Dana 60 - 70 shafts?

[Maverick26]

Going through all this axle BS and Im looking at the spindle size and nuts. The rear 60 spindles are too small for the 70 shafts so it will get the 70 spindles and hub assy.

I have 2 questions,

Can anyone tell me if the size of the dana 60 35 spline shaft is the same size as a stock dana 70 shaft?

And where in the hell do I get a spindle nut socket for the hex style nut, not the 4 pin style nut.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

35 spline shafts are the same 60 or 70. The hex nuts aren't hard to find a socket for. HF probably has one available cheap.

 

[Bunk1]

The 60 spindle will get weak if you bore it.

 

[Maverick26]

The 60 spindle will get weak if you bore it.

Ya that is why I am going to cut the 70 spindles off and use those.

 

[Maverick26]

35 spline shafts are the same 60 or 70. The hex nuts aren't hard to find a socket for. HF probably has one available cheap.

Thats what I needed to know!!! Thank you sir.

Ill check HF today.

 

[johny5]

my rear 60 has 1/4 wall tubing , im betting most are 1/4 (the two i cut up were)

 

[Binder]

The 60 spindle will get weak if you bore it.

A bored 60 spindle makes it the same size as a stock 80 spindle. I wouldn't call a 80 spindle weak.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

A bored 60 spindle makes it the same size as a stock 80 spindle. I wouldn't call a 80 spindle weak.

Isn't the 80 spindle larger diameter than the 60 so it is stronger just like 1 3/4" tubing is stronger than 1 1/2" given the same wall thickness?

 

[benw1]

The 60 spindle will get weak if you bore it.

A bored 60 spindle makes it the same size as a stock 80 spindle. I wouldn't call a 80 spindle weak.

Isn't the 80 spindle larger diameter than the 60 so it is stronger just like 1 3/4" tubing is stronger than 1 1/2" given the same wall thickness?

There are at least 2 variations of 60 rear spindles. The one that the internet thinks gets weak when you bore it is the early ford 'small' spindle. This spindle has the same diameter for both the inner and outer bearings. The 'large' spindle has a bigger diameter for the inner bearing. I ran a bored 'small' spindle housing for a few years. We just bored it the minimum necessary for the 35 spline shafts to fit through and I never had an issue with it. The spindles survived the housing breaking in half so I'd say they were OK. I suppose if you hogged out the 'small' spindle more than necessary it could be considered thin and weaker. The 'large' 60 spindle is the same as a 70 spindle, it just has a smaller bore. When you bore it out it becomes the same as a 70 spindle.

 

[Binder]

Isn't the 80 spindle larger diameter than the 60

No they're the same OD. At least mine is, there may be more than one.

 

[Cascade_Crawler]

Myself and richard both run a bored out 60s with the smaller spindle. Its no problem, its roughly the same wall thickness as a D70 rear or D60 front spindle, but has a smaller inner bearing. It will be fine. Prior to '69 ford used a even smaller bearing spindle which cannot be bored out.

Aftermarket 35 spline shafts all have the same common 8 lug pattern that the 60 has, but some factory 35 spline d70 shafts have different patterns, be carefull what you buy. If you get some from randys make sure you get the true chromo rear shafts, it will have a YA WFF prefix.

Depending on thread size (there are a few variations) you can ditch the stock spindle nuts off the 70 and use 14 bolt ones which IMO are a better design.