Jeff 98XJ WI
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Butternut, WI
Well, I thought I would post about a tiny bit more progress. If you
recall, I am building a rear High Pinion full float Dana 60 axle.
Recent progress has been to decide on a rotor, caliper, and caliper
mount plan and then start machine work on the housing end adapters.
I found Chevy 3/4 Ton rotors (8 lug) at O'Reillys auto parts in
Chippewa Falls WI) for $24 each which is pretty cheap, so I decided to
use them. I also found that they slip on the back side of my Ford
Dana 60 front wheel hubs like they were meant to. In addition, I
found that a stock wheel stud for the Chevy 3/4 Ton (Dorman 610-180
$1.89) will fit through the rotor and hub and give just enough stud
for a lug nut (Dorman 611-053 $1.29)using Hummer H2 rims. These
were the cheapest studs and lug nuts that I could find that would
work. They are 9/16-18 thread. With this combination sitting on the
bench, I slipped a stock front Dana 60 spindle in the hub with a new
inner wheel bearing and then slipped a front Dana 44 caliper with
new pads over the rotor and checked out the mounting points on the
caliper compared to the mounting face of the spindle. It turns out
that there is 3/4 of an inch difference between these two points.
There is a place on the web that I found that uses this combination
of parts and sells a caliper mount which consists of a flat piece of
3/8" steel mounting behind the spindle and then has mounting ears
for the caliper made of 3/8" steel that bolt to the back of the
first piece of steel. This distance matches what I found will work
for me. However, I really wanted to use Dana 60 spindles and/or
Dana 50 spindles. The only difference between the spindles is the
amount of register sticking out beyond the spindle mounting face.
THe 50 units mount straight to a steering knuckle, but the 60 units
pass through a caliper mount before bolting to the steering
knuckles. So, after much thought, I decided to make my housing end
adapters with a step in them 3/4" behind the spindle mounting face.
Then I can mount a flat 3/8" caliper mount to the step and have it
extend right out to the calipers. I can then mount either spindle
straight to the end adapters. I started machining one of the
housing end adapters at the high school shop the other day and
snapped a few pics of them as well as the other parts of this
project. I added them to the running photo album found here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMdm
Enjoy. Jeff
recall, I am building a rear High Pinion full float Dana 60 axle.
Recent progress has been to decide on a rotor, caliper, and caliper
mount plan and then start machine work on the housing end adapters.
I found Chevy 3/4 Ton rotors (8 lug) at O'Reillys auto parts in
Chippewa Falls WI) for $24 each which is pretty cheap, so I decided to
use them. I also found that they slip on the back side of my Ford
Dana 60 front wheel hubs like they were meant to. In addition, I
found that a stock wheel stud for the Chevy 3/4 Ton (Dorman 610-180
$1.89) will fit through the rotor and hub and give just enough stud
for a lug nut (Dorman 611-053 $1.29)using Hummer H2 rims. These
were the cheapest studs and lug nuts that I could find that would
work. They are 9/16-18 thread. With this combination sitting on the
bench, I slipped a stock front Dana 60 spindle in the hub with a new
inner wheel bearing and then slipped a front Dana 44 caliper with
new pads over the rotor and checked out the mounting points on the
caliper compared to the mounting face of the spindle. It turns out
that there is 3/4 of an inch difference between these two points.
There is a place on the web that I found that uses this combination
of parts and sells a caliper mount which consists of a flat piece of
3/8" steel mounting behind the spindle and then has mounting ears
for the caliper made of 3/8" steel that bolt to the back of the
first piece of steel. This distance matches what I found will work
for me. However, I really wanted to use Dana 60 spindles and/or
Dana 50 spindles. The only difference between the spindles is the
amount of register sticking out beyond the spindle mounting face.
THe 50 units mount straight to a steering knuckle, but the 60 units
pass through a caliper mount before bolting to the steering
knuckles. So, after much thought, I decided to make my housing end
adapters with a step in them 3/4" behind the spindle mounting face.
Then I can mount a flat 3/8" caliper mount to the step and have it
extend right out to the calipers. I can then mount either spindle
straight to the end adapters. I started machining one of the
housing end adapters at the high school shop the other day and
snapped a few pics of them as well as the other parts of this
project. I added them to the running photo album found here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMdm
Enjoy. Jeff
Who knows, maybe the 14 bolt idea would have been better? I don't think I could have used the 14 bolt tube though without some extra work. I am using a long side tube from a front LP Dodge 60 because it was offered to me for a reasonable cost and already had the correct dimensions to be pressed into my HP center section. Jeff
I never wrote you should use the complete axle assembly and the hubs 
