bike-maker
Full Access Member
I'll start out with a little back story...
My truck is one of the few years of F350 that didn't come with a Dana 60 from the factory. I've wanted to straight axle it since I got it, but had a hard time swallowing the investment of a Dana 60 when the end result would be a truck that still drives and rides about the same as any of the 4 TTB trucks I have owned throughout the years. Ride quality can be improved with a leaf sprung Dana 60 with Super Duty leaf springs and a reverse shackle kit, but on a bull nose truck like mine, the front of the leaf springs just barely fit behind the front bumper. The RSK would move that 3" forward, requiring an aftermarket or custom front bumper, plus boxing in the front of the frame. Doable, but there must be a better option...
At the same time, I was tired of the rear drums. Yeah they stop well, but I got tired of having to jack up the ass end of my truck and adjust the drums every time I was going to tow my trailer.
So I started looking at different options; first I was investigating swapping in the axles from a 99-04 super duty. Much hatred of the unit bearings, but overall a bit beefier than the older Dana 60's, and the addition of rear discs. And they can be had pretty cheap. But I wasn't sure it was going to be worth the effort.
So then I started investigating the 05 and newer axles. Bigger brakes with discs all around, unit bearings are about 30% bigger than the previous version, improved turning radius, coil springs and radius arms on the front axle for a better ride....I was sold.
So I started hunting.
Ended up finding both front and rear axles out of a 2008 F350 for a good deal. But the catch was they came out of truck that had caught on fire; apparently all to common in the first year of the 6.4 powerstroke. All the hard parts were still good, but I knew I couldn't trust any of the rubber or plastic parts. It called for a full rebuild.
Then I found another front axle out of a 2010 that was bent for cheap. Ended up just the housing was bent, everything else was in good shape, so I pulled it apart, used the control arm bushings, unit bearings, and about $500 worth of parts from rock auto to rebuild the 2008 axle.
The rear axle only got partially disassembled, enough to check the status of all the seals, bearings, and brakes.
And while I had everything apart, I figured I might as well make everything pretty. Lots of elbow grease went into cleaning, wire wheeling, grinding, and painting.
So I'll spare everyone the details on the work I did to the axles, and start on what it takes to get them bolted into my truck.
Here's a few threads from other forums on the subject:
http://powerstrokearmy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9303&showall=1
http://powerstrokearmy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34782&showall=1
http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/94...scussion/203116-06-axle-swap-whole-story.html
These are all specific to 95-97 PSD trucks, but the frames are essentially the same back to my 84, so most everything still applies.
My truck is one of the few years of F350 that didn't come with a Dana 60 from the factory. I've wanted to straight axle it since I got it, but had a hard time swallowing the investment of a Dana 60 when the end result would be a truck that still drives and rides about the same as any of the 4 TTB trucks I have owned throughout the years. Ride quality can be improved with a leaf sprung Dana 60 with Super Duty leaf springs and a reverse shackle kit, but on a bull nose truck like mine, the front of the leaf springs just barely fit behind the front bumper. The RSK would move that 3" forward, requiring an aftermarket or custom front bumper, plus boxing in the front of the frame. Doable, but there must be a better option...
At the same time, I was tired of the rear drums. Yeah they stop well, but I got tired of having to jack up the ass end of my truck and adjust the drums every time I was going to tow my trailer.
So I started looking at different options; first I was investigating swapping in the axles from a 99-04 super duty. Much hatred of the unit bearings, but overall a bit beefier than the older Dana 60's, and the addition of rear discs. And they can be had pretty cheap. But I wasn't sure it was going to be worth the effort.
So then I started investigating the 05 and newer axles. Bigger brakes with discs all around, unit bearings are about 30% bigger than the previous version, improved turning radius, coil springs and radius arms on the front axle for a better ride....I was sold.
So I started hunting.
Ended up finding both front and rear axles out of a 2008 F350 for a good deal. But the catch was they came out of truck that had caught on fire; apparently all to common in the first year of the 6.4 powerstroke. All the hard parts were still good, but I knew I couldn't trust any of the rubber or plastic parts. It called for a full rebuild.
Then I found another front axle out of a 2010 that was bent for cheap. Ended up just the housing was bent, everything else was in good shape, so I pulled it apart, used the control arm bushings, unit bearings, and about $500 worth of parts from rock auto to rebuild the 2008 axle.
The rear axle only got partially disassembled, enough to check the status of all the seals, bearings, and brakes.
And while I had everything apart, I figured I might as well make everything pretty. Lots of elbow grease went into cleaning, wire wheeling, grinding, and painting.
So I'll spare everyone the details on the work I did to the axles, and start on what it takes to get them bolted into my truck.
Here's a few threads from other forums on the subject:
http://powerstrokearmy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9303&showall=1
http://powerstrokearmy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34782&showall=1
http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/94...scussion/203116-06-axle-swap-whole-story.html
These are all specific to 95-97 PSD trucks, but the frames are essentially the same back to my 84, so most everything still applies.