68 is coming along nicely

[bradshawtech]

Got the flatbed off today, frame of the truck looks great, I’ll have the new “used” 68’ bed here this week.
Pressure washed the frame and rear axle and the underside of the cab, caught the transfer case too.

Axle ratio turns out to be 4.56:1

Pulled the wheels to rotate them and pulled the drums and found brand new brake shoes on every corner.

Didn’t pull the cover but there is a limited slip in the rear axle. Woo Hoo! Seen the books in the owners manual packet that was in the glovebox when I bought the truck, been looking forward to getting the rear off the the ground to test it out.

I love all these good surprises I’m getting from this truck.

 

[6872xtc]

I don't know if I am remembering correctly, but I thought that the D60 rear axle wasn't available until '70. If this is correct, do you believe that it was swapped?

Nice score either way!

 

[Bent77]

Well the propaganda with it is original. That’s a hella cool strike of unobtanium!

 

[bradshawtech]

The axle has drums and is full floater... do you need pics of any other details to confirm it’s originality?

Again, another good surprise from this truck. It sure looks original to me, no way for me to be sure.

 

[Bent77]

Not 68, but looks like “4.57” was a factory gear set for the 4x in 1969

https://ck5.com/forums/threads/1969.324356/

 

[bradshawtech]

I wasn’t clear on the last post, they all started out with drums... what surprised me was the small 2” brake shoes on such a heavy axle and 3/4 ton.

 

[bradshawtech]

I wasn’t clear on the last post, they all started out with drums... what surprised me was the small 2” brake shoes on such a heavy axle and 3/4 ton.

 

[6872xtc]

The axle has drums and is full floater... do you need pics of any other details to confirm it’s originality?

Again, another good surprise from this truck. It sure looks original to me, no way for me to be sure.

I agree that it looks to be a great surprise!

I don't know the exact specifications of when the HO axle was discontinued for the D60. I was curious if you know. I know that they were both a full float axle. I have seen both, I even owned a '68 C20 with the HO axle and '70 GMC C20 with the D60, but I can't remember when the change came into the factory line-up.

 

[rksjd8420]

GMC’s will nearly always have a Dana 60 and Chevrolet’s will have the Eaton.

 

[max 02]

Thing even has Toyo M55s!

 

[bradshawtech]

GMC’s will nearly always have a Dana 60 and Chevrolet’s will have the Eaton.

This truck is a 68’ Chevrolet... do you think the axle has been swapped earlier in its life?

 

[bradshawtech]

Thing even has Toyo M55s!

Is that rare? They’re pretty dry rotted, I’ll run em till I have to make a long run out of the Valley

 

[Bent77]

This truck is a 68’ Chevrolet... do you think the axle has been swapped earlier in its life?

I’ve seen other Chevrolet’s with the d60. GM wasn’t exactly perfect in the “GMC only” options. Or possibly it was a special order for the Detroit that maybe wasn’t offered otherwise

Id bet it is original

 

[rksjd8420]

This truck is a 68’ Chevrolet... do you think the axle has been swapped earlier in its life?

I think it looks original. They did some weird things back then. I have seen a few Dana 60’s in Chevrolets even half ton 2wds. The no spin is really common in the Eaton but I haven’t seen many in the Dana 60s.

 

[6872xtc]

I have seen the D60 in a 1/2 ton 2wd, it was a big block 4spd truck. It had coarse splined axles that had worn excessively in the splines, something that I hadn't found in the 12 bolt ones. The guy was having a difficult time finding replacement axles.

I hope that this full float axle is in decent shape and not a problem if it needs work. I would like to believe that it will be good.

And I just realized that it has outboard drums! Nice! Think about how long it took for the 14B to do that.

 

[rksjd8420]

I have seen the D60 in a 1/2 ton 2wd, it was a big block 4spd truck. It had coarse splined axles that had worn excessively in the splines, something that I hadn't found in the 12 bolt ones. The guy was having a difficult time finding replacement axles.

I hope that this full float axle is in decent shape and not a problem if it needs work. I would like to believe that it will be good.

And I just realized that it has outboard drums! Nice! Think about how long it took for the 14B to do that.

I think they were 16 spline. The Chevy 1/2 ton 2wd with the Dana 60 had the trac bar mounting stud built into the casting like the 12 bolt. I always thought that was really weird to go through that much trouble for something that was extremely rarely used.

 

[Bent77]

I have seen the D60 in a 1/2 ton 2wd, it was a big block 4spd truck. It had coarse splined axles that had worn excessively in the splines, something that I hadn't found in the 12 bolt ones. The guy was having a difficult time finding replacement axles.

I hope that this full float axle is in decent shape and not a problem if it needs work. I would like to believe that it will be good.

And I just realized that it has outboard drums! Nice! Think about how long it took for the 14B to do that.

Never understood why they didn’t do that sooner on the 14FF

Get a Peak at the shafts or gearset @bradshawtech ?

 

[obijuank5]

That ks10 detroit paperwork is for the eaton axle.

 

[max 02]

Is that rare? They’re pretty dry rotted, I’ll run em till I have to make a long run out of the Valley

Not rare, but expensive, they are good tires though. I’ve had lots of sets of them on my truck,they do really good on gravel roads.

 

[bradshawtech]

Never understood why they didn’t do that sooner on the 14FF

Get a Peak at the shafts or gearset @bradshawtech ?

Not yet, it felt really tight with the tires off the ground, no slop trying to rock the tires back and forth. The no slip held well enough that I loosened the lug nuts easily with a breaker bar with the tires off the ground.