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Dana 60 Upgrades (With Pictures)

noahrob

noahrob

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Ok, I have read a lot of stuff, so hopefully this will be an intelligent question, and if not, I am sure I can count on you guys to let me know...So last week we opened my D60 adn there was nothgin but water and mud in it. Cleaned it out, put th ecover back on adn filed it up with fluid. Went wheeling last saturday and 4 wheel drive worked fine...Got home went inside to grab a glass of water and when I came out there were two puddles of gear oil dripping down the inside of my front tires.
Quesiton 1: Based on what I have read I am 99% sure this is an inner axle seal issue. Correct?

Question 2: Since I have to di*k around with the axle, I am going to install a lockright at the same time. Is there anything else that is pretty standard to do while you have everything apart? I am thinking I will simply repack the wheel bearings, unless there are signs of trouble, maybe replace the brake pads, but that was all I was thinking.
 
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If there was water in there, I would get a master install kit and rebuild the entire diff. Water in the differential is no good for pinion and carrier bearings. While you have it apart, replace them all. I just did that on my 60 today and it was cake.
 
Are those inner axle seals better than the GM OEM ones? I read a post that said to stay away from after market seals? Also, where would a fairly inteligent, yet completely ignorant, guy locate a master install kit? I'll do a search...


And thank you for taking the time to reply, I can't know what I don't know.
 
OK, now I am going to get it, but when people refer to replacing the shafts on the D60, are they speaking of the inner shaft (carrier to U Joint) or outer shaft (U Joint to hub)? Also, if you go 35 spline, you need new hubs, but I read a few posts that said the 35 spline hubs were weak so they go with "flanges"? How does that work?
 
I'll take a stab at this.

The 35 spline stub shafts (outer) are stronger due to larger size, greater spline count. Problem is, the hubs that work with those have less material in them because the "hole" for the shaft has to be larger. So lots of people reccomend just going with upgraded 30 spline shafts if you are going to use hubs.

Hubs are selectable, locked or unlocked. Drive flanges are basically a piece of metal that the shaft goes into....it is locked all the time and practiacally indestructable. So your front end will be locked in all the time. Not so great for a DD, but fine for a weekend truck.
 
Thanks man, I thought drive flanges were just on all the time...So the axle shafts to upgrade are the outers and 30 spline chromoly is the way to go with hubs whereas 35 spline is the way to go for STRONG, but means drive flanges to really make it work...

My brother lives in Davis. I'll ping you if I go visit...
 
noahrob said:
Are those inner axle seals better than the GM OEM ones? I read a post that said to stay away from after market seals?
Click to expand...

Spicer is not "after market" in a dana axle. I ordered those seals from that vendor, have yet to install them but they sound pretty good to me. Don't know anyone using the new design, but it *seems* good in theory.
 
Alright, man I have learned a LOT, thanks guys. A few more quickie questions.

1) Anybody have even a rough idea of what 30 spline outer axles shoudl run? I am is $300 good, bad...any insight?

2) For those of you with upgraded outer stubs, did you keep the stock inner axle or replace that as well?
 
As far as the inner shaft, if you have the newer non-neckdown inners then you don't have to upgrade. The older neckdown shafts were considerably weaker than the fat inners. I got new 4340 inners but I like to spend my car payment on parts for my truck so....
 
noahrob said:
Alright, man I have learned a LOT, thanks guys. A few more quickie questions.

1) Anybody have even a rough idea of what 30 spline outer axles shoudl run? I am is $300 good, bad...any insight?

2) For those of you with upgraded outer stubs, did you keep the stock inner axle or replace that as well?
Click to expand...

A pair of Yukon chromoly 30-spline stubshafts should be under $200 delivered. I just bought a pair of the 35-spline Yukon stubs and they were $194 delivered, and the 30-splines were the same price.

If you have the necked-down inners than I would recommend buying new non-necked shafts. Several years ago I bought Spicers, but if I was doing it today I would probably buy Yukon alloys assuming the price wasn't much different. The Yukon stubs cost about $50 more than Spicers, so I would assume it would be similiar with the inners.

Also highly recommend getting a new set of Spicer u-joints.
 
Where did you get those axles from? A vendor on this site? I've been quoted 210 for chromoly axle stubs delivered, but haven't found a vendor for the inners or U-Joints.
 
noahrob said:
Where did you get those axles from? A vendor on this site? I've been quoted 210 for chromoly axle stubs delivered, but haven't found a vendor for the inners or U-Joints.
Click to expand...

I got mine from a vendor on Pirate4x4 that had a really good reputation. There was at least one vendor on here with comparable prices, and at least 2-3 others on Pirate4x4 with similiar prices.

If these guys can sell stubshafts, I would think they would also carry the inners........especially if they carry Yukon stuff. Same thing goes for the u-joints.
 
How do I determine if the inner shafts are necked down without extracting them? Also, are stock inner shafts 30 spline so that regardless of whether I go to 35 spline on the outer stubs, I stay 30 spline on the inner to match the gears?
 
noahrob said:
How do I determine if the inner shafts are necked down without extracting them? Also, are stock inner shafts 30 spline so that regardless of whether I go to 35 spline on the outer stubs, I stay 30 spline on the inner to match the gears?
Click to expand...
Yes, unless you want to go crazy with mucho$$$$ and buy the 40 spline stuff. If I upgrade to 35 spline outers, I will just keep an extra set of lockouts with me. I am lazy and I want the part on the outside to break first.
 
The Dana 60 is a military axle so I have no idea what year it is. I will try to get the number of the housing and see what I can determine from that.

OK, here is the plan.
1. If neck down, then new 30 plined inner axles. If not, then nothing.
2. 30 spline chromoly outer axles
3. Lockright
4. New stupid inner seals which is why I am doing this int he first place.
 
noahrob said:
The Dana 60 is a military axle so I have no idea what year it is. I will try to get the number of the housing and see what I can determine from that.

OK, here is the plan.
1. If neck down, then new 30 plined inner axles. If not, then nothing.
2. 30 spline chromoly outer axles
3. Lockright
4. New stupid inner seals which is why I am doing this int he first place.
Click to expand...

If you have military axles then you definately have the big 35 spline inners. Look over on pirate in the tech section for the dana 60 bible. They have a BOM list that will tell you a lot about your axle. Did you get the 14 bolt with it? If so, say hello to the detroit inside.
 
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