a 78-79 f2-350 than it would be worth it. But not with super duty axles. They suffer the same problems we do.

glasseater

why not just make a fummins?? then you got the ford body and chassis (far superior) and the cummins engine!! haha just playin around!! but seriously if it's an older ford axle, like anything before '99 then it's a great axle (gotta love manually locking those hubs in!!)

Jfaulkner

[QUOTE=glasseater;1541804]why not just make a fummins?? then you got the ford body and chassis (far superior) and the cummins engine!!QUOTE]

Actually I'd love to. Give me a black '05 Ford King Ranch with a p-pump converted common rail engine with a built 6spd Allison. I have a friend who is a salesman at a Ford dealer and no matter how nice you ask you can't order one without an engine or transmission.

wthomps

85 to 91 Ford D60s are high pinion king pin axles as well. The only major difference between the 78/79 D60s and the 85-91 axles is the 85-91 have a wider sping center (36.5"), which happens to be the same spring center used up through 04.

In this case I don't think that axle is that much of an upgrade. Unless that axle is a 2002-2004 its a D50 axle in which the shafts neck down as they enter the carrier. From 99-01 the D60s were only used in F350 DRW trucks. Aside from that as stated its got the wonderful unit bearing setup. You can turn that axle into essentially a 92-97 D60 with the Dynatrac kit, but that kit is $1700 . Aside from that it uses the 8x170mm bolt pattern which is 99+ F250/350 specific. This limits wheel selection. A better choice obviously would have been a 78/79, 85-91 D60 for the above reasons, plus it would already match the existing 8x6.5 pattern, so you wouldn't have to touch the rear axle. I know I'd much rather spend $1000 for a good D60 axle instead of paying almost that for a SD axle to swap in and then have to spend another $1700 to Dynatrac to make it what you'd have for $1000. Thats why I never put a Dynatrac kit on my SD, nor will I ever. The 85-91 D60 I have on the trailer right now will all but bolt in.