Dana 60 conversion

I have a dana 60 out of a 72 dodge 1 ton van. Is it worth converting it over to a b-body application. I figure around $1000 in parts. If anyone makes a replica for around $1800 i would do that instead but i have a feeling they are more $$

Contact Cass at Dr Diff at 406-882-4772 and ask him about a new unit, make sure you know what exactly you want in it, gear ratio, spline count on the axles and posi and type of posi, locker or spool and brake type , disc or dumms and size of the brakes and so on He is also good at providing all the parts you will need to convert that van rear end into a unit you can bolt into your car also like new xke ends, axles, brakes and so on. You should measure the O.D. of the axle tunbes now and then decide if you want to use it or buy a ready to drop in unit I put one out of a Van like yours in my current 1966 Dodge Coronet deluxe two door sedan street project car, I had a local machine shop narrow it and put the new Moser axke ends on. I order the new 35 spline axles and a kit to convert one of my older Dana 60 Posi unit with 23 spline axles to 35 splines to fit the new axles. I used a set of 10.5 drum brakes off of a 8 1/4 rar end that I had junk the car out years ago. Ckeck your rear end to find out what gear ratio is in it and if it has a posi unit int it or not Mine had a later tru Trac 3 series posi unit in it with 3.55 gears, I reused the gears and change that posi unit to the older type so I could convert it to the larger 35 spline axkles
IHTS

I built mine for about 1200, that included a power lock, Ford torino ends and bearings, Dutchman shafts and explorer disc brakes. 3.54 gears. If you are willing to shop around the parts can be had fairly affordable. Tim

You can absolutely convert that truck Dana for less than a new Dana costs. You can reuse the ring & pinion and hopefully the diff. if it's a powerlock. Get a 35 spline kit from Dr. Diff w/ his axles, a yoke if the one on it won't work, and some new housing ends. Having to buy a new diff. is the expensive part, unless you're willing to use a spool.

Stock 60s are really stout. A friend is running low 8s with stock type gears and a spool.

Whichever way you do it, it pretty much takes the rear end out of the picture as far as worries, until you get to mega hp with huge gobs of nitrous or boost.

R.

In the Ramcharger, I am running stock 4.10 gears, a Dr. Diff spool, Dutchman 35 spline axles, Torino ends with Ford sealed bearings and a new Ford racing 11" drum brake kit. I had it professionally narrowed on a jig. I built it from a Dodge truck rear that I traded for. And I have about $1,600.00 in it.

I also built a Dana 60-2 for the '87 D100. It came with a PowerLock, stock 35 spline axles, 4.10 gears and rebuilt 12" drum brakes with 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern for $400.00 out of a yard. I had to narrow it 6" on the left tube and axle, respline the shorter axle and have the housing professionally jig welded. I have about $900.00 into this one.

Bargains can be found, you just have to look.

What did you guys do for the snubber, vans dont have it. So if i want to keep my gears, can i leave the pinion, transfer the ring over to a new trac pak posi and be ok or will the pinion have to be reset again.
Also any of you have the dims i need to cut the tubes. Thanks

Snubbers have no place in a modern suspension.

R.

(Now watch the haters pop up!)

23 to 35 spline axles, that's gotta be a HUGE difference..

When I installed a Dutchman ford 9" in my truck (in pic) I had a third member for the larger spline ( 28 vs 31? I think) and it was a significant difference in axle diameter....

No need to reset the pinion. Just swap the ring gear onto the new carrier and check the backlash.

You don't need to touch the pinion gear depth, shims, even if you have to change the pinion yoke You should, and need to, check the backlash in 3 or 4 places opposite of each other on the ring gear before removing the ring gear on the center section. It needs to be put back in with the same backlash + or - .002 either way The Mopar factory service manuals from 1966 to 1971 cover every aspect of working on and setting up properly the Dana 60 as well as all the other rear ends offered in the cars those years
You should buy one those if you want you want to set the new posi up yourself. The posi unit, center section carriers, needs to have between .012 and .015 positive preload. You should buy a good dial indicator(one inch travel measuring in .0010 increments) with a magnetic base to check the back lash and carrier preload I don't use a case spreader either, I use two pry bars to carefully pry the center section out and soft dead blow hammer to carefully put the center section back in I remove the carrier bearings off one of the old center section I had and used my die grinder with a sanding roll to hone the inner race so they would slip on and off easily on the new posi unit to help check and set the pinion bearing preload (Same thing on the rear pinion bearing ) Once you have the prelaod and back lash where you want it then remove them and install the new bearings on the shim packs you have on each side, don't change the shims after you have them set up Make sure and recheck both the back lash and prelaod, the carrier should not slide in easily after the new bearings are pressed on
As far as shims Dr Diff offers kits for them, I bought several kits to help avoiding the shipping for the next two I will do The oldeder Dana 60 use shims to set up every aspect on them, pinion depth, pinion and carrier bearing preload and backlash. I have two junkyard truck and van 3/4 ton Dana 60 in the shop to use on future projects
As far as how much to narrow your rear end for your car are you happy with the way the current wheels and tires fit? Are you going to reuse them or change them? If changing them you will need to use them under the car with the rear end out to measure how wide the new rear end needs to be from axle flange to axle flange by measuring to the inner mating surface on the wheels Take you time in positioning them in the wheels well to get them perfect Mopar used a offset on the passenger side on all thier production car rear ends to get the pinion gear in the center of the driveshaft tunnel, I think it is between 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 inch shorter on the passenger side axle. Maybe someone on here can post a link to a past post with the exact measurments for the different year cars with the stock Dana 60s measurements
Don't forget to buy a new set of leaf spring mounting pads to use on the your Dana 60 housing, you may need to make them fit the larger axle tubes if yours are bigger O.D. than the stock 3.0 housing where Mine are 3 1/8 and I have seen some out of a 1 ton that had 3 1/4 inch O.D. tubes on them They all will work good
Good luck, welcome to the hot rod culture of doing it yourself

will the moroso ends fit into the larger dana 60 truck tubes?

Driver side tube on a D60 is 1 3/8" longer than pass side to get mopar offset. Pinion offset is 1 3/16".