Burbpower
Newbie
Hey Guys,
I wanted to make this post for anyone who is thinking about doing a Dana 60 Coilover Swap. There is not a bunch of info out there for people who want Coilovers instead of the ox-cart ride with leaf springs. And Parts are non-existent.
The vehicle I did this built on was a 96 K2500 Suburban 7.4L 4wd, it was already lifted on a 6" Procomp lift On 35's.
The Build on this is pretty straight forward, There is just a lot of little things to consider before you build this.
Most of the components on that make this build work were designed by my company. To save time some of the non-specific components were sourced from other places.
Things to consider......
1. If you’re going to put all the work into this. Might as well go all out.
2. This is NOT for people who take 2 days to install a simple lift kit. Really recommended for people with a good amount of experience. WELDING IS REQUIRED
Daily Driver Inspired,
This was built to be my daily driver. I have about 5K miles on it and a few weekend wheeling trips.
I went with a radius arm setup because its inherent anti sway design. And Less links to mount on the frame.
The Link Mounts we made to tie into the transmission cross member. (I'm currently working on a 1 piece cross member that includes the mounts.)
For the axle, I used a 2006 Ford F-250 Dana 60 front (later found build code is a Dana Super 60). This is the easiest axle to use because of availability and for Coilover mount bolts on.
We built Coil over towers to house the 10” King 2.5” Coilovers. The Goal was to build 10” of travel without having a huge truck. With the towers we designed we were able to get about 7-8” of front lift while still having 5” of up travel and down travel.
To mount the towers we plated the outside of the frame to make it a flat mounting surface (also necessary when using leaf springs to strengthen the frame). We also plated the inside of the frame.
Trac Bar mount is easy. We added the frame side mount into our Coil over Towers. Axle side required cutting off the axle factory mount and welding on the mount.
For the steering we made our own heim joint setup (same setup we use for Jeep dana 60 swaps), bent to the same angle as the factory tie rod. I plan on getting new ends for the ford factory tie rod and building a drag link that uses ford factory rod ends.
The Factory steering pump (for vehicles with hydro boost only) is sufficient for running the solid axle. The only time it gets hard is hard braking and turning. This problem only happens when it gets hot. Im looking into further cooling to help combat the issue.
Transferase/ Driveline Issues: One of the final major issues I had was getting a front driveshaft. If your vehicle is equipped with a electronic shift transfer case (NP243) your gonna need to swap out with a NP241 with a front flange (1991-1995). The NP241 1995+ Come with a fixed front yoke, this one will not work. The front output shaft is too short to affix a flange. You’re also going to need to have a high angle driveline built. The stock driveline does not have enough useable angle, even if you put an adapter u joints.
Onto of having 2.5” Coilovers we also added 2.0 bump stops. We mounted them right behind the coilover tower. They contact the upper link that has a boxed top. The bump pad only contacts part of the upper arm due to the frame width. Even after recessing the bump mount. This is far from a perfect solution but after a bunch of testing it works well, even with the limited contact point. Also should be noted that in these pictures I have 4” bump stops. I have since shortened the bump travel to 2.5”. Bump stops are not required but like I said we went all out.
The Little Things:
For the ABS wires. The ford ones ended up being a little long. IF you take off the ones from the GM factory hubs they work with the ford hubs they end up being the perfect length.
Brake lines were easy. If you get the 06 F250 6” lift brake lines they work perfectly. They end up being a little long at ride height but work perfectly at full drop. They thread into standard hard line fittings. We ran all new brake lines in the front because old ones were a little bent.
I really recommend rebuilding any axle that you get. We replaced the ball joints with XRF and new wheel bearing assemblies. We rebuilt the knuckle with factory ford seal kits for the auto hubs because we planned on making a push button lock system like the ford had. Also if you’re going in that far make sure you get the updated steel axle shaft seal so you don’t have to do all that work again if the seal fails even tho its just a dust seal. But its only $12. I really recommend going to the ford dealer and getting the knuckle hub seal kits. They are the same price as the seal from any auto parts store but the ford one include a lot of extras like hub bolts/seals, bearing seals/bolts. A lot more for the $ that the auto store ones don’t include.
We ended up adding a currie anti rock setup because these trucks do not have rear sway bars. It did drive nicely without it but since this is daily driven we decided why not. Mounting took a little bit of time because we also had to make some mounts for this. To get full travel and maximum handling we got the longest arms currie makes and mounted the sway bar right behind the tow hooks.
The pictures also show a dual steering stabilizer setup. I ended up taking it off, there is really no need for it. It steers just as good without it because of the matching drag link and trac bar geometry. I originally added it because right after I finished the truck I drove it 1500 miles.
This build was totally worth it. Its a lot more work than doing a SAS leaf spring setup, but it rides incredible.
Anyone who is looking at doing this I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. My company has all the parts made up for anyone who wants to build one of these but doesn’t want to worry about designing all the parts to make this work. All The Specific parts for this were built by California Truck Works / CTW Performance in San Jose, CA.
I will update this as anything changes. We will be cummins swapping this one in a few months and We are also working on Duramax Swapping a 2007 Suburban 2500. I will Post about those once we have them done.
I wanted to make this post for anyone who is thinking about doing a Dana 60 Coilover Swap. There is not a bunch of info out there for people who want Coilovers instead of the ox-cart ride with leaf springs. And Parts are non-existent.
The vehicle I did this built on was a 96 K2500 Suburban 7.4L 4wd, it was already lifted on a 6" Procomp lift On 35's.
The Build on this is pretty straight forward, There is just a lot of little things to consider before you build this.
Most of the components on that make this build work were designed by my company. To save time some of the non-specific components were sourced from other places.
Things to consider......
1. If you’re going to put all the work into this. Might as well go all out.
2. This is NOT for people who take 2 days to install a simple lift kit. Really recommended for people with a good amount of experience. WELDING IS REQUIRED
Daily Driver Inspired,
This was built to be my daily driver. I have about 5K miles on it and a few weekend wheeling trips.
I went with a radius arm setup because its inherent anti sway design. And Less links to mount on the frame.
The Link Mounts we made to tie into the transmission cross member. (I'm currently working on a 1 piece cross member that includes the mounts.)
For the axle, I used a 2006 Ford F-250 Dana 60 front (later found build code is a Dana Super 60). This is the easiest axle to use because of availability and for Coilover mount bolts on.
We built Coil over towers to house the 10” King 2.5” Coilovers. The Goal was to build 10” of travel without having a huge truck. With the towers we designed we were able to get about 7-8” of front lift while still having 5” of up travel and down travel.
To mount the towers we plated the outside of the frame to make it a flat mounting surface (also necessary when using leaf springs to strengthen the frame). We also plated the inside of the frame.
Trac Bar mount is easy. We added the frame side mount into our Coil over Towers. Axle side required cutting off the axle factory mount and welding on the mount.
For the steering we made our own heim joint setup (same setup we use for Jeep dana 60 swaps), bent to the same angle as the factory tie rod. I plan on getting new ends for the ford factory tie rod and building a drag link that uses ford factory rod ends.
The Factory steering pump (for vehicles with hydro boost only) is sufficient for running the solid axle. The only time it gets hard is hard braking and turning. This problem only happens when it gets hot. Im looking into further cooling to help combat the issue.
Transferase/ Driveline Issues: One of the final major issues I had was getting a front driveshaft. If your vehicle is equipped with a electronic shift transfer case (NP243) your gonna need to swap out with a NP241 with a front flange (1991-1995). The NP241 1995+ Come with a fixed front yoke, this one will not work. The front output shaft is too short to affix a flange. You’re also going to need to have a high angle driveline built. The stock driveline does not have enough useable angle, even if you put an adapter u joints.
Onto of having 2.5” Coilovers we also added 2.0 bump stops. We mounted them right behind the coilover tower. They contact the upper link that has a boxed top. The bump pad only contacts part of the upper arm due to the frame width. Even after recessing the bump mount. This is far from a perfect solution but after a bunch of testing it works well, even with the limited contact point. Also should be noted that in these pictures I have 4” bump stops. I have since shortened the bump travel to 2.5”. Bump stops are not required but like I said we went all out.
The Little Things:
For the ABS wires. The ford ones ended up being a little long. IF you take off the ones from the GM factory hubs they work with the ford hubs they end up being the perfect length.
Brake lines were easy. If you get the 06 F250 6” lift brake lines they work perfectly. They end up being a little long at ride height but work perfectly at full drop. They thread into standard hard line fittings. We ran all new brake lines in the front because old ones were a little bent.
I really recommend rebuilding any axle that you get. We replaced the ball joints with XRF and new wheel bearing assemblies. We rebuilt the knuckle with factory ford seal kits for the auto hubs because we planned on making a push button lock system like the ford had. Also if you’re going in that far make sure you get the updated steel axle shaft seal so you don’t have to do all that work again if the seal fails even tho its just a dust seal. But its only $12. I really recommend going to the ford dealer and getting the knuckle hub seal kits. They are the same price as the seal from any auto parts store but the ford one include a lot of extras like hub bolts/seals, bearing seals/bolts. A lot more for the $ that the auto store ones don’t include.
We ended up adding a currie anti rock setup because these trucks do not have rear sway bars. It did drive nicely without it but since this is daily driven we decided why not. Mounting took a little bit of time because we also had to make some mounts for this. To get full travel and maximum handling we got the longest arms currie makes and mounted the sway bar right behind the tow hooks.
The pictures also show a dual steering stabilizer setup. I ended up taking it off, there is really no need for it. It steers just as good without it because of the matching drag link and trac bar geometry. I originally added it because right after I finished the truck I drove it 1500 miles.
This build was totally worth it. Its a lot more work than doing a SAS leaf spring setup, but it rides incredible.
Anyone who is looking at doing this I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. My company has all the parts made up for anyone who wants to build one of these but doesn’t want to worry about designing all the parts to make this work. All The Specific parts for this were built by California Truck Works / CTW Performance in San Jose, CA.
I will update this as anything changes. We will be cummins swapping this one in a few months and We are also working on Duramax Swapping a 2007 Suburban 2500. I will Post about those once we have them done.
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