My D60 swap with '97 ball-jointed axle

Well, I know there's a lot of D60 swap threads out there already, but thought I'd throw in some more pics and info that might be useful.

What I started with, '97 D60:
I was lucky to find exactly what I was looking for, a direct-swap ball-jointed D60. Unfortunately being in school it took me 6 months to do the full swap including a partial rebuild of the axle. So, did the rebuild first, then swapped it in about a month ago.

The axle:


Started pulling it apart with the help of Nick, weekendwarriorfsw32, and a couple other friends.


The biggest issue I had here was getting the spindles off, as they were stuck onto the dust shield. So, using A LOT of PB Blaster, a torch, and a couple different chisels and BFH's. There's a flat spot on the knuckle that gives you a small space to hit the spindle, and IMO it should've been made larger. If possible to find a slide hammer I would support using that, but not an air chisel. I tried an air chisel, but I was making too big of dents in the spindle with it. Even though I'm in California with no salt, this thing was sitting outside for awhile before I got it so I'm sure that didn't help the situation.

In the end, thanks to a suggestion from Cat, I thickly coated both the inner side of the spindle and the outer surface of the knuckle with anti-seize, and left the dust shields off.
Here's how the spindle looked, and the dust shields :



Then started cleaning it up, stripped down to bare metal with a grinding wheel, wire brush, and a tooth brush. Found this in the axle tubes, a greasy, sandy mess:

And here's how the axle shafts looked:

So, with that shown, I can tell my inner seals were working...mostly. Now, if I wasn't doing this on somewhat of a budget and had more time, I would've done the inner and outer seals that Tom S did on his. I'm planning on doing these and ball joints in the next year as I'm sure I'll still have some leaks in the inner seals.

Made my own spray booth in the garage:

I just used Rust-Oleum rattle can. Like I said, it was sort of on a budget and on a time constraint, so I used that. If I was to do it over again, I might have used Eastwood chassis paint or something similar. But, it's still holding up well so far, I'll update later on.

Tried chiseling at the spindle bearings to remove and replace them, but before I put any more marks in them I decided to take them to a shop to do this. I couldn't find a place that would do it but it ended up that a guy I know at the local stealership did it for free . Ended up cleaning up the spindles to make them pretty much dent-free.


When I got the axle apart, I found out it used to have auto hubs, so it had the 6-sided nuts inside with the little keeper holding it in. Here's what the spindle socket for that looks like:


I already had manual hubs on my truck, and since it's said not to be a good idea to run the auto hub nuts on manual hubs (not to mention I destroyed one keeper getting it out ), I was going to use the manual hub nuts from my D50. Since I couldn't find a good picture online of the spindle socket for the manual hubs, here's one:


The auto socket is $10 and the manual one is $20, both at O'Reilly's.

Got it all put back together, and time for the swap. Here's the ride height of the D50, complete with about 1.5" of suspension travel :


Pulling it all apart, again thanks to Nick, weekendwarriorfsw32, and a couple other friends for help. I highly recommend a couple friends for help, not only for time-wise but also like said in other threads the D50 just falls apart in a big pile of mess when you start unbolting it.



Had to get a pic of the axle out of it :


Since it's a '97 axle, I tied my brakes back onto the body and bolted them back up. So then the axle just slides back in and bolts right up


Don't forget to paint the outer surface of the hub (the part of the brake disc assembly), it was something I kept meaning to do for the past couple years and never got around to it. Looks 2x better

Surgery, aka packing the hubs with some grease, and reassembly (remember how they go back together, but they're pretty simple, really).


All done

My new-found about 2" more of suspension travel :

Don't mind the zip-tied inner skirts, the PO put them in half-#%%ed and that's how they've been for now, soon to get adjusted and cleaned up under there. But being my DD I'm not worried about it too much for now.

Overall, it took about 6.5 hours for the swap, but we were taking our time.
I'd say it could be done in about 4-4.5.
Sorry it's long, but had a bunch of pictures so I figured I'd share.

In the end, it's WELL worth it. The ride is WAY better, it's almost like a whole new truck. Up until last week I didn't have my sway bar in, and I could notice a fair amount of body roll around corners, even completely empty.
I used the Banks brackets , part #48899 (brackets for a 460 with the Banks header kit). Big thanks to Diesel_Brad and Tom S for that info. Otherwise you must find stock brackets, which are very hard to find. I'll get some pics in the next few days, but they were easy to install, especially for trucks without the holes already drilled.

Now that I have my sway bar in the truck handles great, tight around corners and really rides well. Well worth the investment for all of it.

The truck now sits level, as well. I found some F-350 rear blocks for it at a junkyard but haven't put them on yet. I don't haul much these days so for now it works.

DON'T FORGET NEW U-BOLTS. U bolts are torque-to-yield bolts, so cannot be re-used.

I know I forgot some things that I meant to put in, but I'll add them if they come to mind. Just wanted to put in a few points that I couldn't find on other threads.

Nice write up!:thumbsup:

Nice job on the write up. Did you get the truck aligned or just put it in a go? Any thoughts on doing SD springs down the road with an RSK?

I want to get mine just waiting on Trevor.

Good write up

Tom S said:

Nice job on the write up. Did you get the truck aligned or just put it in a go? Any thoughts on doing SD springs down the road with an RSK?

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Got it aligned at a local reputable shop that I know, as the tie-rods were shot so I replaced them. I actually got it pretty darn close using the marks rust/paint line on the old tie rods as a marker where to put the adjusting sleeve. It was only about 5 degrees of toe out on each side.

On the RSK, I've been paying close attention to your threads. For now, it's not necessary. The truck rides awesome now, especially loaded, it's very soft. Unloaded it's still SOO much better. I'd be curious to know just how better it is with an RSK, but it's plenty soft for me right now. Not to mention I gained AT LEAST 2" if not more, of suspension travel, so the truck sits nice and level now, looks good.

That being said, I do like that you're trying to get that kit made so that it could possibly be bolted on and that the bumper doesn't have to be cut. Like your truck, I try to keep mine looking close to OEM, and cutting the bumper is probably the biggest deal breaker on doing an RSK.

Without the sway bar the truck had some bad body roll in tight corners. Now the truck handles awesome, tight around corners and no roll whatsoever. Definately worth having the sway bar. And not to mention those Banks brackets were really easy to install and saved me lots of headaches of having to find stock ones. About 2 hours to install those, as I was taking my time. Don't forget to get some bolts to hook the links to the brackets, as they're not included; I got grade 8 just for a piece of mind.

Do you have the specs from the alignment and how well does it track esp in relation to crown in the road.

Tom S said:

Do you have the specs from the alignment and how well does it track esp in relation to crown in the road.

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Give me a day or so and I'll post up a copy of the alignment specs.

It tracks well on flat ground, nice and straight. Pretty much the same on a crown as the D50. It does have some wander on sloped stretches of road, but nothing too much different than before. Just curious why you asked?

Don't wanna jacl your thread but about to do my swap and wondering what all I can use from my D50 to put on the new D60. The one i bought came out out of a 95 ball joint. Is calipers and rotors same? Spindles?

Thanks

rancherstroker6 said:

Give me a day or so and I'll post up a copy of the alignment specs.

It tracks well on flat ground, nice and straight. Pretty much the same on a crown as the D50. It does have some wander on sloped stretches of road, but nothing too much different than before. Just curious why you asked?

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I have always notice my Dana 50 was more prone to pull depending on the crown of the road then I would have liked.

Nice work, your truck sits a lot nicer.

Well here's the best I could get the spec sheet, sorry it's so blurry.

97-stroker said:

Don't wanna jacl your thread but about to do my swap and wondering what all I can use from my D50 to put on the new D60. The one i bought came out out of a 95 ball joint. Is calipers and rotors same? Spindles?

Thanks

Click to expand...

No problem, good to add info to the thread. All that you can use are rotors, brakes, and hubs. The spindles are different, as the inside lip of the D50spindle is smaller and does not mount correctly to a D60. So, just unhook the brakes and tie them back to the chassis while you mount the D60 then bolt them back up.

As far as hubs go, when you take your D60 apart just make sure you have the right spindle nut for whatever hub you have. So if you have manual locking hubs, make sure it's got the 4 toothed spindle nut, not the 6 sided nut with one tooth. It'd be good to regrease the hubs anyway, as mine had some dirty grease in them and who knows when they had been re-packed .


Here's a good link with all the torque specs for a 95-97 Balljointed D60:
http://www.thedieselstop.com/faq/9497faq/maint/stj/stj53b16.htm

rancherstroker6 said:

Well here's the best I could get the spec sheet, sorry it's so blurry.

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That's the specs for a D50. The tech had to use the specs for a F350 not a F250. You don't have a "F250" anymore, you now have a F350. Did you tell the tech to use the specs from a F350?

Billy T.
[email protected]

gnxtc2 said:

That's the specs for a D50. The tech had to use the specs for a F350 not a F250. You don't have a "F250" anymore, you now have a F350. Did you tell the tech to use the specs from a F350?

Billy T.
[email protected]

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:doh::doh: I can't believe I didn't notice that. I told him what I did but didn't think to tell him to use the other specs. Thanks for pointing it out, Billy.

It still tracks straight, though.

Manual hub socket-

Where did you get that, Cat? Weird that I ended up with the other one...the only internal one I saw at O'Reillys was too small, and couldn't find a pic/info of what the right one was. It still works, but there isn't much tooth to grab the spindle nut, because of the surface next to each tooth is curved, not flat if that makes any sense. The one that I showed was the one that came up on their website for the D50/60, as well.

I have the OTC 7158

Summit Racing sells OTC



Billy T.
[email protected]

Got mine at Auto Zone for about $15 or less.