30 NOVEMBER 20194-WHEEL & OFF-ROAD 4WHEELOFFROAD.COM
LITTLE COMPROMISE
SOURCES
DURALAST
duralastparts.comLOCK-RIGHT BY
POWERTRAX
800.934.2727
powertrax.comSPICER
danaaftermarket.com6
Most Dana a x les have a Bill of Material s
(BOM) number stamped into the front of
the long-side axletube. (If you can read them,
chances are you can find a website that will tell
you information about the axle.) The BOM and
the differential cover tag can tell you the axle
ratio was from the factory, but that could have
been changed since 1995. Unfortunately the
only way to confirm what either the diff tag or
the BOM says about the ratio is to pull the cover
and find a number on the ring gear like this.
Our s s ays “41-10.” That’s 41 teeth on the ring
gear and 10 on the pinion for a 4.10:1 axle ratio,
which is exactly what this axle had from the
factory and thus confirms the BOM and diff tag.7
Lock-Right lockers by Powertrax are less
expensive and are easy to install compared
to full case locker s. The locker repl aces the side
gears in your open differential (PN 2620-LR for
this Ford Dana 60 w ith 35 -spline inner a x les).
Lock-Rights are a good place to start if you
aren’t sure you want an automatic locker and
you’d like to easily be able to go back to stock.
They aren’t quite as strong as a full case locker,
but we doubt we are going to be hitting anything
too hard in the truck this axle will live in. Also,
we can always take the locker out (if we sell the
truck), and if we start wheeling the truck harder
we can always upgrade to a full case locker.8
Cleaning the axletubes on an old axle is crit-
ical to proper assembly. On most a x les there
is nothing to keep water and dirt from getting
inside the axlehousing on an open knuckle axle
outside of the inner axle seal. That means mud
and rust can build up in the axletube and while
it’s in the a x le it’s nex t to impossible to keep
off the axleshafts and can damage inner axle
seal s. We like to use some scrap steel to push aheavy rag soaked in parts cleaner through each
axletube once the inner axle seals have been
pulled. Once you get most of the mess out, you
can make a “chimney sweep” out of a wire wheel
and some small steel tubing from the hardware
store. Chuck it into your drill and scour the
inside of those axletubes.9
Chromoly inner axleshafts from Spicer
(35-spline PN 10007749 short and PN
10007748 long) will make our old Mexican Dana
60 that much stronger, giving us more confidence
while off the beaten path. Our new axleshafts
came w ith Spicer’s rel atively new blue coated
U-joints (in our case, PN SPL55). These joints are
optimized for strength and long-lasting service.
Although we’ve tried a couple of different meth-
ods to install axle U-joints (like with a shop press
or a ball joint press) we keep going back to the
fir st method we ever used: a couple of socket s,
a hammer, and some concrete (or a metal work
table). Just be sure to avoid mi x ing caps on the
U-joint cross and hold the trunnion (the little arm
of the U-joint cross) into the cap you are tapping
into pl ace. That helps keep the little needle bear -
ings in place so you don’t make more work for
yourself and possibly ruin a brand-new U-joint or
cap. Later our outer axles can easily be upgraded
to 35-spline units along with the locking hubs.10
Not everyone has a handy dandy shop
assistant for those moments when you
need a third hand. Therefore we try to do as
much tech work on our own so we can share with
you how best to do it single-handedly. That said,
one thing that’s nex t to impossible to do w ithout
another person is installing new inner axle seals
in a housing. We lined up the seal, held the seal
driver, and aligned a scrap bit of tubing while
our buddy whacked the tubing with a hammerto drive home the seal. These seals are a bit of
a bear; just take it slow and make sure the seal
isn’t tr y ing to go into it s machined spot at an
angle. You want it square to the bore.11
Spicer also has these heavy-duty Nodu-
lar Iron Performance Differential Covers
(PN 10024090). They are thick and well rein-
forced with webbing, and bring peace of mind
to anyone who is driving a 4x4 on a trail. Given
our propensity to drive by braille (we have been
known to accidentally center-punch a rock
with the differential), this is a nice addition to
protect the internals. The diff cover also comes
with new mounting hardware, a fill plug, and a
drain plug w ith an integrated magnet.12
The last few components that we added
to our Mexican Dana 60 refresh were a
set of new Duralast Rotors (PN 54021 front),
Duralast Brake Calipers (PN 18-B4615 driver
side, PN 18-B4614 passenger side), and Dural-
ast Gold Brake Pads (PN DG655). The rotors are
held in place with the wheel studs on the back
of our factory wheel hubs. The hubs were filled
with new wheel bearings (PN 706411x inner, PN
706074x outer) and a new hub seal from Spicer
(PN 48816). We plan to write a quick article on
how to pack wheel bearings and prep a hub for
new wheel bearings and seals, so keep your eyes
peeled to these pages and to fourwheeler.com.6
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