Remove Lip on a Rear Dana 60

brandon.

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2013
Location
Raleigh
Is it possible for me to remove just the lower lip on a dana 60 and keep all the bolts? It's wet out so I don't feel like crawling under there. I'm not trying to get a ton of clearance but rather just remove that lip that wants to catch on everything and smoothing out the bottom a little more would be nice. I dd my jeep so I can really only do it if I could just get under there and cut off the lip with it installed and not have to tear it apart or remove it. Anyone have a picture of a d60 with just the lip ground off? Everything I find is more of cut and truly shaved, not just trimmed.
 
Or is it better to just remove the part of the lip where the lower bolt goes and just have one less bolt? My only fear then is it leaking. My lowest 3 bolts are almost impossible to tighten or remove from being scraped over rocks and dis-formed.
 
I'd just grind it smooth under there and get a diff cover with socket head cap screws or even countersunk bolt heads. Ruff Stuff diff covers come to mind.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I'd just grind it smooth under there and get a diff cover with socket head cap screws or even countersunk bolt heads. Ruff Stuff diff covers come to mind.
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I went that route and thought I was all high tech with button head hex drive bolts. They were so soft I ended up stripping the drives on them and would spend 15 minutes on each trying to get them off. I just recently went back to some old fashioned SS hex bolts. Less to worry about but maybe I am just unlucky?
 
As long as they're Grade 8, you shouldn't have a problem. I could see a softer material deforming easily.
 
When I get paid next week I'll probably get a cheap angle grinder and see what I can take off without removing a bolt hole, I might also remove the bolt to see if it will leak and if not go further and take off the bolt hole also so the entire bottom would be smooth and gain a little over 1/2 inch or so. I'll post up pics of whatever I end up doing.
 
If you remove a bolt and end up dragging on the cover or denting it it may lead or dump all the oil fairly quickly. I don't think that is a smart option. Ballistic has a shave kit for the HP housing, you could make something similar if you wanted to gain clearance.

This may be counter-intuitive, but why not weld on a plate of some sort in front of the lip to make a "ramp" to get over the lip instead of catching on it? Then you don't have to worry about leaks at all and while it will not increase your ground clearance it will not hurt it either.
 
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