Getting ready to narrow a Dana 60 to replace the 8 3/4 that we nuked..

Any tips for the first timer?

Primary worries at this point are getting the pinion offset right.......

Tips on that or any other pitfalls to avoid?

Rearend going under stock bodied 74 Dart........10 sec car.....

Thanks in advance!

Do yourself a favor and make the tubes-axles same length, pinion only about 1 3/4 off to right. The hump in the floor is already offset to the right from factory(64 b-body) plus the firewall hole. Lines up nice withe engine set to right too. Make sure the bearing is dead square to center line of axel when welding on the ends. Weld any brackets on before doing the ends. Good choice, it will last forever with just street gears, set it up and forget it.

Make the drivers tube 1 3/8" longer than the pass side. That will place the pinion in the proper offset location.

A Dana 60 center section is ~17.5" across, easy to figure the rest from there. I made a spreadsheet to calculate tube lengths.

Heat and weld the load tubes all the way around, don't depend on the factory spot welds. You don't have to pre heat the carrier but it makes the weld flow a lot easier.
Doing a 60 for my Dakota this wknd.

No do not, the 8 3/4 is centered with an off set pinion! Measure the offset in the Dana and 8 3/4 then give me a good reason to make different length tubes! In fact if you had 35 spline axels in the 8 3/4 use them with the ends, they are the same.

I made an axle/housing calculator that will output the dimensions based on the information you give it. If you already have the axles, it will calculate the housing measurements. If you already have the housing, it will calculate the axle length. If you don't have anything, it will create both based on the overall width and your desired pinion offset.

http://www.doctordiff.com/axle-calculator/

The diagrams at the bottom explain "A" "B" and "C" dimension.

Works for 8 3/4", Dana 60, and Ford 9."

A Dana 60 housing built with the driver's side tube 1 3/8" longer than the passenger's side will yield a 1 3/16" pinion offset. This is the same offset as an 8.75" housing built with equal length tubes.

The pinion will end up in the center of a Mopar passenger car transmission tunnel.

Because the pinion ends up in the wrong place on a D60 with the axle tubes the same length. Is that a good enough reason?

You are 100% correct that the 8.75 rear end pinion offset is taken up by the third member. We just shortened a rear to A body length and it was on the money equi-length tubes.

Since the OP is doing a D60, what you would do on an 8.75 is not relevant. I prefer to mimic the std mopar offset and not jerry-rig the deal.

The Doc knows way more than me and we have the same offset axle lengths, that's good enough for me to do it right!

Thanks for the responses guys.
..I need all the help I can get....

Follow Dr Diffs chart. I you already have 8 3/4" 35 spline axles you can narrow the overall housing length 1" and the existing axles will work with a spool. That is IF your tire/wheel can be moved inward 1/2" each side w/o clearance issues. I would weld the center around the tubes. Heat with a torch first to burn out any oil etc between the tube and housing. Use a jig and weld the ends on last.
Doug

All the factory installed Dana 60 come with the right side(pasenger side) axles and tubes shorter than the drivers side I love it when some enthusiast has a better handle on what to do on narrowing rear ends to make them better than the Mopar engineers did

I have done a few of these too and the only thing that I would add is to use Ford ends and big Ford sealed bearings. The theory of the tapered Timken roller bearings is fine if you plan to road race the car, but if you are going straight line racing save yourself some bearing packing time. Also if you are going less than 140 mph in the 1/4 the Ford racing 11" drum brake kit is going to be just fine and you will have an e-brake without hassle when you need it.

. Tell that to all the winners, everything is re- engineered from the factory or you're the also ran. Mopar engineers weren't smart all the time with some of the things we have to remake or put up with. Do you keep everything the way the factory engineered it? Didn't think so. I gave him a suggestion, he can use it or not, I don't mind passing on the little info I've learned over the years. But with all the back flush it's not worth it anymore.

I used Dr. Diff calculator, cut the housing with a portable bandsaw and had a shop jig/weld on late model big bearing ford ends. bolted on a set of junkyard 2000 ford explorer disc brakes w/ parking brakes. everything went great.

If you are still buying the Dana, make sure it is a 60, not 61 or 60HD. The HD will have more reinforcements on the cast housing and be heavier, plus axle tubes heavier. The 61 uses gears lower numerically than 3.54, many are stock at 3.07. AFAIK there are no deeper gears for the 61.

Use a jig for welding.

Big Torino ends are what most choose to use.

R.

FWIW when I was looking up the BOM numbers for Dana rears, they do show a Dana 61 w/ 3.73 and 4.10 gears. I've never heard of anything lower than 3.54 for the 61 either. Whether or not they actually exist, I can't say.

I almost bought a Dana just a week or so ago. Thought for sure it was a 3.54 geared 60...turned out to be a 61. If it doesn't have the "60" cast into the webbing near the cover, you better check the BOM on the passenger's side tube.

Lots of good tips here....I appreciate the info and help

That calculator on Dr Diffs sight is way cool........

Didnt realize that was on there....quite a valuable resource!

Mopar engineers didn't design the 60, Dana engineers did to mopar requirements....

I built one out of a dana 60hd once, the guy who did the narrowing/ends said his machine could barely handle it. It was free as I already had it sitting in my yard. It worked fine, but like mentioned, they are heavy.

How much heavier is the hd, I have one to cut and put in my car and if its just 10 lbs or so no biggie