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Dually axles through the years....?

shady

shady

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I'm planning to go through the axle in my 85 C30 dually. I believe it's a D70hd, but not sure :dunno: .
Looking around It seems like there's not as many options for traction adders and such.
So I was wondering what some of the newer dually's came with and would they be usable? Like width face to face.
Shock mounts and perches I'm not worried about, I can change those.

Also, would I gain enough with a newer axle to be worth it? Brakes, strength, etc?
I was thinking traction adder choices would be truetrac or selectable.
My current open diff kinda sucks lol.

Main use is DD and tow rig.

For some reason in the back of my mind i keep thinking that I heard D60 diff internals like carrier and stuff work in the 70. But that doesn't sound true when I think about it.? Any truth to that?
 
In all reality if I could find a good G80 for my current axle I'd probably be happy. But if I can gain strength, better brakes, and easier to find internals and such, then MAW.
 
I'm pretty sure the dually axle is a 70HD. Not sure if anything newer would be stronger, but then I don't know much of anything, let alone the newer stuff. But the newer stuff would prolly have discs, less miles, less wear n tear. Maybe. I thought the HD was a common axle, so parts and traction options where decent...
 
Box with fender flairs = dana 70hd 72" hub face to face .

Utility trucks = 14ff c&c narrow width 63" hub faceto face .

Newer axles be metric lug studs . Disc brakes . 14ff based . Require newer rims to match the axle for different bell shape for brakes .

Your thinking JANA kit for gear parts swap . But he goes up not down in swaps .
 
Found this so I'm throwing it in here for future use.

www.rme4x4.com

General Tech - The Dana 70 Bible

Well, pirate seems like a place I'm no longer interested in sharing my tech with, so I'm moving the Bible here! Here is a copy/paste of the bulk of the info I've compiled. I'm going to skim through it and grab any additional useful info I see. Enjoy the tech! -Redd The Dana 70...
www.rme4x4.com www.rme4x4.com
 
Traction adders are definitely limited with this rear end, which I find odd.
 
My dana 80 in the 3500-HD has 37 spline axles . There is open / detroit style / true trac . No drop in lockers unless its 35 spline for the dodge crowd .
 
These are the case breaks for 70hd and 80 which are almost identical. The 80 just has larger bolt holes. So depending on ratio, you can utilize dodge dana 80 differentials.
20180619_145412.jpg
 
shady said:
Traction adders are definitely limited with this rear end, which I find odd.
Click to expand...
It's because there are tons of different versions of "Dana 70's". Really wish they used different numbers to define them.

One piece carriers, two piece carriers, different spline counts, different widths between carrier bearings, etc. There are a lot of variances, and being semi-rare I can see why aftermarket support isn't as good.

Seems like the '88+ GM duallys (IFS) used a 14 bolt with a big axle tube that's a similar width, that's a good bit stronger and has more aftermarket support.
 
I'd prefer not to go selectable if I don't have to.
Looks like a power lock and Trac lock version of factory posi were offered, but I'm not sure how they operate.
Or how I'd ever find one lol.

I'll have to look into the newer 14b based ones and see what they're like.

Really a truetrac or G80 is what I'm aiming for. G80 being first choice.
 
shady said:
I'd prefer not to go selectable if I don't have to.
Looks like a power lock and Trac lock version of factory posi were offered, but I'm not sure how they operate.
Or how I'd ever find one lol.

I'll have to look into the newer 14b based ones and see what they're like.

Really a truetrac or G80 is what I'm aiming for. G80 being first choice.
Click to expand...
I think if you can find a newer disc brake 14bff axle you can be money ahead.
But if you have the 70hd it's a very strong axle and the only problem is the lack of cheap locker choices.
I believe the g80 was only offered in gm axles not Dana, but I could be wrong.
G80 would be my first choice for a tow rig, daily driver
 
shady said:
I'd prefer not to go selectable if I don't have to.
Looks like a power lock and Trac lock version of factory posi were offered, but I'm not sure how they operate.
Or how I'd ever find one lol.

I'll have to look into the newer 14b based ones and see what they're like.

Really a truetrac or G80 is what I'm aiming for. G80 being first choice.
Click to expand...
You can find a powrlok in the 93 and older dodge trucks. Some had 35 spline 70s. You will have to machine off .120 from each carrier bearing to convert it to HD.
 
I ended up w Detroit locker for the same reason. The Trutrac was discontinued. Not sure how width works out but my 96 dually had the 14BFF w 4.10’s and G80.
 
2001 to present GM truck dually is going to be a 11.5” AAM. Some vans use a 10.5” 14 bolt but a lot of them are Super 70’s. I think they make a G80 gov-lock for the Super 70. The Super 70 uses an offset carrier. If you put a regular Dana 70 carrier in a Super 70 housing, one axle will be too short and one will be too long.

If you want a good factory limited slip with disc brakes, get a 2001-2002 Dodge Dana 80. I thing the indexing ring is different from early GM. I think the newer GM has a different indexing ring as well but that is easy to deal with. What gears are you wanting to run? If you want 3.73 the 2001 up GM is nearly always 3.73 with a G80.
 
I have 4.10s now, and would like to keep them or go to 4.56s. I think I'm going to try and find one of the 14b type with a g80. That sounds like the best option.
Probably be able to get one for less than just a locker for mine would cost.
Not really worried about disc brakes. But if it had them, that would be fine.
 
Look for a newer dually van that has a 14 bolt. They even switched to 4” axle tubes around 2010 or so in vans and still have the 8 on 6.5” bolt pattern. Gas van would likely be 4.10 gears but the diesel usually has 3.73 gears.
 
Wonder what the width difference bon the vans would be.
I've been looking for face to face dimensions on the 14b dually axles and can't seem to find any.
 
I have a few van Super 70’s and I have measured them. I think they we 72” or 73”. I bet the 14 bolts that replaced them are the same or at least close to that.
 
I'd just stick to an original drw axle because fitting the deep dually wheel over a single wheel brake system can be tough.
 
I'd only do a dually axle, van or otherwise.
 
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