My 97 GMC 04+ ford super dana 60 sas experiment.

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CarolinaOBS

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Hey guys just starting a new thread for the truck because I’m starting the SAS. Figured it belonged int his forum. Any advice is appreciated. I will try to be as informative as possible.

To start I’m doing something I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else so axle wise, so any insight is appreciated. I’m trying to stuff a super Dana 60 (2005 f350 srw with a 10” ring gear) under the truck with four link. Also keep in mind i am trying to do this swap as nice as I can for as CHEAP as I can. also i know i know why am i dragging garbage ford stuff up here, well if you know anything about this axle you would understand. CHEAP, available, heavy as an elephant, strong as farm dirt.

Over the past month I tore the axle down and went through it. It was in very good shape for nearly being free. Very disappointed it’s a 4.10 and down carrier since I have 4.56 in the rear 14 bolt. But it will be fine I will swap the rear to 3.73 untill I can afford a dual 4.10 gear set or a new carrier. The axle is about 70% put back together. From here on I need all the outer seals, ball joints, bearing assemblies, hubs and brakes.

So far I have:

Axle: 100 bucks
Por 15: $40
Four link arm and bracket kit (for Ford F-250): $600
Miscellaneous: $50
Stock metal: $200


The four link arms measure out and will mount exactly where the bolt on trans crossmember is. I will be fabbing a new one for the link mounts. I plan on running a divorced np205 transfer case but that’s later down the road. This is going to be a long project but I think it will be an amazing setup when finished. Basically a 97 hd srw truck on 1 ton axles linked. My goal here is to have a very nice riding indestructible heavy duty suspension.

The agenda is:

Finish rebuilding axle assembly
Fab spring perches, pan hard bar mounts and steering link
Fab crossmember and mount link bracket
coil spring crap
brakes
steering
mock up and adjustment
full weld
clean up factory frame brackets
driving

Truck:
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Axle before and after:
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Jaredpear

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how did you end up cleaning the surface rust on the axle? It looks damn good! I need some tips for doing mine, I got a 90s Ford Dana 60 that I just got done disassembling
 
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Smith

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Hey guys just starting a new thread for the truck because I’m starting the SAS. Figured it belonged int his forum. Any advice is appreciated. I will try to be as informative as possible.

To start I’m doing something I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else so axle wise, so any insight is appreciated. I’m trying to stuff a super Dana 60 (2005 f350 srw with a 10” ring gear) under the truck with four link. Also keep in mind i am trying to do this swap as nice as I can for as CHEAP as I can. also i know i know why am i dragging garbage ford stuff up here, well if you know anything about this axle you would understand. CHEAP, available, heavy as an elephant, strong as farm dirt.

Over the past month I tore the axle down and went through it. It was in very good shape for nearly being free. Very disappointed it’s a 4.10 and down carrier since I have 4.56 in the rear 14 bolt. But it will be fine I will swap the rear to 3.73 untill I can afford a dual 4.10 gear set or a new carrier. The axle is about 70% put back together. From here on I need all the outer seals, ball joints, bearing assemblies, hubs and brakes.

So far I have:

Axle: 100 bucks
Por 15: $40
Four link arm and bracket kit (for Ford F-250): $600
Miscellaneous: $50
Stock metal: $200


The four link arms measure out and will mount exactly where the bolt on trans crossmember is. I will be fabbing a new one for the link mounts. I plan on running a divorced np205 transfer case but that’s later down the road. This is going to be a long project but I think it will be an amazing setup when finished. Basically a 97 hd srw truck on 1 ton axles linked. My goal here is to have a very nice riding indestructible heavy duty suspension.

The agenda is:

Finish rebuilding axle assembly
Fab spring perches, pan hard bar mounts and steering link
Fab crossmember and mount link bracket
coil spring crap
brakes
steering
mock up and adjustment
full weld
clean up factory frame brackets
driving

Truck:
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Axle before and after:
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I pretty much did the same thing but with a 79 Ford 60. Even have a Divorce mount 205 installed for a doubler. My buddy designed the mounts and bracketry for it. Good chance when you are ready you can buy a set off him. He still has the CAD files for them to be lasered. Not sure how High you are going but i wanted mine taller than it previous was which was 9 Inches of lift

how did you end up cleaning the surface rust on the axle? It looks damn good! I need some tips for doing mine, I got a 90s Ford Dana 60 that I just got done disassembling
Sand blast it and paint. If it has a ton of pitting, you may need some body filler but use something better than just your typical Bondo.
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CarolinaOBS

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how did you end up cleaning the surface rust on the axle? It looks damn good! I need some tips for doing mine, I got a 90s Ford Dana 60 that I just got done disassembling

A drill, wire wheel, scotch bright, and allot of patience is needed for cleanup. Or if you have access to a bead blaster like Smith said that’s the easiest way. As far as the paint goes, 2 coats of POR-15 and top coat with whatever colors you want.

I pretty much did the same thing but with a 79 Ford 60. Even have a Divorce mount 205 installed for a doubler. My buddy designed the mounts and bracketry for it. Good chance when you are ready you can buy a set off him. He still has the CAD files for them to be lasered. Not sure how High you are going but i wanted mine taller than it previous was which was 9 Inches of lift


Sand blast it and paint. If it has a ton of pitting, you may need some body filler but use something better than just your typical Bondo.
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That’s a very clean setup! I can tell allot of planning and work went into that, it’s beautiful. I’m looking to do a 7-9” lift using the stock 2wd spring pockets so it looks as stock as possible. Also using all the stock arm mounts shock tabs and such on the 05 axle....hopefully only fabbed item will be spring perches. But I will definitely be interested in transfer case bracketry and such. I would like to see more of your build do you have a thread on it??
 

CarolinaOBS

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Made progress this weekend. Seal kit came in so I was able to put in ball joints and assemble the axle up to the knuckles. Just waiting on brake rotors so I can take the hubs and rotors to the local machine shop to be redrilled. After that the real fun stuff starts. In the meanwhile I got some stuff from off road design for the rear suspension. I got their 4” shackle flip kit, u bolt flip kit, and 1” blocks to get rid of the ugly 5” ones I have now. I will try and get around to that sometime this week, installing an add a leaf kit I had lying around the shop too. Going to be about 7” of lift in the back. I also will be making some new single bar trac bars much more functional than the fabtech ones I have now.

7” of lift, only a 1” block. Half the price of lift springs. Sounds good to me.

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CarolinaOBS

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Machine shop quoted me 500+ to drill the hubs and rotors so I got ballsy enough to try it myself. Got one of the hubs and rotors drilled this weekend and got the new m14x1.5 studs in. This was a sucky job. Used cheap hub centric wheel spacer and press in drill bushings to get pilot holes in then drilled out To full size on the drill press. Took all weekend because the 5/8 bit destroyed the chuck on the press we had so I found a better one on Craigslist picked it up today and finished one hub completely. Coming together slowly but surely.

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CarolinaOBS

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Well, finally time to start the fun stuff, the axle is about 90% done. The axle is fully converted to 8x6.5 lug pattern. A big reason I chose this axle and just deal with the hassle of a lug conversion was the size difference in the brakes, This thing has massive brakes. All it needs now is steering (probably using modified stock ford links) and locking hubs, decided to ditch the idea of adding an auto lock system. In the meanwhile I started on the rear suspension getting it lifted enough for when the front comes up. (Front is coming up atleast 3” from where it is now). Used off road design shackle flip kit , a pro comp 2” add a leaf, and An ord U bolt flip kit. The rear now sits an inch higher than it did with 5 inch blocks and it’s bolted right to the axle. Only downfall is I’m going to have to fabricate some sort of axle offset spacer because the shackle flip sucked the axle forward about 1/2 an inch. Other than that very pleased with these products. I’m planning to take off the ugly fabtech ladder bars and am going to weld up some nice adjustable trac bars and mounts as well, I think adding a heim to the frame mounted side would make a nice setup. Looking like she might be driving by July-September.

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CarolinaOBS

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finished up some work on ass end of the truck today installed pro comp 2” add a leafs and 2” blocks giving me (in combination with the ord shackle flip) about 9” of rear lift. Ended up having to use some ord axle offset plates to get the axle back in the right spot, bumper is about 35 inches from the ground now. Going to have to completely custom make new shock mounts for the back, 5” lift shocks won’t even bolt up fully extended with the suspension compressed now. Ready to start on the front finally.
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CarolinaOBS

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Well finished the work on the axle and by some miracle my meteocre machining skills were successful and my wheels bolt to the axle with no issues. Fun fact the super Dana 60 is running 88” from outer wheel lip to outer wheel lip whilethe 14 bolt is only 83 and a quarter. so I will be running 2” billet spacers in the rear. Side project I fabricated a new shock setup for the rear, bilstein 5100s longest ones they make for travel. Made enough room in the shop to get the truck perched on jack stands. This weekend stripped the front suspension and rolled the axle under to start measuring, starting to look like I’m going to have to go another 3” in lift (12” total lift in the front) trying to avoid notching the frame. Due to the carrier breaks in my 14 bolt (4.56 and up) and the Dana 60 (4.10 and down) I think the best gearing combo will be 4.88s (thick gear up front) and 40” tires, yes 40s. Doing some math this would be equivalent to running 3.90 gears with the factory tires. I think it will be right in the wheelhouse since I’m planning a 12 valve cummins swap as well.
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Shorty01GMC

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I’m not sure where the pics are anymore but I looked at a reg cab long bed that had super duty axles.. they had used the super duty axles, factory radius arms and brackets from what I could tell..
 
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