Dana 60 to Sterling Swap

[swervyjoe]

I'm fixing to swap my Dana 60 rear for a Sterling from an '85. The sterling is coming out of a 2wd super cab going into an '84 4wd super cab. Are the rear u joints the same and will the drive shaft be the same length? Couldn't find anything when I searched. I didn't think to save the drive shaft from the parts pickup. I do have the drive shafts from a '93 F350 crew 4wd.
Thanks

 

[6.9poweredscout]

Are you sure it's not a d70? Is there something wrong with it?

 

[swervyjoe]

The ends of the axle tubes are tapered with I thought makes it a 60/61 whatever it is. It leaks but nothing really wrong with it. The sterling was free and the brakes are easier to work with.

 

[jaluhn83]

I've done the D70U to Sterling swap and the rear driveline worked fine. Can't recall for sure if the rear u-joint is the same but I'm 95% sure it is. If not, just get the dimensions of both yokes and find a hybred joint that fits. I had to do this when I had a dana 61 and it worked out well. Parts store guy will likely not have a clue, but in the back of the u-joint parts manual is a chart of joints by dimension you should be able to look it up in. Or post dimensions here.

I'm pretty sure that D70 tubes are tapered too.

 

[NO_SPRK]

you also will need the sway bar and associated bits with it. not sure on ebrake cables. driveline should be fine and im not sure if they stuck with one or changed to a different yoke. i have one of each axle here but you do too

buy a new rubber brake line. ive owned 1st gen dodge cummins and one of the reasons why i love the fords is the outboard brakes.

 

[bike-maker]

Diesels had a 70, 460's came with a 60.
My truck had a 60 in it. I swapped in a sterling out of a 89, melted that one down, then put in a long pinioned posi version out of a 94.
The only part to deal with was the rear U-joint. Sterling yoke was considerably bigger than the Dana 60 yoke, so it took a conversion U-joint. Not a big deal if you have a parts guy that's willing to look through the spicer book.
Other part I should mention; I went from auto to manual at the same time - the manual U-joints / driveshaft is beefier - not sure if that matters on the rear yoke though.

 

[swervyjoe]

So the sterling swapped straight in. The Dana felt the need to lock up so the sterling went in sooner than expected.

In other news, pretty sure the transfer case is destroyed. So now I'm hoping someone knows if a np205 is the same length as a bw1345. This is my daily so I'm hoping to not have to mess with drive shaft lengths.

Mid axle swap I learned my shocks are shot and leaf springs are snapped in half. Its been an interesting couple days. Looks like I'm going broke at a rapid rate.

Upside: got a case of PBR coming

 

[jaluhn83]

Don't have a 205 sitting around to measure, but going off memory I'd expect it to be about 6" shorter than a 1345/1356 case.

I know it's a pain being your daily driver, but one thing I have learned is that it's worth the pain in the short run to make sure you take the time to fix things right rather than trying to do a quick and dirty fix.... usually it comes back to bite you and turns into much more pain.