Dodge Dakota Front Axle Swap

montie

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 29, 2007
Location
Apex, NC
Morning,

I have a 99 Dakota and I'm considering trading in my IFS for a solid front axle.

Has anyone done this? Any suggestions? Any thoughts on shops that might be in a good position to do it (I'm in Apex, NC -- near Raleigh)?

Thanks,
Montie
 
spawnx on pavementsucks.com did it on his rig and i think there are a couple on pirate that have done it
 
Hey montie ...
Have you done your SAS ?
I'm going to do the same on my 97 in the close future , but I'm doing it myself .
I've got pretty much all the info I can get so far . After tearing the pinion right out of the housing (2x) it's time for a solid axle !
Let me know , maybe you can come check mine out while I do it . I'll be moving to the greenville area in about a month .
 
look in the dodge section on pirate4x4.com, a few people there have done daks and durangos.
 
drunkenJesus said:
Hey montie ...
Have you done your SAS ?
I'm going to do the same on my 97 in the close future , but I'm doing it myself .
I've got pretty much all the info I can get so far . After tearing the pinion right out of the housing (2x) it's time for a solid axle !
Let me know , maybe you can come check mine out while I do it . I'll be moving to the greenville area in about a month .
Click to expand...


Hey, I know this is an old post but montie and drunekenjesus how did the swap go?? I just bought axles for my 97 and hoping to have the swap done by the summer. Any help would be great! What suspension set up did u do?
Thx.
 
sqrl$$ said:
Going to be doing a SAS on mine as well. Here are some builds I have been following to get ideas. I am going D60 front and 14b rear, leaves in rear and radius arms with coilovers in the front.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=780044&highlight=ton+dakota+thread
http://www.dakota-durango.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83665
Click to expand...

Dang, Yeah Ive been looking real at silvrbeastjr's that is a bad dakota. I just don't have the expertise to do the coilovers on the front. Is there anyway I could assist you in building yours and take lots of pics? lol.
What D60 are u using? 77-79 F250? What year 14b is best?
Thanks.
 
14b is out of a 76 model, D60 is still up in the air. I am waiting to get a juggy finished that is in my shop now. http://www.nc4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82130
I am stipping down the 14b now, removing the brackets and drums to put discs on it. I am going 5.13's and locked f/r. This is my personal truck, so building it falls at the bottom of the priority list. Builds that pay take precidence. When I get going on it you are more than welcome to come see it or help. I started a build thread for it if you want to subscribe, that way you will know when I get going on it.
http://www.nc4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?p=610600#post610600
 
Nice. Hey thanks! Im subscribed lol. Definitely takes time.
I currently have a dana 44 from 78 bronco 5x5.5 just not sure if its gunna be strong enough for what I want. What is ur take on this axle? Is the 96 dodge D60 wider that the 78 ford D60?
Thx. Just so much to research on this...
 
The#1Dakota said:
Is the 96 dodge D60 wider that the 78 ford D60?
Thx. Just so much to research on this...
Click to expand...

I think they're probably pretty close width-wise.

But the '96 dodge would be a CAD axle I believe. Which is annoying in itself, then its got unit-bearings for wheel bearings which aren't cheap or especially durable. Plus the housing for the vacuum motor might be a pain to work around for mounting links/buckets, etc.

Any dodge guys confirm this?
 
You are correct. Bright side is that the dodge D60's are cheap to buy. You can link them without too much problem, and I think the unit bearing will hold up good enough on something as light as a dakota, but you have the disconnect to deal with. You can either replace it with a one piece shaft, but then you have no locking hubs, or you can get a posi-lock to manually connect/disconnect when you want. I have considered this axle just because of the price and easy to find, just have not made up my mind yet.

D44 from Bronco is a decent axle. It does have the bigger u-joints for a D44, and parts easily available. You can make them survive as long as you don't thrash on it too hard. I ran a bone stock D44 with 38" swampers, 5 spd and a 4.0 6 cyl for two years and never broke anything, but I am a conservative wheeler. I have a buddy that ran 35's on a D44 with alloy shafts, CTM's and drive flanges, and he broke something everytime we went wheeling just because of his heavy right foot and 300+ horsepower.

You can buy a stock D60 cheaper than you can build a D44 putting alloys and CTM's. Just depends on what your long term goal is. I would say the week point in the D44 after doing alloy shafts and joints is still the hubs (factory Ford hubs are stronger than aftermarket). No way around that without going D60
 
Oh ok. Yeah, not sure, I might just stick with the dana 44 bronco. I would love to swap in a 6bt one day in the dakota but that is way far off when the 5.2 dies lol. I want to keep the truck nice to show so I wont be stomping it to much hopefully. I only broke one cv joint out of 4 wheeling trips in URE. Are the parts from the dana 44 bronco and f250 dana 44 parts interchangeable? And could I run the f250 hubs on the bronco axle or are they the same?
 
The carrier and r/p are the same, that's about it. You can switch and put the 8 lug hubs and spindles on the bronco d44, but is not just a simple bolt on kinda thing. Brakes bearings and most everything else on the f250 are bigger and stronger. You can find one in good shape for 3-400 almost all the time.
 
Ok, Ive decided to go with one ton axles.
Ive seen allot high 90s f350 Dana 60 & Sterling 10.25 and a few 2003 Dana 60 with rear. Is there any disadvantage on the newer 2000 - 04 axles?hubs?bearings?? 10.25 is a full floater I believe.
 
These axles use unit bearings, which alot of people say are weaker, I don't see this being a big problem considering you are talking about putting them on a truck this light. The other draw back is the diff is located closer to the driverside knuckle so mounting space is more limited. Otherwise they are generally cheaper to buy and easy to find. Replacement parts are as simple as going to the local Ford dealership. You also need to find matching lug front and rears because the SD axles use a 8 x 180mm pattern instead of everybody elses 8 x 6.5 pattern.

My Dakota project has been derailed as my wife likes it so much she took it over driving back and forth to work. I have picked up an s-10 that I am going to SAS but use Rockwells instead.
 
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