Chevy C20 Dana 60 conversion

[2mnykars]

Hello Everyone -

I have a Chevy 68 3/4 C20 with the HO52 rearend coil spring pickup truck with 4.10 gears. Gas mileage is a killer on the freeway.

I recently purchased a DANA 60 complete with the Leaf Springs/shocks and Drive shaft assembly as a unit with 3.54 gears out of a 69 C-20 3/4 ton Chevy pickup to help me on the Freeway.

My questions are as follow -

1. Can the Dana be installed converting it from Coil spring to leaf spring (assuming welding will be needed for the attachment brackets) easily?

2. Is it possible to JUST install the DANA in place of the HO52 rear and keeping the coil springs using the HO52's attachment brackets (is this more or less work than option 1)

I'm all ears. As far as DANA 60's with coil springs in suburbans, I've searched high and low for the past year and have not found one locally.

Thank you!

Christian

[into69z]

I did what you want to do. I have a 69 c-20 that had the 4:10 HO52 coil spring rear and swapped a 14bolt 86 3/4 t rear with a 3:23 gear. I bought a kit from CPP to change the 86 rear(leaf spring) to coil spring. The kit came with the brackets and an adjustable panhard bar for about $125. I had a shop make the swap to make sure it was installed correctly and it works great. One problem I came across was the need to cut the drive shaft because the 3rd member was bigger and thus longer that the stock set-up. I can now run about 20 mph faster on the fwy (about 70) for about the same rpm as before.
Another positive for the swap is parts availability. Good Luck!

[JCD]

I don't know if you're much on road trips.. but this has been on the local Craigslist for a while now.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst...727824381.html

J.

[2mnykars]

Thanks for the Link J... I'll contact to see what gears they have... only issue is that my dana rearend is 3.54 with a posi which is very ideal.

Steve... That is actually exactly what I wanted to do... is this the item you purchased.
http://www.classicperform.com/Store/...ck/6072RCK.htm

I was also planning on having a shop install it... sounds like I will have to have the stock Dana drive shaft shortened is what your saying?

[haminator]

I have seen Dana 60 coil spring rears in GMC's but I'm sure they are few and far between. I think the swap you've intended to do would be the best. Any shop or person with some common sense and skill could do this. I bet some drive shaft mods would have to made to the length but you said you have the shaft for the Dana so I think your set.

[into69z]

Originally Posted by 2mnykars

Thanks for the Link J... I'll contact to see what gears they have... only issue is that my dana rearend is 3.54 with a posi which is very ideal.

Steve... That is actually exactly what I wanted to do... is this the item you purchased.
http://www.classicperform.com/Store/...ck/6072RCK.htm

I was also planning on having a shop install it... sounds like I will have to have the stock Dana drive shaft shortened is what your saying?

Yep! that's the kit I used. The drive shaft did have to be shortened (again, I wish I knew but, I swapped out the stock 350 for a new 454 with my turbo 400-I had to cut the drive shaft by about 1 inch to make it fit, even using all factory brackets and such, so everything on the drive shaft got rebuilt plus a new polyurthene carrier bearing and then balanced. Drove that set-up for about 200 miles, then did the rearend swap and had to cut and balance again!!-lesson learned). Even with the new 3:23 gear, the gas mileage still sucks gas-next move might be a gear vendors set-up, as soon as my money tree grows.

[JCD]

Originally Posted by 2mnykars

Thanks for the Link J... I'll contact to see what gears they have... only issue is that my dana rearend is 3.54 with a posi which is very ideal.

Hey if it's cheap enough, all you need is the outside.
Swap in your internals.

J.

[into69z]

sounds like I will have to have the stock Dana drive shaft shortened is what your saying?[/QUOTE]


almost forgot............


You can kinda get an idea buy using a carpenter's square and measure from the axle tube to the center u-joint cap on each rear end but wait until everything is installed before your final drive shaft measurement.

[Longhorn Man]

Most big block c/20 trucks had the dana, and most had coils. It wouldn't need to be a burb piece.
Keep in mind the dana is a weak rear and with the work you are looking at doing to convert the rear you have, you could get a 14 bolt and have a much stronger unit.
Posted via Mobile Device

[2mnykars]

Thanks Everyone. This all makes sense. Measure twice, cut once.

As far as the corporate rearend, I'll keep an eye out for one of those as well in my area. Only downside is that I have only seen 3.73 and numerically higher gears. Have yet to see 3.50 gears and below...

Out of curiousity in terms of order of strength (strongest first 2nd strongest and weakest), what is the strongest rearend?

Corporate 14
Dana 60
Or the Eaton HO52?

Thanks everyone...

[Longhorn Man]

the eaton may actually be stronger than the 14 bolt... they are neck and neck, but the eaton has a lack of good gears and other parts that make them worth there weight in scrap.
The dana is at the bottom of the pile.

[Beat68CST]

14 bolt would be better than a Dana.

Out of the bunch, for strength, the Corporate would be best.


If the Corporate is worth it's weight in scrap, I'll buy it, especially the gears, let me know. Seriously, PM me if need be.

[2mnykars]

I will keep that in mind...the part about the eaton and scrapping... thanks everyone!

[haminator]

Originally Posted by Beat68CST

14 bolt would be better than a Dana.

Out of the bunch, for strength, the Corporate would be best.


If the Corporate is worth it's weight in scrap, I'll buy it, especially the gears, let me know. Seriously, PM me if need be.

Funny I have never blown up an Eaton or a Dana but I have a 14 bolt 1 ton rear. The Eatons and Danas I have are original. never rebuilt and old. The 14 was in a 97 Chevy when it was only 4 years old at about 90,000 miles. I'll take the Eaton or Dana anyday, the 14 doesn't belong in a 72 or older truck anyways. JMO Note: I'm sure this could be an isolated example.

[stsalvage]

on your 3/4 ton have you ever thought about running a 235/85/16 tire i have a 4.10 floater rear end in my 1965 3/4 ton and i've gone to 13-13/5 mpg then my 9 mpg i was running them Bias ply 9.50 16.5 rims and only could do 55 at 3000 RPM's

[Beat68CST]

Originally Posted by haminator

Funny I have never blown up an Eaton or a Dana but I have a 14 bolt 1 ton rear. The Eatons and Danas I have are original. never rebuilt and old. The 14 was in a 97 Chevy when it was only 4 years old at about 90,000 miles. I'll take the Eaton or Dana anyday, the 14 doesn't belong in a 72 or older truck anyways. JMO Note: I'm sure this could be an isolated example.

Yeah, it's odd, my family has never been big on Dana's, as we do a lot of drag racing, back in the day my grandparents were always partial to the Pontiac rear with the 9.3 inch ring gear. And when it came to the ramp truck I believe they all had Eaton/Corporate.

But, we've never had any bad luck with a 14bolt, but, they are a big heavier, since they are a cast iron center section.


Personally, I'm Pro Eaton.

[haminator]

I'm partial to the Eaton as well but I never had any trouble with the 60 I put in the swb and it was wore out when I put it in 25 years ago. I'm probably going to put a 70 in my C-30 because I found one with 3:73's for free. Really it comes down to what you got or can get and how original you want to keep it. As far as parts availability the 14 may be the best bet. The old Chevy/GMC Dana 60's are a pain to get brake parts for and the drums are expensive. So are the Eatons on the drums. As a helpful note I have found that the parts books list these rears as coil or leaf rears. The Dana is allways a leaf rear and the Eaton is allways a coil rear no matter what springs it is actually mounted on. Example: My 70 Longhorn is of course leaf spring but has the Eaton rear. Parts for it are listed under coil spring truck.

[Beat68CST]

Yeah, I noticed they don't make the EXACT drums for the Eaton anymore, I ended finding one with one of the old Napa guys and was about a hundred thousandths shallower and lines up great, granted the drum was only $260...


When it comes to the shoes, I'll probably just get em re-shoed, there's a semi truck shop down in Phoenix that I hear does em for a pretty decent price!

[2mnykars]

That's another good point about the shoes on the Dana's. I will have to compare prices between that and the 14 bolt...I know that the Eaton parts are very expensive as they are rare....

As far as wheels, I currently run 265 75 16 which is already a pretty tall tire. It does help but lower gears will do wonders as well...

[haminator]

Originally Posted by Beat68CST

Yeah, I noticed they don't make the EXACT drums for the Eaton anymore, I ended finding one with one of the old Napa guys and was about a hundred thousandths shallower and lines up great, granted the drum was only $260...


When it comes to the shoes, I'll probably just get em re-shoed, there's a semi truck shop down in Phoenix that I hear does em for a pretty decent price!

Oh yea Arizona brake and clutch, I think their still off of I-17 about Mc Dowell. Ive noticed on the Eaton some drums have a brake adjust hole and some don't. The backing plates don't have the hole so beware. I was lucky enough to find a near new pair at our locate U-Pickit and then another good pair off of a 65 wreck.