Dana how to.. (lots of pics)

Posted By: Anonymous

Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 03:32 AM

The Dana is in, so I thought I would share with you guys how I set it up, and I wanted to show you the nice piece that Strange makes. This was purchased from Ray Barton.

The first order of business was to put an angle finder on the perch of the old 8 3/4 AFTER leveling the front of the housing. Write down your angle.

The Dana came strapped to a crate, so I loosened the straps, used a hydraulic floor jack to level the assembley per the angle finder on the yoke, then I tightened the straps back down. Instant jig!!

Next, figure out where the perces are going to be placed as far as width is concerned, and scribe a line..

With paint or a paint pen, mark the perch and housing after you place you perch in the correct position as far as width is concerned.

Next, place your perch in the correct spot and use the angle finder to set your perch angle per the old axle reading. I actually put 2 degrees more "pinion down" into mine as I had to use shims with the old axle to get my pinion angle correct. Now is the time to make it right. Just be sure you are moving it the correct way if you do change it. Remember the paint pen? This is when it comes in handy. Make a pencil mark on the housing and perch for alignment purposes. This way, you can move the angle finder out of the way when you weld them on..

Weld them up.

Paint it up! (POR 15 for me)

Put it in!! Its a Dana so fuhgetaboutit!!!

***PS, Thanks to MoparMuscle Magazine and Steve Dulcich. I followed their tech. article..

Hit refresh if you see any little red X's

Posted By: 383man

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 03:39 AM

Damn that looks good Gary !

Ron

Posted By: 5280Dart

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 03:46 AM

Well, I took your advice and the advice of others and my Dana 60 should be here in a couple weeks.

Yours sure looks right at home.

Posted By: earlybee

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 04:08 AM

i gotta get a chrome cover lol, welcome to the club of fuhgetaboutit!

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 04:10 AM

Great job Gary!

Thanks for the play by play with pic's on how to set the perches. I've never done that before, good information to know. When you said level the housing.....are you talking from side to side, like from axle flange to axle flange?
You have been a busy boy

, everything looks top notch

Thanks for sharing, looks like archive materail to me.

Mike

Posted By: Michael

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 04:11 AM

DANA----only way to go.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 04:20 AM

Quote:

Great job Gary!

Thanks for the play by play with pic's on how to set the perches. I've never done that before, good information to know. When you said level the housing.....are you talking from side to side, like from axle flange to axle flange?
You have been a busy boy , everything looks top notch

Thanks for sharing, looks like archive materail to me.

Mike

Mike, when I said "level the housing" I meant, level it like I did with the Dana at the yoke. The problem was that I had already removed the chunk from the housing, so I had to use a metal straight edge and angle finder on that. The straight edge goes across the opening top to bottom of the opening in the housing where the centersection bolts in. Its got to be straight up and down or your perch angles will not be right.

Posted By: Guido

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 05:40 AM

Wow, that looks saweeeeet!!!

My old raggedy vans always have a Dana already in them and with good 4:10`s too. So I never even "haddathankaboudit" to begin with lol lol.
The dang things seem indestructible, or at least I`ve never been able to brake any part of one and I`ve tried my hardest to nuke them things too.
I`ve heard alot of people say they`re a major pain to rebuild and there are NO shops around that do them anymore, there`s one place 60 miles away and you have to drop it of ...for a long while. But I think there`s no one to work on them .... because they "nevaneedit" !! Heheheeeeee.

Posted By: CrazyRocker70

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 05:50 AM

looks good!! how dose a dana60 cost?

Posted By: JohnRR

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 06:05 AM

crazy , about 1500 beans the way gary got it ..

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 06:53 AM

GOOD INFO HERE. nice job gary. i need one of them there dana's. i assume the overall lenght is the same as the 8 3/4"
btw, i think i just missed you at chucks last saturday!

Posted By: LAR_414

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 01:20 PM

I would have done it a little differently. It would take longer, but I would sleep a little better at night.

I would put the rear up in there with the pearches (not welded) and bolt it all down with the weight of the car on the suspension. Measure and adjust all angles, then tack weld. Pull rear back out and fully weld the perches on.

I would do it this way, because you are assuming a few things. If your old rear was put in and then you added different springs (SS or others) the pearches may not be the same. For instance, my SS springs require the pearches to be at different angles for the left side vs the right side. If I did it based on a stock 8 3/4, I would have welded them up both sides the same, and when bolted down, the spring would be under stress (Twisting) all the time.

Just a different perspective.

Love your car Unlawful! Good Luck.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 01:21 PM

Quote:

GOOD INFO HERE. nice job gary. i need one of them there dana's. i assume the overall lenght is the same as the 8 3/4"
btw, i think i just missed you at chucks last saturday!

John, I may be there this Saturday. Stop by, I'd like to finally shake your hand. Anyway, I had the Dana built roughly 1" shorter for a touch more clearance at my wheel well. So actually, when I located the perches, they were moved 1/2" inward on each side from the axle flange. No problem! BTW, since you have the good MW parts in your 8 3/4 already, I would have no problem running one if the housing was braced.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 03:20 PM

Gary,
thanks for clarifying my confusion, I understand now....that was a pretty slick and easy method.

Mike

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 04:51 PM

Looks GREAT Gary. This one should "Live" a lot longer than the 8 3/4 that was in there. One less thing to worry about and a very clean job.

As for perch mounting, it should be fine mounting them at the (2-degree modified) same angle as the Existing 8 3/4 rear, but I would have to agree with "LAR 414" as to the method of installing Perches at the Correct Pinion Angle being better done, IN the car.

That way being mounting the rear in the car with the Perches Loose, U-Bolts holding it together, Lowering the Full-Weight of the car to the Ground, adjusting Pinion-Angle, then Tack-Welding the Perches in place according to the Springs being used, etc.

If your Existing Rear (from the factory?) already has perches set to achieve, say 7-degrees, nose-down, or that 2-degrees you added gets you there, then you should be fine, but for most people it is better to actually SET the Perch/Pinion-Angle IN the car, tack-weld the perches, then remove the rear and Fully weld the perches on.

That way, the perches are more or less guaranteed to be the Correct or Desired New pinion-angle, as Mounted in the car. Also, side-to-side placement can be off due to production tolerances at the Factory, vehicle wear, Spring Location, etc, so Locating the Perches with the Rear Mounted IN the car can correct for existing, current conditions.

That is the Method I used when I mounted the Dana 60 rear in my car, last May.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 05:27 PM

Very interesting perspective on the different way to mount/weld perches on the axle. That would actually be the most acurate way to do it without a doubt.

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Dana how to.. (lots of pics) - 04/04/03 05:44 PM

Yes Gary, I can't remember exactly where I first read about it, but it was through Moparts to either a Link or direct advice from a member. I was thinking it was BigBlockDart website, but that's not it.

I know I have read this method referenced from more than one source, so it is pretty common knowledge, but the method you used is a pretty common way to do it too.

It's just that for a Performance application, particularly where you are setting the Pinion-Angle to an other than "Factory" setting, this method is more precise and less likely to require future Shim adjustment to get it dialed-in if it is not correct.

You should be fine with the way you did it, but you might want to check it again, once it's installed.