How do you adapt an older Dana 60-2 to a '96 Ram 1500?

I built a Dana 60-2 for my '87 D100 to replace the 8.25" that it came with. I sold the truck and the new owner did not want it. A club member has been having problems with the 9.25" in his 4x4 Ram. I would like to sell the Dana to him. It is fresh with a 4.10 gear on a PowerLock diff with 35 spline axles, new seals and fresh 12" Drum Brakes. I narrowed the axle to fit the '87 and I am sure it will mount in the Ram 1500 with just a few issues, the driveshaft will have to be shortened slightly, the brake lines will have to be made up and those are no big deal.

One thing seems to be an issue and that is the Ram has ABS brakes and the Dana does not have those pieces. I need to know what we have to do with that??

The letters S-O-L apply here. The ABS uses a speed sensor for the rear wheels that mounts in the differential and counts the teeth on a tone wheel mounted to the gear carrier. It's going to take a lot of work to duplicate that setup in an older Dana 60 case.

Getting a newer D60 with the required parts would mean discarding everything except the axle shafts, brakes and gearset. I guess you could swap center sections but that would be major. Use the D60 in a vehicle that doesn't have
ABS, or else mounts the speed sensors in the brake housing.

R

Not sure how big a deal this is, but they went to 3" wide springs in '94 vs. the earlier 2.5" wide springs.

Robert

If you were close I would give you a 96 Dana 60 that was in my 2500 Ram. I lost a carrier bearing and just bolted in a Dana 70, not easy to find a 60 for a 96.

Why couldn't you mount a tone ring on the pinion grease slinger with the right number of teeth? Pickup mounted to the snubber?

All the Dana 60-2 I've seen had 2.5 inch diameter axle tubes, does yours?

If you want a ratio less than 3.54
What would it take to adapt a
Dana 61 to a 1995 Ram?

Is my fuzzy memory correct that you can get 3.07
only by going to a Dana 61 housing?

http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/ft-54-dana-60-61tech.html

Have the newest 9.25 diffs with the modification using lower friction ball bearings
from around year 2009 onward
Also done away with the frequent pinion bearing seal failures
That plagued Ram 1500s from 1994 to at least 2001?

I measured it at 2.875"

I think that is what his 9.25" has on the front side of the diff, but I have not been under it or opened the rear cover...I will ask him. I plan to build a few more Dana 60s because I have the case spreader, the setup bearings and a large pile of shims. And once you build one they seem to last forever regardless of how you beat on them.

Tone ring on the pinion? Probably but getting the exact number of teeth would be nearly impossible. Shoot, anything is possible but is it worth it? Practicality comes into play here.
Better to sell the Dana and use the $ to get a rear end that won't require major rework to use.

I don't want to beat a dead horse here but I'd bet anyone that I could take the slinger, braze a ring on it, lay the tooth pattern out on the ring, and cut the teeth into the ring with a wafer wheel.

And it would work.

I don't think your suggestion is unreasonable at all and I appreciate the idea....more food for thought.