Dana 60 inspection

[02x72]

Im going to be going to look at a few Dana 60 Kingpin axles this weekend for my 4x4 swap and had a few questions before I go. There are 3 axles available, all $650. I'll have pick of which one I want and obviously want to get the best one. Aside from making sure they are not seized up and working properly and looking for any obvious flaws, what should I look at to find the best one, if thats possible. I havent ever spent much time with 60's so Im relatively unfamiliar with what to watch out for.

 

[bigtex]

Get them all if humanly possible. General wear and tear. Dana 60's are pretty beefy in stock form. Ive had the same one under three different one tons on 38's and bigger, under some heave abuse mind you, and haven't destroyed it yet. New king pin bushig kits are always a plus though.

 

[02x72]

Thats what I kind of figured. Just didnt know if there were any tell tale things to stay away from other than obvious signs of something broken

 

[Kalashnikov]

I would just make sure the axles rotate without any funny business unless you plan to do gears. You could pull the diff cover if you want to. Everything else is just bearings, u joint, TREs, etc. Normal wear items.

 

[towcat]

other than obvious signs of physical abuse, oil leaking out the axle tube and rusty streaks coming from the u-joints, there really isn't much to see. if the kingpins are worn, you wont be able to really tell until you install the axle and run it. i knew mime was beat hard, the buy-in on the entire truck was $700 with a siezed 7.3 and a ZF5 of unknown condition. not much of the truck wasn't worked hard and put away wet.
here's a pic of a u-joint on a drive axle with minor issues.(photo credits to f350camper)