Dana 60 buying help

[BamBamblazer]

Ok i have a line on 2 different 60's and cant decide which is a better deal. So being the smart man i am, i decided to ask you all!

Option 1: Dodge srw 60 front 4.88's pretty much stock. $1050 to the door

Option 2: dana 60 front chevy, 4.11:1s high steer arms (histeer in front or back of axle) 1 1/2' dom tie rod with the large tre tie rods, new pinion seal with new u strap yoke. new claipers (both sides) and new pads - has has spring plates too. and 3 new u bolts.also, a 14 bolt corp, 4.11:1s welded with disc brakes less than 30 miles on brakes, all new rotors, calipers, pads, brake lines, brackets. $1100 and drive 200+ miles to get it

I currently have a 14ff disked with 4.88's in the k5 so the dodge axle would be geared right but the chevy axle has a lot of mods and new parts but would have to be re-geared. What would you do????????

 

[jjlaughner]

tell you to go get the Dodge axle and have you give me the phone number of the guy with the chevy axle....
Both sound pretty good, the chevy setup sounds a little further along

 

[atho]

what year is the Dodge 60? just a warning, if its 89 or older, it will have the large external hubs, and there are no 35 spline lockouts for this axle.

I would go with the Dodge, though. Close by, and no other axle to mess with (this might not matter to you, but I don't know if you have a lot of space for the other 14b or not). Plus, it has the gears you want, which saves you a lot of $$ right off the bat.

 

[beater_k20]

i'd go with the Chevy axle. with the money you save on the spring plates, u bolts, brake rebuild, and all the other extras it has that you would have to do to the Dodge axle, you'd end up being cheaper off regaring the Chevy.

 

[BulldogK5]

If I read this right, with option 2 you get a D60 and a 14 bolt for $1100. Make the drive and get both. Further along in the rebuild.

 

[BulldogK5]

If I read this right, with option 2 you get a D60 and a 14 bolt for $1100. Make the drive and get both. Further along in the rebuild too.

 

[Zeus33rd]

Also keep in mind that the spring pads on the Dodge 60 are not the same as the GM 60. It's something like 1/2" wider on the Dodge 60. You'd have to pry your springs apart with a high-lift or something to make it fit. Needless to say, that would be murder on bushings, shackles etc. Go with the GM stuff.

 

[Ryan B.]

Jethro's right.
It will be 1/2" - 1" wider. some guys like mudhog i believe ordered offset bushings to correct for this.
Also the short side axle shaft is either 1" or 2" shorter than a chevy shaft. something for you to keep in mind. The shock mounts on a dodge will probably be straight off the housing instead of kind of bent like typical chevy fronts.. this means your shocks probably won't bolt right up.
I had some dodge d60 parts and when i tried to put them in a chevy d60 housing, the short side axle came up short and the splines didn't reach the carrier.

 

[Hossbaby50]

Get the Chevy D60. It is easier to swap in. A friend I wheeled with did the Dodge D60. He had to cut his spring bushing and space them out to match the spring width. He had to swap pinion yokes so he could use 1310 ujoints instead of having to mod driveshafts to the dodge joint. The dodge D60 steering arm is different then Chevy's also, and they are hard to mod to get to work with push pull steering if you don't go to crossover.

Harley

 

[Ryan B.]

Oh yah.. one benefit of the dodge d60.. the outer knuckles have the holes for the tie rod about 1"-2" higher than the chevy knuckles. not quite hi steer but hey.

 

[86chevybanshee]

you could go with the gm 60/ff and always sell the rear