rear to front

[blazin_blazer]

i have seen people grinding out the rosette welds on their diffs and pushing the tubes out and replacing them with like 1/4"wall tubing...and it got me to wondering..

i have a dana 60 in my yrd that is beefier than anything i've ever seen, i mean the webing has tops on them like an i beam and cast in gussets everywhere with the same t bar look...i searched the webbing and found out why it has 60-hd cast into one of the webs,

it is out of a ford i have been told but perches have been moved and it fits under a chevy now, but the diff isn't centered it is about a foot to the passenger side, i've been told that it is something ford did to control torque steer when it gets traction the offset is supposed to help it not pick the other tire up...it puts a real compound angle on the drive shaft as it is running downward and to the right.i used it for a bit but brke about 3 ujoints so out it came and a 14 bolt ff went in.

now i never plan on running this axle again, and i have seen people turning their diffs upside down to get the pinoin up higher and i also have seen hi pinion axles..now when this is the case ,either way, how does the pinion bearing get the lubricant it needs?

i want to know if i can turn this thing around..custom make tubes with knuckles and put reverse cut gears in it and add steering components and disk brakes from another axel and finally have me a d60 front end a hd on top of that. this is with out turning it upside down.

if it was turned upside down could it be made to run like a high pinion...i'm sure most of us have seen the little lucas oil displays in the autoparts stores where there are 4 gears stacked on each other with a little handle at the bottom and there are two of them one side has regular oil the other side has lucas additive...you spin the 1 with just oil and it all stays in the bottom....you spin the1 with the lucas in it and the oil climbes up the gears leaving a heavy coat of oil on all the gears.

is this how a high pinion gets its lubrication by using a special oil?has any1 done what i'm talking about and if so what outers do i need to put on the axel tubes. at the local mud bog i saw a toyota that they actually cut the toys axel tube about a foot back and then they measured how wide they wanted it and actually slide the toys tube up inside the dana 60 rear, squared it like you do a flange when you are welding pipe tacked it good so it wouldn't move and then welded it around the tube on both sides..i asked about his axel shafts and he swore the toy had 32 spline axels and slipped right into the d60 carrier? i didn't/don't now so i couldn't argue..i think he said they may have been out of an fj-40,and he swapped them out at the ujoint and used a d60 inner and a toy outter, but it worked thats the thing

now i want to put this d60-hd in my front but i need to know what vehicle or axle i need to get the stuff to weld to axle ends. and where to get custom axles that wont snap..and the reverse cut gears and can i flip it to make a high pinion...every1 step on up if 2 heads are better than 1 then 50 are better than 2...i would like to see this come together as it will be a heavier front diff than just a regular d-60...i've actually thought about sending it off to a driveline specialist and let them do this for me....any sugestions first?

i have a bs in mech engineering and before i got it during summer i worked as a pipe fitter and welder i had like 6-7 certs at 1 time, but i have broke my back twice and have had 5 hernia repairs and i'm now on social security and take large doses of several different narcotics thru out the day..i can double up on my oxy's and do just about what i want,but i'm half drunk,high whatever you call it and i have my dad who is retired and friends i can call on to help...so this is doable? i know it is, if any1 knows what i need to put on the ends...if i mess up i can pull the tubes and send the diff to the pros then...thanks in advance

 

[blazin_blazer]

come on

no one knows of a driveline shop that can help me out? no1 has fabed up there own front axel...or know what diameter stuff i need to put this together....and to think i was about to become a member ,so i can get ignored?

 

[cybrfire]

no one knows of a driveline shop that can help me out? no1 has fabed up there own front axel...or know what diameter stuff i need to put this together....and to think i was about to become a member ,so i can get ignored?

There is a guy on here that has put a rear axle in the front. Don't know if it was ever completed. I saw pics of it under the truck but that's about it. Maybe if he sees this thread he can help you out.

I've personally never done it so I don't think I can give you anything that qualifies for good tech. Biggest problem you'll run into is to find the parts such as inner c's and knuckles on out, they'll be difficult to find or expensive reproduction aftermarket stuff. Which isn't bad if you don't mind spending the dollars. I think most that head down this road end up figuring its easier and cheaper to find a D60 front and call it a day. Each to his own.

 

[blazin_blazer]

yea i understand where u are coming from

the diff i have is not your everyday d60 it has 60-hd cast into the webbing and it is a monster. i've seen d60 front and rears and i've never seen one this braced and its all factory cast..where the cover bolts on it has another cast rib around it about an inch back and t bar looking gussets cast into it every where. i thought i may could find a newer model front end from a f-350 or anything with the right diameter tube in a wrecking yard and splice the outer steering parts on it and run reverse cut gears and get the diff over to the right hand side and have an extra heavy duty front end. or maybe just take the tubes out of the diff and send it to a driveline shop and tell them what i need and let them build it for me with high strenght axles and u-joints i don't know...maybe a pipe dream but i sure would like to have it....i actually have bumped into one member here that has a 14b front and a 14bff in the rear..

 

[k5 krawler 50]

Yea, K5MONSTERCHEV is his name on here. He is the one with the 14 bolt fornt. Maybe he will chime in on this thread and let you know more. As for the idea, i think it would be sweet as a project, but if you have a shop custom make it, it is going to cost big money..
Good luck with it though

 

[jason m]

you can use that 60 rear housing for a front but you cant turn it upside to use it as a HP, the standard cut gears wont line up, the center lines are differnt, plus if you tried to run standard cut gears upside down the axle will push you backwards.

when you said you heard peaple flipping axles over its because some buggys now run rear or mid mounted engines, so in order to keep the buggy going forward they flip the axles and re-cut the outers and turn them so the king pins are still in the propper place.

if you find a front 60 out of a junkyard F-350 then just use this axle and housing, cut the tubes out and set it up for a pass side drop. you will be suprised how beffy the front 60's fords are. what year is the 60 housing/axle you have, there where some mid 70's 60's that have a very beffy housing like you described but they have small corse spline axles and would have to be upgraded to 35 spline and drive up the cost of your axle build.

if your looking for more beef than a 60 ford then consider a 70 or a 14 bolt rear housing, but in order to do this there will be some machining required to the inner housing, you need to machine steps for inner axle seals for the housing, since all rear FF dont have inner axles seals because the outer bearings need to be lubed you would have to add them to your front or oil from the housing will spill out. you will have to do this to your HD 60 axle you have to unless its a semi float.

you have to ask your self what this axle going into that you need all the extra beef, is it better/cheaper to upgrade to rockwells ( this is what i did ) or another very strong stock axle like a volvo or MOG, jason.