Dana 60 weak link

[Levis]

That is awesome because I have a set of 30's.When you say spindles, do you mean the axle tubes? Spit the bearing shims out from under them, because of side force on the carrier? WOW! that I have never seen, must be a result of continuous torque,eh?
A truetrac was my plan because I have not been too happy with the posi unit that I put in and selectables are expensive.

[averagef250]

Most Dana 60's spin the ring gear side carrier bearing on the carrier when the carrier preload loosens up from wear or very heavy loading. It's the nature of them, nothing out of the norm. The bearing spins and spits the shims out.

Not the tubes, the spindles. The spindles are part of the housing, but they are only made for up to 30 spline shafts. Dana 61's and 70's will accept 35 spline shafts, but most 16 and 30 spline 60 housings will not. The spindle bore is too small.

[Levis]

sterling sound good, but I know they're heavy. Whats the difference with sterling/dana 80. I think they are both used in superdutys. Also, the new chevy factory lockers seem to work well from what I have seen. Also, disc brakes and 6.5 pattern

[JSlack]

sterling sound good, but I know they're heavy. Whats the difference with sterling/dana 80. I think they are both used in superdutys. Also, the new chevy factory lockers seem to work well from what I have seen. Also, disc brakes and 6.5 pattern

Sterlings are used in the SuperDuty's, 10.5" in the rears. Dana 50's were used up front until '02 when they went to a 60.

The 80 is used in the rear of the F-450's and bigger.

[Levis]

Are you sure? I think it depends, on GVW package because there are four SD rearends that I know of. I do not know what ones were used in what applications. They include the s110, s114(?) D80 and Sterling

[JSlack]

Are you sure? I think it depends, on GVW package because there are four SD rearends that I know of. I do not know what ones were used in what applications. They include the s110, s114(?) D80 and Sterling

I know for sure that since '99 a 50 was used up front and in '02 they went to a 60 in front.

afaik, a Sterling 10.25 and 10.5 were used in the rear of SRW SuperDuty's since '99. I think the 250/350 DRW got a 60 in the rear, and the DRW 450's and up got an 80 in the rear.

but i could be wrong...

[averagef250]

The sterling 10.25 full floater came out in 1985 and has been under nearly every F-250 and F-350 single and dual wheel truck since. In the mid 90's (95-96) the sterling became the 10.5. The 10.5 is the same axle, everything is the same except the axles fasteners went to metric and the ring gear grew .250".

If the truck is 8 lug it has a sterling. If it's 10 lug it has a Dana 80. The Dana 50 solid front axle was used under 250's and 350's from 98 through 2000.5 or so. Most 2001 and newer trucks have 60's.

There are also several versions of sterling semi-float axles used under the older lower GVW F250 trucks and todays non-superduty's and F-150's.

The sterling 10.25/10.5 is heavier than a 60. That's sort of the point to using them. To me, the sterling gets my nod because they are a dream to work on. They really are designed with guy who has to work on it in mind and built to last a lifetime.

[JSlack]

good stuff Dustin!! thanks!

[Levis]

Average, thanks for all the great sterling info. A Dana 80 is the removeable- carrier diff? Now that we have the rear end issue cleaned up, I wasnt aware that any F-250 or F-350s were made in '98 because '99 is when Henry built the first SD. The lone exeption being those re-badged F-150s that were sold as 250s and looked like the expedition. At least that is what I was told and I have never seen a '98 superduty. Also, do you mean to say that there is still a non-superduty F-250?

[JSlack]

I can't speak for the 150's of the late 90's, but as for the 250/350's, there is, what we like to call in Superduty land, an E(Early) 99 and a L(late) 99 superduty. the E99 was basically an early release type of deal just like they did with the 08 SD, they released part way thru '07. in 4/99 they made a whole lot o changes to the SD, and so we call that a L99.

[Levis]

So dana 80 would not be found in an f-350? All of the f-550 I have seen use the removeable carrier, what I believe is an s110

[averagef250]

F350's use sterlings and older ones had dana 70's. The 450's use 80's and 550's use the dropout carrier axles.

[Texas69]

F350's use sterlings and older ones had dana 70's. The 450's use 80's and 550's use the dropout carrier axles.

Are the dropouts rockwell axles?

[Levis]

Dana, I believe. from what I read on Mitchell, they are the s114 and s110