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What Axle Should I Go With?

noJeepshere

noJeepshere

I Drove Trains!
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Ok, here's my question:



Actually, I need your guys input as to what I should do, especially from the crowd that have done a solid axle swap before. I currently have two axles, one is a Dana 44 from a Jeep pickup, the other is a Dana 60 from an 80's Ford pickup. I also have an ORD axle swap kit for the 60. I have been planning on putting the 60 in as I got it for cheap and why not? one tons are better than half tons, right? Right? I'm not so sure. See, in this truck (99 Yukon) I'm simply NOT going to run anything bigger than a 33" tire, and I'm not going to go crazy off-road with it. If I want to get into tough trails with unintentional bodywork happening to it, I'll buy a beater truck and work with that.



So, now, here is my question: which axle should I use?



The Dana 44 has 3.31 gears, so it'll need to be regeared, but is otherwise complete. It is a spring under setup (ideal actually, since I want to keep it low) with crossover steering. I currently have 3.73 gears in my Yukon but want to go to 4.10's. If I go with this axle, I can have the swap done by September for Blazer Bash in Moab, if I go with 3.73's in the front. I know a couple of guys that can help me regear my truck so I don't have to spend a pantload having a shop do the work. With 3.73 gears, I can keep my rear axle for now, then upgrade to a 14 bolt semi-float axle in a 6-lug setup for a reasonable price. The stock 10-bolt has held up so far to my abuse. And when I go with the 14bsf, I'll for sure regear to 4.10.



The Dana 60 has 4.10 gears and is complete hub to hub, and I already have the swap kit for it. But, I will need to procure a 14 bolt full float axle, which will eat up ground clearance and is heavy as hell. But, it'll be bulletproof and pretty much will never fail in my intended use of this truck.



One tons are heavy, and part of my goal with this is to keep it light (-ish) while making it more capable in all situations. So, should I stick with the one-ton running gear, or sell it and get a solid axle under my Yukon and beef up the lighter duty parts? I'm leaning towards the half-ton stuff.



Little help, guys?
 
You can buy hub kits to convert 60s to different bolt patterns......they are a bit on the pricey side if I recall.
 
if you buy a drw dana 60 and wana convert to srw and different bolt pattern that's fine since you be buying hubs anyway .
 
I thought the Jeep pickup axles were too narrow for a full size?

If it is full width, drivers drop, and high pinion, I would go with it. If not, sell them both and get an axle that is all of those things. Either way, you don't need the 60 front and it just takes away ground clearance you don't have much of on a 33" tire.

I would consider converting the D44 to 8 lugs for the bigger brakes and get a matching 4.10 14SF 8 lug rear.
 
kennyw said:
I thought the Jeep pickup axles were too narrow for a full size?

If it is full width, drivers drop, and high pinion, I would go with it. If not, sell them both and get an axle that is all of those things. Either way, you don't need the 60 front and it just takes away ground clearance you don't have much of on a 33" tire.

I would consider converting the D44 to 8 lugs for the bigger brakes and get a matching 4.10 14SF 8 lug rear.
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I think the J10 is a full width.


I would go with the dana 44 in this case. Even if a built dana 44 would be uber strong with just 33s.
 
The axle from the J10 is a "widebody" axle, so it's 63" hub to hub, instead of what ever the narrower ones are, 61" I think? The general consensus among a few of the off roaders at work is to regear the 44 to 4.10 and find a 14bsf for the rear, which I'm leaning towards anyways.

Thanks for the input guys.
 
I think you have a good plan with the 44 and finding a 14sf rear. Took me a afternoon to swap gears into 44. With help from someone who's done it you shouldn't have a problem.
 
Too bad you aren't closer, as I think my brother has a dana 60 rear end from a J-series Jeep truck.
 
noJeepshere said:
The axle from the J10 is a "widebody" axle, so it's 63" hub to hub, instead of what ever the narrower ones are, 61" I think? The general consensus among a few of the off roaders at work is to regear the 44 to 4.10 and find a 14bsf for the rear, which I'm leaning towards anyways.

Thanks for the input guys.
Click to expand...

63 is narrow FYI. I cut my full size axle down to 63" for the trooper/now s10 project. So technically thats really a minitruck/mid sized axle width and not really appropriate for a GMT400. How ever if you went 8 lug outers you would pick it up to 66in which might be damn perfect with the right wheels to keep the tires under the body and the truck low/stock style looking.
 
My ifs right now at ride height is 65", so with a 1" spacer on each hub I should be good to go width wise :thumb:
 
How much does a Dana 60 weigh ?

How much does a Dana 44 weigh ?

Weight of a full float 14 vs. a semi float 14 ?

How much difference is there in strength?
 
Something is not jiving here for me. The newer trucks had a rear axle that was 2.5" wider than our trucks were. 67" wms vs 69.5 wms or something really close to that. A chevy front axle off a square body is 69.5 wms to wms. The front end on your truck is just a touch wider.

I have used a high pinion 44 from an f-250 and to run stock wheels we had to run spacers to keep the wheels and tires from being way tucked in.

I have also used a kingpin 60 with the widespacing perches and its width came out pretty good.

That's j truck axle is gonna be way way to narrow under your truck
 
If that's the case use the 60 and find a suitable 14sf to match and never worry about breaking it on 33+ tires. You already have the install kit as well. Money saved then if the 44 ends up too skinny. I'd remeasure to Make sure. I've never been under the jtrucks to see the width. Either way there looks to be a option that you already have. If you are going to blazer bash and trying to keep up with those guys tw 60 may be your better option then. Even on 33s the crazy terrain you may encounter may prove too much for the 44 even on smaller tires.
 
I have seen jeep guys run c&c 14ff rear to get the narrow width .

then take a mid 80's less popular dana 60 ford front and cut the long side down and reweld the inner "c" back on and cut the inner shaft down and bore the yoke out and press it together and weld both ends of the yoke on to make new shorter shaft.

guy here in town did this years ago on his jeep and the combo worked great for years .
 
Okay now everyone don't hate me for this but I'm gonna play devils advocate here.


Riley, if youre gonna run 33's and no bigger then why sas it? Why though the work of using a spring under axle that you are going to have to run spacers on?

If you are dead set on a sas project then that's cool, but forme personally I would rather use a dana 44 out of a Ford So you can have t high pinion as well as the radius arm suspension. It will be smoother and nicer ride over the leaf springs and wll offer much more tune-ability over leaf springs as well. Also if you want to get crazy with it later down the road, extend the arms and wrist one of them and run coil overs. Don' do it twice, do it once.

Just my thoughts here. I'll go back to the lounge and rc car thread now.
 
You just get out of here with all your nonsensical logic JJ


Btw I am kind of wondering the same thing.

I have driven just about every size of tire out there several sizes on the exact same vehicle. From 33s to 42s There is just really not much difference in between a 33 and a 37 in terms of driveability.

My suggestion is use the one ton stuff run 35s and never set limits on it he truck. I used to do that never again. I have also built a whole lotta trucks and always recommended a larger tire than was initially planned. Never had anyone come back and say. Gee wish I had gone with the smaller tires
 
ion said:
Okay now everyone don't hate me for this but I'm gonna play devils advocate here.


Riley, if youre gonna run 33's and no bigger then why sas it? Why though the work of using a spring under axle that you are going to have to run spacers on?

If you are dead set on a sas project then that's cool, but forme personally I would rather use a dana 44 out of a Ford So you can have t high pinion as well as the radius arm suspension. It will be smoother and nicer ride over the leaf springs and wll offer much more tune-ability over leaf springs as well. Also if you want to get crazy with it later down the road, extend the arms and wrist one of them and run coil overs. Don' do it twice, do it once.

Just my thoughts here. I'll go back to the lounge and rc car thread now.
Click to expand...

An ifs lift will cost as much and not be as strong as even the Dana 44 will be. Plus a solid axle offers more flex and capability than the ifs ever will be able to.
 
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