ford balljoint dana 60 front - worth it?

[dennisuello]

i found a decent deal on a complete dana 60 from 93 ford. it's a HP , full width. it will be going into my XJ with front leaves. is it worth going with balljoint axle over kingpin 60? width doesn't matter, it seems like it will fit under there.

 

[dennisuello]

apparently you can use Dana 44 hi-steer arms on those axles as well, so that would make it fairly easy.

 

[jmop]

why are you going with leafs?

 

[dennisuello]

why are you going with leafs?

easier to set-up, less brackets on the axle...

 

[JeepFreak21]

SeanP's running a balljoint 60... maybe he'll chime in. His histeer arms are definatly not the same as the ones on my 44 though!
Billy

How much is a decent deal by the way?

 

[jmop]

easier to set-up, less brackets on the axle...

The ball joint 60 leaf perches are about 36.5" from center pin to center pin. If you go this route are you going to have to outbound the front leafs?

 

[dennisuello]

The ball joint 60 leaf perches are about 36.5" from center pin to center pin. If you go this route are you going to have to outbound the front leafs?

yes, in the front they will have to be outboarded. the rear spring hangers will be right under the "frame" though, as it' roughtly 39" wide behind the CA mounts and will be boxed in.

 

[jmop]

Guess now that you have answered my questions I will give you some imput on yours.

I went with the 78-79 ford Kingpin 60, you don't have to mill n drill for the hi-steer arms, I personally feel that it is a stronger/better design, the longer DS tube allowed me to fab up the bracketry to keep my coil suspension and long arms and rebuilding the kingpin bearings (I didn't replace the actual kingpin) was no worse then doing the ball joints on another axle with the added bonus that I didn't need a press.

But if the price had been right on a ball joint 60 I would probably be singing a different tune. Either way any D60 is going to be way, way better then a D30.

 

[dennisuello]

i will be most likely running 37" tires, maybe 38.5" at the most, so strength will be sufficient. dana 30 and 44 has balljoints and it's not the most problematic area. bigger u-joints is what i'm after.

 

[Blatant]

Going front leaves. YES!! Good call. Couple of things to consider. All other things being equal, I'd take a kingpin 60 over a balljoint version, unless the deal was REALLY good.

Also, if I remember correctly, the short side on that axle is pretty short, not to mention space is tight for outboarding springs. Does that year have the cast-in driver leaf pad? If so, I'd seriously consider shortening the long side ~4 inches and using a 31.5 spring center to spring center so you don't have to outboard. Just my thoughts. Good luck.
dion

 

[dennisuello]

Going front leaves. YES!! Good call. Couple of things to consider. All other things being equal, I'd take a kingpin 60 over a balljoint version, unless the deal was REALLY good.

Also, if I remember correctly, the short side on that axle is pretty short, not to mention space is tight for outboarding springs. Does that year have the cast-in driver leaf pad? If so, I'd seriously consider shortening the long side ~4 inches and using a 31.5 spring center to spring center so you don't have to outboard. Just my thoughts. Good luck.
dion

Hey Dion, I remember you from my YJ days. I might shorten it 4", but for now the plan is to keep it full-width.
By the way, anyone knows who does axle narrowing in NorCal/Western Nevada area?

I figure people run 37" on Dana 30 and Dana 44 and they've got balljoints, so I should be fine with 37-38" on Dana 60.

 

[Blatant]

Yeah, man. I'm building an XJ rockcrawler now. Nothing wrong with the balljoints, just saying all other things being equal I'd take the kingpin axle. Either way, it's hard to pass up a good deal on an hp60; they don't come along often.

I got the one in my YJ for $450 BUT, it has spun both bearings and I had to have major machine work done on it.

Anyway, before you sink a bunch of cheese in it, carefully measure how you'll get it to line up. If it's similiar to the mid-80s version I had -- and I think it is -- you're going to have a tough time getting it to line up correctly without cutting it.

Not that hard to do, really. Just run the numbers a bunch BEFORE you cut ;-) Hardest part is getting the inner "C" off. Once I had it marked, we just cut the tube with a chopsaw.
dion

 

[BrettM]

axle narrowing is very easy, no more difficult than cutting and turning the knuckles. heck, I'll do it if you want. I'll be back in Auburn mid-May. if you want a shop to do it, do a search over on Pirate4x4, there are tons. then you just need to order a shaft to fit


i have leafs under the front of mine (with Waggy D44) the 31.5" sits directly under the frame rail. 36.5 would definitely hang off the frame rail, but that could be dealt with.

personally, if i found a sweet deal on a D60, I would sell it to make some money, then keep (or in your case, buy) a D44 and upgrade it with Warn axles and OX joints.

 

[hpi_jeep]

personally, if i found a sweet deal on a D60, I would sell it to make some money, then keep (or in your case, buy) a D44 and upgrade it with Warn axles and OX joints.

especially if you only plan on running 37's or 38's. the 60 will kill your ground clearance.

 

[dennisuello]

especially if you only plan on running 37's or 38's. the 60 will kill your ground clearance.

my rear 60 will kill ground clearance. it's way easier to control where your front diff will hit, than the rear. i rarely drag the front over rocks, but rear dana 44 always gets in the way.