I'm looking for a dana 60 to replace my 8 3/4. I was in the junk yard today and saw a bunch of E250 vans, with what looks like semi float dana 60's. They also had a speed sensor on top. Are these axles suitable for a performance build? I know to stay away from the dana 61. Are there any other variations that I need to stay away from?

Measure the OD of the tube to see if its the
heavy 3.250

the axle tube should be 3 " dia. look for dana 60 from 67 to 72 ford 1/2 pickup. on the lower right hand corner is cast 60. then you know , it's real. the ford dana, is lighter, has passenger car ends on it. it's very easy to change ends to mopar.

Most of the truck Danas are 3.125" or 3.25" axle tubes. I have 2 truck Danas under 2 different road runners at home. Both have 3.125" tubes...one from a ford truck and one from a dodge truck.

6packdak...I'm no help w/ the newer van Danas. I saw several of those myself in the junkyard and wondered the same thing. Ended up finding a couple of older ones and got them instead.

I will have to go back later this week to check. They definitely aren't any bigger than 3.25

I pulled one out of a truck or van can't remember now and ordered the 3" tubes from strange along with the housing ends, and took it to a shop that works on just differentials, so the just put it in their jig, asked what angle the flanges have to be at and they welded it all up.

The semi-floating Dana 60s under Ford vans and pickups from 1981 - 1982, (pickups) and 1981 - 1983, (vans), are 61s.

There's a guy on the Q&A page looking for one.

R.

Thats what i used in my 65 dart ford truck dana but i cut off a set of the wide factory ends off 8 3/4 and used them on my dana

My buddy had a truck Dana- he cut to exact same width as his E body rear, welded 8 3/4 ends on and slipped his axles from his 8 3/4 in it....

I have a couple Dodge motorhomes with Danas under the rear.... hmmmm

Truck housings have no pinion snubber holes.....

The Dana I put under my 65 Plymouth B-Body came out of a 78 ford truck. The 35 splines out of my 8-3/4 I tore up went right in my Dana axle

Unless I'm wrong my buddy had 30 spline stock axles which slid right in....?

30 is stock.. most guys run the 35.. bigger is
better

also axle splines are 30 spline, same as a mopar, you can weld 8 3/4 ends on slide your stock axles in,I been there before.

I was runing 35 spline moser axles in my 8-3/4. I put a 35 spline spool in. My Dana 60

Also if you are runing the stock Dana suregrip and latter on want to change to 35 spline axles., but want to keep the sure grip.Doctor Diff sells 35 spline spider side gears

I went back to the junk yard today. They scrapped every single full size van in the yard this week. I went to another junkyard and found several more though. They were all 3.73 limited slips with 3.5" axle tubes.

I used an early 70s ford truck with 3.73s in my belvedere. I bought a jig on ebay and narrowed and put on car ends. I could have got it done for about the same cost as the jig, but I've done a couple others, so it's paid for itself.

I have a race fabrication shop less than 15 minutes from me so having them weld up the car ends and setup the ring and pinion was a no brainer! I have ~$900 in a Dana 60 that was cut to my width with aftermarket axles and a spool!

I usually look around for good used 35 spline axles around the length I can use... Less the jig, my rear cost around 300 with a new spool. 35 spline strange axles you couldn't even tell were used. I'm cheap, so 900 would be way too much for me!

I wonder if the all have to have the 60 number stamped in the lower right

to be a true Dana 60 ? have one from an E 250 van 1985 that is stamped....


Do you know other sources in later models like F-250 1998?

Dan