Dana 60 swap done!

[DirtyLarry]

Well, it only took 16 years of the K10 ownership to finally join the front Dana 60 club and I probably still wouldn’t be a member if it wasn’t for Mosesburb and his well-tuned nose that tends to sniff out good deals of the metal variety. I never even noticed this axle on CK5 or on Craigslist. For years I searched for a Dana 60 but refused to pay $1000+ for a ragged out used axle that would have had the wrong gear ratio and probably would have had dual wheel hubs. But for $1200 it was too good to pass up being it was a brand NOS single wheel axle with the correct gear ratio (4:56) to match the rear. Good job birddog Nick! I guess you can say that I have joined the “74” club (14 bolt rear/D60 front = 74)

I have to say this was the easiest swap for such an upgrade in brute strength. Unfortunately, this upgrade in strength also means a downgrade in traction for the K10 as the outgoing Dana 44 was fitted with a Detroit TruTrac. The D60 is currently open but hope to add an ARB to the front and rear in the near future.

Fresh out of the box


This wax paper tag was wire tied to steering arm


Comparo of the D60 next to the D44 that I had just refreshed to go into the Polar Bear. The D60 is huge…and heavy!


Neat comparison picture of the D60 next to the D44. King pins vs. ball joints, different tie-rod mounting, etc


Out with the Dana 44


Crappy cell picture. Special-K and I were just chatting in another thread how handy these cheap Harbor Freight furniture dollies are for axle swaps.


After spraying some fresh paint on the leaf springs the D60 was rolled under


Used a real camera for the rest of the picture take’n


Even the driveshaft was a direct fit. I did have to score a different set of U-joint straps as the D44 uses the flat strap while the D60 uses the Ubolt type strap.


Superwinch hubs. I love these… ¼ turn to lock or unlock, durable and cost much less than Warn hubs.

ORD raise steering arm block and brake lines. I love their brake lines!






Poor ole D44 in the corner. Anybody need a good used D44? 4:56, TruTrac’d, 2 year old ball joints and all new bearings. Actually, I am thinking of pulling the TruTrac out and stuffing it in the Polar Bear Burb now that it has a D44 in the front. I would have just used this entire axle for the Burb but the 14 FF that went into the Burb was 4:10 and I didn’t feel like spending $400 to regear yet another 14 bolt to 4:56.


All that is left is to bleed the brakes, bolt on tires, drive it up and down the street to set the steering wheel then ready for the trail. Ah, wait....will probably have to add a zero rate to the rear spring packs next as the D60 will make it sit a bit taller.

[MTCK]

Nice work Larry! That is a screaming deal... especially with matching gears, kind of like a cherry on top. Those are nice brake lines, I was impressed with their quality. How did you like that truetrac in the front? Pretty well behaved?

OK you can do your next 4500 swap now I guess...
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[Greenlee]

Wow Larry! I have alway loved this truck, and you just made it even better!

I had a used Dana 60 and 14 bolt FF that I wanted to use, but my 1/2 ton axles have just been rebuilt and I decided it didn't make sense financially right now to start all over. Around here the only way to get a good deal on a Dana 60 is to buy an entire truck at the military surplus auction.

I just noticed your hidden winch. I like that setup. Is that something you built or is there a kit available somewhere?
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[SunSoaked]

Sweet! I'm feeling guilty starting out my first build in the "74" club when it took someone of your stature so long to get there.

Lets hope you haven't joined the dreaded "death wobble" club as well

[odog]

Looks good Larry!!! Im jealous of the Brand new axle, as you know, not an easy thing to come buy.

[DirtyLarry]

MTCK,

Thanks! Man, I loved that TruTrac for a steer axle. It was very well behaved where you wouldn’t even know it was there until you need it. The most noticeable time it was working was blasting through deep snow. My buddy had an Auburn limited slip in his Dana 44 that you could hardly drive the truck with the hubs locked in and forget trying to steer while in 4wd. It was horrible. Then the Auburn came apart and tore up his axle housing too boot. Fixed the housing and replaced it with a set of ARB’s. ARB’s are next on my wish list too.

Special-K….yeah, we have been working those dollies hard lately.

Greenlee, that winch is an old Hickey Sidewinder. They were very popular in the 70’s and even offered through GM dealers as a dealer add on. The winch on mine actually came on my Dad’s buddy’s ’78 K20 when he bought the truck brand new.

Sunsoaked, that is okay. Many people start with a D60 right out of the shoot, which is awesome if you have that in the build budget. There are way too many people install overkill D60’s when they don’t even need one. You see it all time where a D60 is the first upgrade people do when the poor rig is propelled by tired small block, TH350 with a set of used bad mud tires. I shake my head at some of those builds. The D44 in mine has been through hell and has never had a major issue other than me blowing out an axle shaft u-joint once in the snow, but the joint was dry and I was spinning the tires pretty fast under a hard RH turn lock. A D60 could have broke that day just as easy. I would still be running this D44 had Mosesburb not told me about this deal. I think all the hoopla of everybody “needing” a D60 is overrated. Just like crossover steering is overrated for what most of us really use our trucks for. I didn’t go with crossover because I don’t want bump steer or death wobble let along spending $500+ to get it. There isn’t anybody I know that has installed the crossover stuff that isn’t battling bump steer and/or death wobble. Crossover make sense on a dedicated trail rig or rock crawler but not so much on something like mine. When mine leaves the garage it is going on a 200 to 2000 mile trip and I want it to be safe to drive, perform well on and off road and be durable to get me back home. Just because the internet says you don’t have a cool 4x4 until you have a D60 and crossover steering, don’t believe it!


I forgot to mention that I tore it down and repacked bearings and replaced seals before stuffing it in the truck. Glad I did too as that 22 year old grease was pretty stiff like old dry peanut butter. The stuff even smelled weird. If anybody else scores one of these NOS axles I highly recommend tearing it down to do the same. It would be a tragedy to destroy a brand new axle stub, spindle and hub due to old grease.

It was also a good time to use a biscuit sander to get the cosmoline off the rotors. Speaking of cosmoline, several have asked how to remove it. After trying a hot pressure washer, brake cleaner, carb cleaner, Simple Green, etc I finally found the perfect stuff to remove cosmoline. The best stuff to remove it is black paint! Just spray some black paint over it and, vola! the cosmoline is gone

[americanmusc1e]

at the machine shop I used to work at we just used the parts washing tanks with their "safety solvent" to remove the cosmoline..

and dang.. If I was any closer I'd be interested in that D44.. it even has the gears i need..

[Oilbrnr]

So was it military surplus Larry?

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Sunsoaked, that is okay. Many people start with a D60 right out of the shoot, which is awesome if you have that in the build budget. There are way too many people install overkill D60’s when they don’t even need one. You see it all time where a D60 is the first upgrade people do when the poor rig is propelled by tired small block, TH350 with a set of used bad mud tires. I shake my head at some of those builds. The D44 in mine has been through hell and has never had a major issue other than me blowing out an axle shaft u-joint once in the snow, but the joint was dry and I was spinning the tires pretty fast under a hard RH turn lock. A D60 could have broke that day just as easy. I would still be running this D44 had Mosesburb not told me about this deal. I think all the hoopla of everybody “needing” a D60 is overrated.

that sounds like me! every truck i drive usually ends up with a 60. the jeep and the green K20 both have them and my f250 has one waiting in the wings. i recently decided what i am doing with my "parts truck" K20 and the search for a front 60 has begun!

truck looks sweet and congrats on the upgrade to dana 60 "man" status!

[OLDCHEV4X4]

Gotta love those 'easy peezy lemon squeezey' upgrades. And a nice price too.
I kinda thought you would have crossover steering Larry.
No flat top on the pass side D44, and it looks like the sway bar might interfere might be why.
Im not a big fan of steering arm spacers. It looks like it puts too much leverage/side load on the bolts.

[special-K]

That was great find. To be able to pull an axle known to be in excellent shape and know what you are replacing it with is not only bigger & better,but brand spankin' new...that's priceless. Especially considering where you go to fond out what works or doesn't. To end up with the air locker will make this the ultimate swap for the ultimate truck. That arm block and brake lines are what I need to put the Dana 60 in my '72. That,and going through the axle to assure it's good to go.

Larry,please watch who you tell about us playing with dollies. I don't think I can take the ridicule

[DirtyLarry]

Americanmusc1e,

You know, I haven’t really even seen cosmoline to know what it even is. I was told this stuff was cosmoline but it looked more like red primer to me. I wished you lived closer too as I would like it out of the garage soon. I’m going to power wash it, swap the the WARN hubs from the Burb on to it (I like Superwinch hubs better so they will go on the Burb) this weekend and throw it on CL.

Don,

Yeah, this is a military CUCV surplus axle. The story goes two brothers from Denver drove to Nebraska to pick a pair of D60’s up from an auction or surplus store. One brother installed his in a truck like mine and the other bought a house and changed directions on his project which is the axle I got. They were really nice guys to do the deal with. They both frequent CK5 often.

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Americanmusc1e,

You know, I haven’t really even seen cosmoline to know what it even is. I was told this stuff was cosmoline but it looked more like red primer to me.

all the cosmoline I have ever seen was about the color of motor oil and remains tacky no matter how long it sits. The stuff we used to apply smelled a little like coconut oil.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

all the cosmoline I have ever seen was about the color of motor oil and remains tacky no matter how long it sits. The stuff we used to apply smelled a little like coconut oil.

Good info! I think that pretty much sums it up. The red stuff on mine wasn’t cosmoline as the red stuff was dry as a bone. It had to be primer.

[DirtyLarry]

Well, my buddy Bill came by last night and helped bleed the brakes then I set the steering wheel today and ran it to the car wash. I swear it steers better, handles better and rides better with the added unsprung weight in the front. It just feels more planted to the ground now.

The ole dog never got a good washing and rub down after the last fishing/ trail riding trip in early October. My wife got a new camera and today was too beautiful of a day not to snap a bunch of beauty shots with it all cleaned up.





I figured it would turn out with a butt sag so I picked up a set of leaf spring center pin bolts yesterday in order to I install a set of zero rate rear springs this weekend. The zero rates should level it out


Goofing off with the new camera wishing this was taken through the weeds in the desert rather than my driveway.




It’s been a while since I taken any decent power plant pictures so today was as good as any to do so


Yes, I am a nerd to have a decal like this made. It’s all in the details right?


Family portrait with the Polar Bear Suburban



All of this project progress will be slowing down in the coming months because we just found out after 20 years together and 14 years of marriage, we are expecting our first bundle of joy. We just learned this Monday! We are so excited it isn’t I can’t even explain it. I’m 40 and wife is 38 so we have our fingers and toes crossed for a healthy and uneventful pregnancy and delivery. This will be a huge change to our life for sure but we are so excited! Did I mentioned we are excited?! Got a bunch of shop projects lined up to get done before the little one shows up so I have been busy ordering parts and what not for the NV4500 swap into the Polar Bear. Hopefully, I’ll get the 8.1L stuffed into the Polar Bear by then too but it will be a close race.

[ryanroo]

Awesome Larry, i didn't even read that part i was busy being impressed with the picture of the trucks!

good luck to you and the wife and the baby when it gets here

[riz]

I could really use that D44 but I'm in Wisc........ I want those 4:56 gears too.........

RIZ

[martindc1]

Congrats on the baby.

And a hijack, what size are those Super Swampers and how wide are the wheels?

[DirtyLarry]

Thanks guys! We are really excited about having our first baby. We’ve never been pregnant before so we hope it sticks and there are no complications. Our first Dr. appointment is on the 28th.

Martin,

The Swampers are Q78 x 16 which are around 35.5 x 10. The wheels are 16 x 7. I usually only run these tires and wheels on the K10 for local mountain runs or winter snow bashing. The tires and wheels that usually are on the K10 for long distance trips are living on the Suburban to run out the rest of the life on the near bald all terrains. Thinking of getting BFG all terrains or Fierce Attitude tires on Desert Rat Ratton wheels the next tire purchase.

Considering one of these wheels to swap back and forth from the K10 and Burb. Might even get two sets as they are not horribly expensive

Fierce Attitude

[Redcap]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

I really like the look of soft-8 style wheels.

[mjensen]

Congrats Larry. I think one day I will grow up and have vehicles as cool as yours!!!

[MTCK]

Congratulations on the inbound bundle of joy! That is exciting news! Wishing you guys a healthy and uneventful pregnancy.
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[duallyjams]

congrats on the NOS find and a major congrats on the news of expanding the family.

[Yukon Jack]

Truck looks great as always and more strength - can't beat it. I'm glad to see you are using the raised steering block as I need to do something about my steering issue with my swapped in D60 - I'm using an adjustable dropped drag link and it made the steering pretty sloppy when I put in the D60. I read about the raised steering block but heard they sheering problem was a reason to stay away from them. Seeing your post and you using them made me look at ORD's site. Good to see they offer ARP hardware. I think this gets placed on my Christmas wish list. Did you replace your drag link with new hardware? IF so, purchased locally or online?

[ryanroo]

You could look into a dodge steering arm if you want to avoid the block. they kick up instead of down. they just need to be re-reamed.

Ryan