1969 C50 4x4 Axle Swap?

[Pvmt-Pndr]

I cut this from your other thread and pasted it here before I read the entire thread.

It depends on what generation D60 you go with also. Everyone wants the king pin in the mud truck world to get away from ball joints, those axle shafts actually taper down while the newer ball joint style does not, making the newer style stronger.

If you go with a 60 that has the leaf mount cast into the housing (80-04) but it doesn't align with what you need I've seen guys cut the cast slot off all the way around the housing. In a 4 link setup it's quite a pain working around that but is doable. It also needs to be welded and strengthened after doing that.

I'm with sweetk30 if you're going to go that route go with bigger axles. Not only would you have the strength and possible 19.5" rim option depending on what you go with but you could also swap the front suspension to a coil spring. I have done this and it can be done very easily, it doesn't cost much, doesn't take much time and the added ride quality is leaps and bounds over what a leaf sprung front end is like. Not to mention if you go with a newer (Ford for instance) D60 05+ all the provisions would already be on the axle ready to drop in. At that point you would only have to mount spring perches on the frame and make a mount for a track bar. I'll throw this in also if you go F450/F550... your gear options are more then just 3:73/4:10s. If I recall correctly 4:30 was a gear option that was used more often then not in those axles.

I can verify that the AAM rear axle that dodge was using is a srw/drw by bolting and unbolting.

Depending on the weight of your truck which I can't imagine is going to be too heavy I would say as long as your tire height is reasonable that a set of 1 ton axles would be just fine for what you're doing. My old f250 weighed in at 8020 lbs and had a D50 front axle that was all good and well until I put 38x15.5R20s on it and bound the front end... busted the spider gears. The D60 is a nice step up from the D50.

I would consider F106 axles but not for what you're doing. They're great axles but the pumpkin is in the center and not off set like one tons are. You would probably have to lift your truck quite high to make sure you don't interfere with the engine pan. If you're using the original tcase from the Allison which is off set then by no means would that be a good option for you unless you decided to go with some sort of aftermarket transfer case like an SCS but that will set you back $2k+ (even used) and I believe the minimum being for one of those is 12.66"... also not a good option.

I would also like some clarification on what you posted. You said "I liked the idea of a Chevy 1 ton axle setup but they are a Drivers Side drop as opposed to the Ford which are a Passenger Side Drop. The DMax & Allison are a Passenger Side Drop which was why I was looking hard at Dana 60. Add to that I have the Duramax donor which has the AAM 11.5" rear end in 3.73 but I also have a different 2500 work truck with 4.10s. Both gear ratios Ford F350's have had from the factory (easier to swap, gearwise anyways)." ......Now as far as I know Ford has always been a drivers side drop and the older chevys were passenger side drops, did you just happen to get your wiring backward? If the duramax and Allison are in fact passenger side drop them you should actually be looking for an older Chevy axle. I even went into my arsenal of pictures to verify and the D60 Ford I was using for a project is in fact a driver side drop.