54 NOVEMBER 20194-WHEEL & OFF-ROAD 4WHEELOFFROAD.COM
LOCK & LOAD
“
Ford has been
using these axles
for 20 years now
”
W
hile not as bad as the variations of Dana 44, where zero components from a Dana
44 under a new Wrangler JL are shared with the Dana 44 under a CJ5, Dana 60s
still have quite a bit of variation, even the ones found under Super Duty pickups.
Starting in 1999, Super Duty trucks used Dana 50 axles under F-250s and single-rear-
wheel (SRW) F-350s. High-pinion Dana 60s were used on dual-rear-wheel (DRW) Dana 60s
starting in 2002. These axles had spring perches for leaf springs until 2004 with virtually
no axletube sticking out of the casting on the short side, making it a challenge to mount
coil s or link s. In 2005 Ford went to coil springs, along with bigger k nuckles and brakes
on the Dana 60 front axles. F-450 and F-550 trucks of this era came with “Super 60” front
axles that use a larger 10-inch ring gear, 37-spline axleshafts, and 1550 U-joints for even
greater strength. These axles have 10-lug adapters, but removing the adapters converts
them to the normal Super Duty 8x170 bolt pattern.SUPER DUTY DANA 60S THROUGH THE YEARS
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Any easy was to tell whether a Super Duty
front axle is a Dana 50, Dana 60, or Super 60 is
the size of the pinion nut. The Dana 60 and Super
60 w ill have a 1^5 ⁄ 16 -inch pinion nut, while the Dana
50 w ill have a smaller, 1^1 ⁄ 8 -inch pinion nut.6
Steering options for ball joint Super Duty
front axles is limited compared to older
kingpin Dana 60 axles that allow you to easily
bolt a steering arm to the top of the knuckle,
but there are some weld-on high steer options.
The factory arrangement uses a draglink end
on top of the mounting point with a long,
tapered shank that goes all the way through
the knuckle and tie rod.7
The toe and heel of the ring gear refer to the
inside (near the carrier) and the outside,
respectively. The root of the gear refers to the
bottom of the teeth, and the crown is the top of
the teeth. There are also drive and coast sides
to the ring gear. Aaron Lechner of Axleline set
up the gears so the pinion teeth would meet
the middle of the ring gear teeth to reliably run
quiet and smooth.8
Early Sterling axles have shorter splines on
the pinion than later gearsets have. A long
yoke has an overall height of approximately 3^1 ⁄ 2
inches and a spline length of approximately 1^3 ⁄ 4
inches. A short yoke measures approximately
31 ⁄ 4 inches in height and has a spline length of
approximately 1^1 ⁄ 4 inches. The spline length
becomes an issue when swapping gears because
the yoke must be matched to the pinion.9
Yukon makes installation kits for 10^1 ⁄ 2 -inch
specific gears as well as kits for the more
commonly used 10^1 ⁄ 4 -inch gears to retrofit
into a 10^1 ⁄ 2 -inch housing. The difference is the
height of the inner pinion bearing. Yukon offers
both bearings, as well as a thick shim to make
up the difference between the two in 08-10
axles like ours.10
Yukon uses captive shims on its Zip Lock-
er. The thin shims sit under a thick shim on
the collar of the seal housing. This makes instal-
lation far easier since the thin shims are sand-
wiched and won’t be harmed during installation.
Particularly helpful since the Sterling axle
doesn’t have provisions for a case spreader.56
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