dana 60 to 9 inch

[hotrod ford]

being that my father inlaw picked up my 429 this week to take to amarillo to rebuild while i'm gone he suggest that i swap my 8 lugs for 5 lugs. i'm ok with that, my question is will i have to swap the leaf springs also? and, since i'm puttin a 429 in it can i use a 1 peice drive shaft instead of a 2 peice?

[71PA_Highboy]

You can do anything you want, the question is what are you trying to accomplish?

If you are building a work truck I would not use the 9", I would keep the 60 in there.

If you are building a street racer, then by all means put the 9" in there and change anything else that will lighten it up.

I am not sure your desires for the truck, so how about a I want and a Pros-Cons list so we can help you get to where you want to be?

R/

eric

[FORDification]

If you swap the 9" rearend in, to do it right you'll need not only springs but the spring mount brackets as well, by cutting off the rivet heads, driving the rivets out and then reinstalling them with Grade 8 bolts. The F250 has a larger spring eyelet hole than the F100, which means that if you try to install the F100 springs on an F250, the hole in the mounting bracket will be too large. Do NOT just install the F100 springs using the F250 brackets!

If the truck is a LWB truck, you can't use a 1-piece driveshaft. Well, I say can't but really mean shouldn't. You could do it, but you'd have to custom fabricate one. It's not recommended though, since the length of the driveshaft would be difficult to balance and keep it that way. Not impossible, but why re-invent the wheel? The 2-piece driveshaft is more than capable of handling what you through at it...and probably would survive longer than a very-long one piece shaft.

[71PA_Highboy]

Keith,

Another option (and easier in my book) would be to just weld new spring mounts on the 9" that match the springs from the F250.
I know they are out there... I just don't know where...

r/

eric

[AlleyCat]

If the truck is a LWB truck, you can't use a 1-piece driveshaft. Well, I say can't but really mean shouldn't. You could do it, but you'd have to custom fabricate one. It's not recommended though, since the length of the driveshaft would be difficult to balance and keep it that way. Not impossible, but why re-invent the wheel? The 2-piece driveshaft is more than capable of handling what you through at it...and probably would survive longer than a very-long one piece shaft.

I'd like to add a bit here. Years ago I had a long talk with the guy who owns Driveline Service in Pittsburgh, Pa. These folks build driveshafts for all types of cars, trucks and industrial applications. He taught me some simple rules and formulas for building custom driveshafts. One of those rules was that you can safely suspend up to 6 feet of tube up to 350 hp. Tube lengths or horsepower ratings in excess of those numbers will inevitably become a problem.

[FORDification]

Keith,

Another option (and easier in my book) would be to just weld new spring mounts on the 9" that match the springs from the F250.
I know they are out there... I just don't know where...

r/

eric

I wasn't referring to the spring pads on the rearend housing...those will remain in the same place on both rearends. I was referring to the spring brackets riveted to the frame. The spring eyelet on each end of F250 springs is larger than on F100 springs, and used a larger bolt to attach the springs to the frame brackets. If you attached the F250 springs using the F100 bolt, the eyelet will move around quite a bit, meaning your entire rearend will be shifting all over the place.

You could enlarge the hole in the existing F100 frame brackets, but I'd be VERY careful doing this....if you widen it out too far, you're back to square one needing a new set of frame brackets.

[dcbullet]

Why would he even need to swap out the springs?

I had a D60 8 lug on my F-100 when I got it and I just swapped in a 5 lug 9" no problem. Didn't do anything to the springs.

[FORDification]

He wouldn't have to, I just thought he might want the slightly-softer ride of the F100 springs. I too have a Dana 60 rearend on the back end of my '69 F100 4x4, it bolted up to the F100 springs just fine. Of course, he could also just remove a leaf or two from the F250 setup to soften the ride, which would achieve the same thing.

[MadMaxetc]

The Dentside LWB trucks (F-100 & F150) used one peice driveshafts. Like was said before it is a matter of HP/Torque trough the shaft.

I used the 250 springs so that I could haul bigger loads (for SHORT distances).

[Hawkrod]

Yeah, what he said, I have had a couple of dozen dents (have four right now) and every 2 X 4 I have ever had came with a 2 piece shaft. There definitely were one piece shafts but they are very odd light duty applications like 1977 302 with C4 and 3.08 gear ratio but if it had a 3.50 gear ratio or a 4 speed it had a two piece shaft. None of the heavy duty applications were one piece from what the books show. Hawkrod. Hawkrod

[AlleyCat]

Over the past year I've scrapped 3 dents that were 2 wd. A 76 F250 390/C6, a 79 F250 460/C6 and a 78 F100 300 3 speed. The first 2 had 2 piece shafts and the 78 F100 had a 1 piece shaft.