Little rear end help please (Dana 60)

[Scottcoda]

I am just about finished with my winter projects and cannot wait to get her on the road for the first time since all my major changes! One of the major changes was putting taller gears in my non-posi Dana 60, The truck originally had 4.56 and I went to a 3.54, I replaced the yolk, carrier, ring and pinion.. She is ready to roll!!! But what happens?? Something awesome!!! A person I have just met says they have a posi-rear 8 lug Dana 4.10 from a 68 3/4 ton truck sitting behind his shed!!! The way this person has been is just fantastic, He loves these trucks and loves to see good things happen with them so I think he might let it go for a song.. My question is will the new parts from my non-posi Dana 60 fit into his posi Dana 60?? I would love to have a posi in my truck!!! Wish I met this guy before I completed the work on my Dana!! Any insight would be awesome!!!

[SS Tim]

IIRC the case ratio split on a D60 is 4.10 down and 4.56 up. So a set of 3.54 gears should work on the 4.10 posi case. The bearings should be swappable too if you can pull them and keep the servicable. However the rear will still need to have the gears reset and reshimmed as required. If you don't have these try to download a copy of Dana's servcie booklet #5309-3 and #X510-8DSD.
If it were me I'd drive the truck a lot with the 3.54 and make sure you like them with a normal load on the truck first. Then you can decide if you want to keep the 3.4 or go with the 4.11s during the posi installation. However I am not a big fan of used gears in a different housing.

[Mike C]

As mentioned above, the case split is 4.10 and down so it should work. The simplest way to do that is to put his posi case in your housing. That way pinion depth does not have to be adjusted. The pinion depth is the most difficult part of setting up a rear (although Dana's have some other challenges with shims behind the bearings and a case spreader if you really want to do it the right way. It can be done without.) And if the limited slip is a PowerLock, total score!