Dana 60 revisited?

Well, not really

This time it's a Dana 60 kingpin front. This started life as a '93 Dodge 1 ton Dana 60 from a Turbo Cummins. I brought it home in very good shape. That was the start of the build. First thing that happened was it got torn down to the bare housing. Axle shafts came out, brakes, hubs, rotors, etc. all removed. Gears and diff case removed (lousy 3.54's went to scrapR)).

Then the fun started. First removed the passenger side spring mount. Then proceeded to grind the welds off of the inner "C" 's from the housing. Tried heating and pulling them off but that didn't work for my little 10 ton puller. Ok, So I cut the housing where I needed to anyway. Then I stuck the "C" 's one at a time in a vice, used a torch, and split the tube in 4 places very carefully lengthwise down the inside of the tube inside the C. A punch and hammer popped the pieces right out.

I cleaned the inside of the "C" 's up with a wire wheel. To get the width I needed I also had to trim 1/4" of the housing side of the passenger "C" so I could weld the "C" back onto the tube. I very carefully sanded the end of each housing tube to the exact length I wanted then chamfered the tube. I also Chamfered the housing side of each inner "C" for welding penetration. I checked my caster angle I wanted set and punched the "C" and the housing tubing for alignment purposes. I have an old toaster oven I use for heating bearings, shafts, etc. that I used to heat the "C" up to about 350* F. I then quickly pulled the C out of the oven and tapped them quickly onto the tube making sure my alignment marks were where they needed to be. This had to happen as the "C" cools very quickly when it makes contact with the tubing. The last 1/8" or so was much more difficult to get the "C" to go on and required some gentle persuasion. I double checked my caster angle and kingpin angle and made sure everything was where I needed it. Thankfully it was. I then was able to weld the "C" back onto the housing. This required several passes around the tube. After that I welded the original driver's side spring mount back on at the appropriate distance and angle. I also needed to "notch" the factory cast in spring mount centering hole on the pumpkin to the driver's side a little to get everything centered. The factory appeared to use 2 1/2" wide springs and I'm using 2" wide springs so I was able to gain a little bit more of passenger side housing shift this way.

When all is said and done the whole thing will be 61 1/2" wide from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface which will work well with my rear 60 that is 60" WMS to WMS.

I also am doing a 5 lug conversion which I purchased through Six States Distributing much cheaper than anywhere else I found. It included New bearing hubs and caliper brackets. Also had to get new rotors which were about $35 each. The conversion uses 1/2 ton GM calipers, pads, and hardware which are available anywhere and very inexpensive. While I was digging in this deep I purchased some new Spicer 35 spline outer axles for $80 each (stock are 30 spline) and off another web site some brand new Warn premium hubs that fit the 35 spline stub axles for $175. I'm putting new kingpin bearings in, and new wheel bearings as well. I purchased a used ARB air locker for this from Brian Waddell (green Suburban, was in the Top Truck Challenge several years ago) for a good price. I had Dutchman Motorsports shorten and spline the axles for me as they are local and have had good luck with them. I still need to purchase gears (5.38-1), the rebuild kit, and few things for the ARB like new o-rings.

Here are a few pics. It's not assemble yet, just a narrowed housing and axle shafts and a bunch of parts waiting to be assembled. These show the finished housing and the 5 on 5 1/2" bolt pattern of the 60 bearing hubs with new rotors installed.

 

how much did you pay for your 5 lug hubs from six states

 

My cost was about $440 for the hubs and the caliper brackets but I have an account there. Very beefy brackets and everything fits great on the hubs using the stock spindles and wheel bearings. The rotors were about $35 each.