Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Has anybody else seen a 6 lug semi floating Dana 60 rear axle in any older GMC 1500’s? My 1968 GMC 1500 has a factory 396/TH400, wood bed, A/C, Tach, bucket seats, etc. I was actually my first vehicle when I turned 15. The interesting thing is it has (Had and will have again) a semi floating 6 lug Dana 60 rear axle. I have not seen many semi floating Dana 60’s in vehicles other than on old Mopar muscle cars or in light duty ¾ ton 8 lug Ford F or E series. Most Dana 60’s are 8 lug full floating design used in ¾ ton trucks.

Unfortunately, my Dana 60 was pruned of 3 ring gear teeth one night back in the early 90’s racing some other punk in a Ranchero. I thought a Dana 60 could handle a built big block and TH400 with a serious shift kit but apparently not that 20 year old Dana 60 at the time. I was too broke at the time to fix it so I borrowed a Dana 44 out of another 68 GMC I had laying around, which is still in it today.

The axle has been sitting at my Dad’s place for over 10 years and I just drug it to my house yesterday to start collecting parts to resurrect it. As you can see by the pictures, it has been apart for quite a while. I am thinking 3:73 gears and a Tractech Truetrac for the rebuild.

Anybody see one of these things before?

didn't they put those in the m1009 military blazers? Looks just like the one in ours.

the military blazers had 10 bolts f&r.

those semifloating dana 60's are pretty hard to find. some jeep pickups had a semifloat 60 rear that had 35 spline axle shafts. i would keep it just for the neato factor.

Apparently these rare GMC semi float 60's had 30 splines. I counted my splines today while surfing for parts. Somewhere along the line I lost the brake backing plates. Hopefully, the Dana 44 backing plates will work.

I parted out a 69 Chevy 1/2 ton with that rear. It came with a 396 and Turbo 400 and had those funny looking helper springs. It was a Posi. Had it rebuilt and some of the bearings were listed as Ford parts. Also had the axles redrilled to a 5 on 5 pattern.

Hmmm….that is really strange because back then GMC used Dana rear axles and Chevrolet used Corporate or Eaton rear axles. Yours may have been more of a rare bird than mine especially if yours had a Dana axle with rear coil springs. GMC’s had leave springs and Chevrolet’s had coils but leafs were an option. On paper a Dana axle with coil springs does not exist anywhere. Mine is a leaf spring axle.

I hear ya Larry....I had no idea what it was until a friend of mine stopped by and told me. Another friend of mine has it now. I will try and get some pics of it. It was rebuilt with the respect it deserved. Completely stripped, powdercoated and everything internal rebuilt. I remember it being listed on the glovebox option sheet but unfortunately, it's long gone.

I have seen a couple of those over the years and they seem to be rare, anymore I just build them up custom if I'm not going to run 8 lug.

That's a great rearend. I have a couple of them...and yes one is leaf and one is coil. They are really bulletproof. The nice part is they bolt right in our trucks.
I ran a dana 60 in a 454 Vette drag racer with 14" slicks, for years and couldn't hurt it.

They came in half ton trucks with big blocks in the '68 - '72 era. I thought all semi-floating 60s had 35 spline shafts. Let us know when you pull yours apart. It is a very strong axle, and ideal behind a big block IMO.

and would you like to part with one?????

I don't know if you are talking 1/2 tons. But I have seen atleast 3 3/4 ton chevy's with coils running Dana 60's. My 71 Burb has one.

Yeah, I was referencing ½ tons. Although, I never really noticed a Pre-72 Chevrolet ¾ ton with coils or leafs and a Dana axle. I have played with a lot of these era of trucks and have only seen Eaton rear axles in Chevrolet ¾ tons. GMC used Dana axles in both ½ ton and ¾ up until 1970 or 1971 then moved to Corporate axles on the ½ tons and stayed with Dana in the ¾ ton until the new 1973 body style.

Blazer1970, my semi float Dana 60 has 30 splines.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

I know this is an ooooold thread but has anyone heard of a semi float D60 in a early (like, 1963) half-ton? Guy locally claims he has a 1963 GMC D60, 61" drum to drum and 42" perch to perch... I kind of want it but he's asking $600...

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

I would think it's a D44 as those era GMC didn't get BB in half tons.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

The earliest rear D60 Chevy/GMC Dana lists a BOM for is 67.
Ref doc. X510-8DSD (a common file on pdf).

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

I don't think they were only a big block thing. But, as pointed out, '67 was first year they were used.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

think i have one in my storage building ,came out of a late 66 gmc crew cab/ built by "stageway" for the railroad ! need to ask in another section "wiw" always thought it was wierd or a oddball ! thanks mike

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Heavy duty rear Dana 60 was an option in these trucks.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

I've seen a coil Dana 60 SF from a V6 C1500. I'd pay $600 for one. It's exactly what I've wanted for my '67 project. The one I'm talking about was all rebuilt and not cheap.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Hey Larry I know this is an old thread did you figure this out? I have one of these rears from a 63 GMC. I purchased it for a 4X4 project. It's posi coil sprung. I have swapped coils to leaf before. My problem is the rear came with no brakes. I figured I would switch to disc can't find kits anywhere

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Since Mr Duck1 revived this Zombie thread, I have question:
Is it possible to take a D60 and fit 6-lug axles on it?
Even if such axles are not on shelves, I bet Moser will cut you axles in any configuration you can afford.
Thinking of converting a Dana 60 for 6-lug wheels on a '67 K/10 Suburban project.

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

The ends of the housings/brakes/hubs are quite different between full floating (8 lug) and semi floating (6 lug)

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Yeah. I realize that. Can you get an axle made that's Full Floating with 6-lugs?
I don't want to convert to 8-lug tires.
I have 3 trucks with 6-lugs. No /20s .

Re: Rarity of a 6-lug semi floating Dana 60?
 

Nothing to do with the axle. I don't think the center bore of a 6x5.5 rim will fit over the hub of a full floater 8x6.5 even if you could weld and re-drill the hub and drum for the smaller bolt circle.