Project BAD Monkey 2001
The Axles
There they are all cleaned up, my new axles. The front is a DANA 60 off a 96 3500 and the rear is a
DANA 80 off a 98 2500HD.
Check out that super beefy housing! and the U-Joint Yoke!
The front housing is considerably smaller than the rear but much beefier than the Dana 44 front I am
replacing.
Talk about bigger, check out those U-Joints! They are greasable, see the zirk fitting?
Before I could start to modify the DANA 80, I had to measure the stock pinion angle to use as a
reference. I used a cool tool called an angle level. I placed the angle level on the spring pad and set
it to 0 degrees.
I then set the angle level on the face of the pinion yoke and took a reading of 80 degrees. This means
the stock pinion angle is 10 degrees on the DANA 80.
To remove to spring pads and shock mounts I used a Makita 4" disc grinder and a 5 pound hammer.
The welds penetrated very deep so I had to grind 1/4" past the wall of the cast spring pad. You can see
the corrosion under the pad because the stock design lets water sit under the spring pads.
I used the same grinder to smooth out the tubes so they look untouched. I could not avoid making a
couple of the cuts too deep so I will fill in those sections with weld and grind the smooth later.
I repeated the process on the opposite side spring pad.
Here you can see the stock cast spring pads in all their glory (or something like that). You can see
just how far I had to gring to get those puppies off!
Next I rotated the axle around and removed the stock shock mounts, I could already tell that this was going to suck also.
Fire! Fire! Ya!
There's me grinding away.
The fresh grind looks sweet! I had to grind really deep again, DANA welds are burely!
A couple of whacks with the 5 pound hammer and they just came right off (ya-right!) I averaged about 1
to 1-1/2 hours for each spring pad and shock mount, it was a lot of work.
As you can see by the shock mount I had to whack it pretty good to get it off. These will obviously not
be reused.
Where did it go?
Finish grinding the welds down to make the tubes smooth.
I used a orbital sander to rough up the paint so that I could put some fresh coats on.
I used a high quality rust preventative black spray paint to pre-paint the axle.
I though this was where the fun started until I broke 6 of the 16 bolts that hold these beefy ass 35
spline axle shafts to the full floater hubs. It took me over 7 hours spread out over a couple weeks to
get those pigs out (but I did).
I removed the axle shafts so that I could pull the old differential out to make room for an ARB RD-80
Air Locking Differential and 5.13:1 gears!
When I cracked the diff cover off and saw that 11 inch ring gear a tear of joy ran down my face. I
thought I was going to bust a nut lifting that thing out of there, it took all I had. What you are looking
at in this picture is 4.11:1 gears and a track lock limited slip differential.
Its out, no bats flew out after it in case you were wondering.
I also painted and removed the axle shafts and differential from the Dana 60 front axle.
Once again I enlisted the help of my niegbor Don to load the axles into my truck for the trip to
San Jose.
There's me guiding the Dana 80 into position in the bed of my truck.
Here's a picture of the freshly welded Dana 80 shock mounts.
Here's a picture of the leaf spring pad freshly welded on to the Dana 80.
Here's a better shot of the shock mounts and leaf spring pads welded in place. A little paint and this
axle is ready to install!
To run 35 spline axle shafts in the Dodge Dana 60 front I had to make precision brass spacers because I
could not locate a shaft seal that would fit the housing bore and have the 1.562 inch seal diameter
required for the larger shafts. I also made a brass plug to make installation easier.
I left a 45 degree lip at the front of the outside diameter of the precision seal spacer to align
the shaft seal totaly perpendicular to the axis of the shaft with no guess work. The fit was very sweet
if I do say so myself. I also made the exact same spacer/seal for the C.A.D. side of the axle and my
long axle shaft will have a seal surface about in the middle of its length.
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Check out that super beefy housing! and the U-Joint Yoke!
The front housing is considerably smaller than the rear but much beefier than the Dana 44 front I am
replacing.
Talk about bigger, check out those U-Joints! They are greasable, see the zirk fitting?
Before I could start to modify the DANA 80, I had to measure the stock pinion angle to use as a
reference. I used a cool tool called an angle level. I placed the angle level on the spring pad and set
it to 0 degrees.
I then set the angle level on the face of the pinion yoke and took a reading of 80 degrees. This means
the stock pinion angle is 10 degrees on the DANA 80.
To remove to spring pads and shock mounts I used a Makita 4" disc grinder and a 5 pound hammer.
The welds penetrated very deep so I had to grind 1/4" past the wall of the cast spring pad. You can see
the corrosion under the pad because the stock design lets water sit under the spring pads.
I used the same grinder to smooth out the tubes so they look untouched. I could not avoid making a
couple of the cuts too deep so I will fill in those sections with weld and grind the smooth later.
I repeated the process on the opposite side spring pad.
Here you can see the stock cast spring pads in all their glory (or something like that). You can see
just how far I had to gring to get those puppies off!
Next I rotated the axle around and removed the stock shock mounts, I could already tell that this was going to suck also.
Fire! Fire! Ya!
There's me grinding away.
The fresh grind looks sweet! I had to grind really deep again, DANA welds are burely!
A couple of whacks with the 5 pound hammer and they just came right off (ya-right!) I averaged about 1
to 1-1/2 hours for each spring pad and shock mount, it was a lot of work.
As you can see by the shock mount I had to whack it pretty good to get it off. These will obviously not
be reused.
Where did it go?
Finish grinding the welds down to make the tubes smooth.
I used a orbital sander to rough up the paint so that I could put some fresh coats on.
I used a high quality rust preventative black spray paint to pre-paint the axle.
I though this was where the fun started until I broke 6 of the 16 bolts that hold these beefy ass 35
spline axle shafts to the full floater hubs. It took me over 7 hours spread out over a couple weeks to
get those pigs out (but I did).
I removed the axle shafts so that I could pull the old differential out to make room for an ARB RD-80
Air Locking Differential and 5.13:1 gears!
When I cracked the diff cover off and saw that 11 inch ring gear a tear of joy ran down my face. I
thought I was going to bust a nut lifting that thing out of there, it took all I had. What you are looking
at in this picture is 4.11:1 gears and a track lock limited slip differential.
Its out, no bats flew out after it in case you were wondering.
I also painted and removed the axle shafts and differential from the Dana 60 front axle.
Once again I enlisted the help of my niegbor Don to load the axles into my truck for the trip to
San Jose.
There's me guiding the Dana 80 into position in the bed of my truck.
Here's a picture of the freshly welded Dana 80 shock mounts.
Here's a picture of the leaf spring pad freshly welded on to the Dana 80.
Here's a better shot of the shock mounts and leaf spring pads welded in place. A little paint and this
axle is ready to install!
To run 35 spline axle shafts in the Dodge Dana 60 front I had to make precision brass spacers because I
could not locate a shaft seal that would fit the housing bore and have the 1.562 inch seal diameter
required for the larger shafts. I also made a brass plug to make installation easier.
I left a 45 degree lip at the front of the outside diameter of the precision seal spacer to align
the shaft seal totaly perpendicular to the axis of the shaft with no guess work. The fit was very sweet
if I do say so myself. I also made the exact same spacer/seal for the C.A.D. side of the axle and my
long axle shaft will have a seal surface about in the middle of its length.