budget dana 60

[j par]

I'll start by telling of my 8 1/4 witch was a great starter rear end.
I bought it for $100 from a friend and he got it out of a 89 dodge Dakota. 355 open gears.
He cut the truck top perches of and welded them on the bottom at A-body width. It was a little wide (like E-body width) but that worked perfectly fine as my street rims are modern mopar inset. I found a sure grip on flee bay from a guy by a stroke of luck locally who did parts and install for $200.
It lasted behind the 318 - 4 speed - and slicks for a year and started this last season with the new stroker.
Fearing it's inevitable catastrophic failure I was able to sale it for $300 and actually keep all the breaks that transferred directly to the 8 3/4. I found a housing (E-body) at a swapmeet for $100 and cut the perches off (with cheap Harbor Freight grinder) and rewelded them on with (cheap Harbor Freight welder) to a body width.
axles from a Fabo member for $100. Craigslist 489 case for $100. Dr.dif - 410 gears, spool, bearings, ect.. as I recall about $550 and $175 for professional set up. About 30 passes - ka-booom !! LOL !!
NOW, bought dana 60 yesterday for $160 with some great looking 410 gears.
To be continued :

 

[A body]

appears we may be at the last chapter of an agonizing story! Good luck with the build!

 

[j par]

[quote A body;1971005690]appears we may be at the last chapter of an agonizing story! Good luck with the build![/quote]
Thank you for the luck!!
I was able to get all the truck stuff off today, and make it light enough to get off my truck by myself.
I blew this month's budget on the tranny. So I'll be more active with this next month.
I'm attempting a real time real cost dragstrip dana 60.

 

[justinp61]

What are your plans for the Dana?

 

[j par]

What are your plans for the Dana?

Plan A= keep it as affordable as possible reusing any parts that I can from the eight and three quarter like maybe the ends of my old rearend to weld on to the new one if possible and save $75 for that. I want to absolutely reuse my brakes and all. The ultimate goal will be to put it together hopefully even less expensive then the eight and three quarter and way stronger. this being done with new 35 spline spool and new 35 spline axles. And I'm hoping to be able to Reuse 410 gears that are already in it because they look very good and that's what I was running already.

 

[tnts72]

Picked this 3.55 unit up on craigslist for $100. Had it cut down - ordered moser 35 spline axles / new bearings and seals, forged 1350 yoke.

Cost Breakdown:
Craigslist find $100
Rear brakes $124
Seals and Grease $56
Pinion Yoke / Slip Yoke for 1350 Joints $169.95
Housing Narrowing / Moser 35 spline axles and bearings $580

 

[j par]

Picked this 3.55 unit up on craigslist for $100. Had it cut down - ordered moser 35 spline axles / new bearings and seals, forged 1350 yoke.

Cost Breakdown:
Craigslist find $100
Rear brakes $124
Seals and Grease $56
Pinion Yoke / Slip Yoke for 1350 Joints $169.95
Housing Narrowing / Moser 35 spline axles and bearings $580

Spool ?

 

[replicaracer43]

Spool ?

Hey, check the for sale section, member "locomotion" just posted a set of A body length 35 spline axles with studs and bearings.....excellent deal. Will work with your existing brakes.

 

[replicaracer43]

Oh, and I allways reuse the ends I cut from housings when I narrow one, I see no need to buy new ends personally.

 

[tnts72]

Spool ?

No spool, powerlok carrier. This one will be a streeter so no spool for now. I just took the carrier apart and replaced the side gears and clutches with a set from an old 35 spline C body Dana my Dad had. The original clutches in the Dana were pretty shot so I used the C body set. The F100 this dana came out of originally was only a 30 spline.

 

[tnts72]

And I reused my housing ends - big ford style and the backing plates. Just had the drums I ordered off Rock auto for the F100 which were 5 on 5 redrilled for 5 on 4.5 pattern to match the axles and wheels.

 

[j par]

Hey, check the for sale section, member "locomotion" just posted a set of A body length 35 spline axles with studs and bearings.....excellent deal. Will work with your existing brakes.

This is great information and I appreciate the heads up! I think though I'm going to remain with the E-body Axles as they seem to work well with the combinations of rims and tires that I have. thank you again.....

 

[limegreen70]

This Thread will be very Helpful with lots of great info, Subscribed.

 

[j par]

Update : I called dr.dif yesterday (Cass). We agreed I need - housing ends $75 (back ordered til next month), 35 spline axles with green bearings installed $300, carrier bearings $50, 35 spline dana spool $125, and for $15 some new leaf perches. =$565+$160 for Craigslist dana 60 = $735.

 

[451Cuda]

Update : I called dr.dif yesterday (Cass). We agreed I need - housing ends $75 (back ordered til next month), 35 spline axles with green bearings installed $300, carrier bearings $50, 35 spline dana spool $125, and for $15 some new leaf perches. =$565+$160 for Craigslist dana 60 = $735.

Possibly a set of shims as well, you're setting gears on a different carrier (the spool).

 

[j par]

Possibly a set of shims as well, you're setting gears on a different carrier (the spool).

Agreed, most likely it will need adjustment.
And the precision welding of the housing.
these will be the final cost of the project, and the variable along with the dana purchase.

 

[gtsdude]

Need one of these or find someone who has one to use, this one doesn't come with the shaft to run through it though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Narrowing-F...-Rear-2-00-Theaded-Floater-Ends-/321839914123

 

[replicaracer43]

Remember to think ahead about the pinion offset before you cut.... 8 3/4s have both axles the same length with the offset built into the pumkin. Danas have a centered pinion, and one axle is longer than the other to have the proper offset. Just something else to think about.........

 

[replicaracer43]

Oh, and one more thing. It might not help you, due to shipping costs, but if you wanted to send me your bare housing, I would be happy to jig it up and narrow it for ya for free. Let me know if I can help!

 

[hangn0ut]

You sure about that offset thing? Way back (1982?)when I was learning this stuff the hard way,I took a dana housing to be narrowed. Told the guys "this wide flange to flange"."Where do ya want the pinion?" they ask. Centered or offset? "Centered I guess". Went back the next day and that was one funny looking housing! They was cool and redid it proper for me at minimum cost. Still in the car,looking good with equal lenght axle tubes and the proper offset. Looking at a pair of dana b-body axles right now and they are the same lenght so.... damn rear ends are so good that I never have to look at them. I got 3 in different rides. So maybe I'am wrong here. What say ye? Lol.

 

[j par]

Remember to think ahead about the pinion offset before you cut.... 8 3/4s have both axles the same length with the offset built into the pumkin. Danas have a centered pinion, and one axle is longer than the other to have the proper offset. Just something else to think about.........

Yes correct, I think its a dana thing. Dr diff was telling me about one actual being and inch and 3/16 longer, I believe the drivers side? He was saying something about making more room for the drivers side for clutch pedals and the staff and like the Australian cars are all crowded on the right side with the pedals and things.

 

[j par]

Oh, and one more thing. It might not help you, due to shipping costs, but if you wanted to send me your bare housing, I would be happy to jig it up and narrow it for ya for free. Let me know if I can help!

Thank you for the offer but I do believe you're right also about shipping back and forth and all that. I've talked to a couple people already about getting it done here. And I'd like to give a reasonable price to add to my bild here on the forum so people can have a rule of thumb to go by when building their Dana.

 

[j par]

Update : I found someone close to me (20 minutes away) that will weld the ends on for $300. Then I found another place 1hour drive away that will do it for $150. He also said he has the mopar ends for $100- and I know dr.dif sales them for $75 plus shipping (currently out of stock). He'll probably get my business on the axles and spool. And I know summit has them for $89 plus shipping because its under 99. And I know this is supposed to be a budget build so I want to mention that there is still savings beyond what I'm spending for convenience. Also with That said this guy said he would charge 150 put the perches on. I understand this is only a $15 part and I actually did it myself on the 8 3/4 that I have but I believe for the total cost of $400 it will be nice to just drop it off and have everything cut and welded by a professional shop. So there is another hundred dollar savings beyond what I'm doing here if you weld your own purchase on yourself which I found pretty easy to do with my cheap Harbor Freight welder. For less than the cost of having this done you can probably buy the jig to do it yourself also but I would highly recommend not doing it with a cheap Harbor Freight welder! lol I've got $300 saved now and in another week or two I should have enough to pull the trigger.

 

[replicaracer43]

you cant really be 100% accurate with the spring perch angle, without putting it in the car at ride hight with the driveshaft installed and the rear end centered in the wheel wells. Tack the perches in place, remove and then weld!

 

[j par]

you cant really be 100% accurate with the spring perch angle, without putting it in the car at ride hight with the driveshaft installed and the rear end centered in the wheel wells. Tack the perches in place, remove and then weld!

I can bring my 8 3/4 housing and let him match it. When I moved the e body perches to a body width I changed it 2° just stock angle and it seemed to work fine.