XJ with D60 rear

[flexj]

Although I think I know what the response will be, I will throw this question out anyway. I have a front D60 hp and a D44 hp, both out of 78/79 F250's. My XJ has 35's currently and is my DD. I am planning on putting the 44 up front, selling the front 60 and a 60 in the rear. If I go up to 37's, maybe 38's, will the 44 hold up? I don't do alot of heavy wheeling, but when I go, I like to go. Will I regret selling the front 60? I kind of need the cash to finance the 44.

 

[Goatman]

Although I think I know what the response will be, I will throw this question out anyway. I have a front D60 hp and a D44 hp, both out of 78/79 F250's. My XJ has 35's currently and is my DD. I am planning on putting the 44 up front, selling the front 60 and a 60 in the rear. If I go up to 37's, maybe 38's, will the 44 hold up? I don't do alot of heavy wheeling, but when I go, I like to go. Will I regret selling the front 60? I kind of need the cash to finance the 44.

Who know's? Anyone have a crystal ball?

All I can do is talk about what I decided, and why, when I was in the same situation. I was changing front and rear axles, and I had a HP D60 for the front and both a semi-floating and a full floating D60 to use for the rear. I decided after a lot of measuring and thinking that the D60 was just too big for what I wanted, and there were too many compromises. It would be very heavy and I wanted to cut it down to the correct size, not run full width, and there was no room for the coil spring perches. Also, because it was a Ford D60, I couldn't put 35 spline stub shafts in it, so I would be running 30 spline Spicer stub shafts.

At this same time CTM came out with their new axle u-joint. I figured I wouldn't break a reverse cut D44 ring and pinion, or locker, and I would have more ground clearance and less weight with the D44. I could run Warn chromoly axles, which may not be as strong as Spicer D60 axles, but had to be damn close, and I would have chromoly rather than Spicer stub axles. The CTM u-joints complete the package. Since I don't have a V8, and I'm not a throttle jocky, I was satisfied that the D44 with those components would be plenty strong for me. So, I sold the HP D60, which along with the money I got for my well built D30/D44, paid for a Tera60 for the rear.

I run 35's, but wheel it hard in the rocks, and I may some day go to 37's (no time soon). The D44 with chromoly axles and u-joints is pretty stout, but if you use Spicer axles and u-joints the D60 is much stronger. A D44 with Spicer axles and U-joints is only marginally stronger than a D30 that uses 297x u-joints, you'll break an axle joint in the D44 about as often as you'd break one in the D30, although you have a much higher probability of breaking an inner axle or stub axle in the D30.

Would you be happy with the D44? More than likely. Would you ever wish that you'd gone ahead and put in the D60 while you had one? Who knows.

 

[mattk]

I think either Currie or Dynatrac makes a conversion kit to stick D60 inner and outer nuckles and u-joints on a D44 housing while maintaining a 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern and using 15" rims. Best of both worlds?
mattk

 

[Goatman]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Probably not the direction he wants to go.

 

[flexj]

Those are my thoughts also. I can sell the set ups that I have, along with the 60 and pretty much finance the replacements. Why did you choose Tera60 instead of the FF60 that you had? Obviously less work and better pumpkin design, but was it cost effective? Did you get disc brakes, etc.. with it? I'm hoping that the size of the 60 drums make up for the discs on my 8.8 as I'm not planning on doing a db conversion now. I'm figuring on having about a grand in the rear, narrowed housing, spool, gears, shafts, wheel bearing, brakes, etc. That doesn't include shaving the bottom. I'm trying to see if 1tonxj will work some of his magic for me.

As far as the 44 goes, what is the deal with those Dynatrac 60 shafts? I haven't heard about them. I'm not running 5 on 5.5 or 15" rims so that doesn't matter. I am planning on getting the chromoly shafts anyway, so are they a slightly more expensive option or a way more expensive option?

Goatman, are you running coils in the front? Can you email me pics of your frontend set up? [email protected]
Thanks for the info.

 

[flexj]

Oh yeah, how do you like the CTM's? Are they that much better than the 760's? How are they wearing, etc?

Thanks.

 

[Goatman]

It's kind of a long story why I did what I did. If I was going to spend the time and money to upgrade both axles, I wanted a serious upgrade. I already had a D30 with Warn chrmo axles and a 5 on 5.5 hub conversion with custom high steer, and a D44 with a Detroit and Dutchman shafts. I wanted high pinion both front and rear, so the original plan was to take the HP center section out of the front D60 and retube it for the rear, and make it 35 spline. Then use the front D60 outers and add them to a HP D44 center section. Unfortunately, Currie and All Pro found that the D60 axles that were turned down and resplined for the D44 carrier took off too much of the case hardening and were breaking, which meant that you could only do that conversion with custom axles (plus, they will only do that conversion using late model F450 unit bearings, not king pin outers, and it's way expensive). I figured if I could get the new 33 spline Detriot that went with Superior's Super 44 kit, and get D60 shafts made 33 splines (instead of the stock 30 splines), with D60 outers, that would make a very cool and stout front axle. But, the 33 spline Detroit was proprietary to Superior for their kit and I couldn't get one (almost had someone who would do it), and I decided that I couldn't get the D60 outers to fit where I wanted them when cut down to 61" wide, and Jack came out with the CTM axle u-joint. So, since I wanted high pinion and 35 splines for the rear D60 anyway, I just sold the front D60 and got the Tera60 for the rear, and built a front HP D44 myself. The Tera60 has Explorer disc breaks, a Detroit, and alloy shafts.

Like I said, I got enough for the axles I was running and the D60 to totally pay for the rear axle. I did all of the work on the front myself, except setting up the gears, and spent about $2000. I ended up with a shaved HP D44, 5.13's, Detroit, Warn shafts, Warn hubs, hy steer arms on GM knuckles, custom steering, and a custom 3 link coil setup. Here's the link to pics of what I did, it also has pics of my D30 steering.

http://fototime.com/inv/3D36952DD1917A1