Super duty 60's

1-tonmudder

1-tonmudder

Doin my part to stir the pot.
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Location
Greeneville TN
Recent conversations have led me to consider buying some SD 60's.I have had access to tons of em but never thought there would be much of a market for them due to the ease of finding them.I realize I might have some advantage over most people as I'm always out and about looking for parts when most folks are working real jobs.Are they the new hot shit axle to have?? Ive looked at em on MP and they are all over the place price wise.Anywhere from $400-$1000.I realize opinions change over time but I was under the impression the unit bearings.,metric bolt pattern and radius arm bracketry was a turn off for them.Am I missing something here??
 
From what I understand the 04 up are better than the 78 I have. If you compare stock to stock. Interested in what people have to say.
 
99–04 good. As good or better than King Pin with BJ eliminators and good shafts. Plenty of aftermarket.

05+ is absolute beef. Next beat thing to a steering 14 bolt. Tons of aftermarket support.

Unit bearings are cheap and easy enough one could just change them yearly or bi-yearly and chalk it up to maintenance cost.
 
77GreenMachine said:
99–04 good. As good or better than King Pin with BJ eliminators and good shafts. Plenty of aftermarket.

05+ is absolute beef. Next beat thing to a steering 14 bolt. Tons of aftermarket support.

Unit bearings are cheap and easy enough one could just change them yearly or bi-yearly and chalk it up to maintenance
Click to expand...
I changed the one's on my 06 and it was almost three bills each.But I got name brand units since it was on a street driven truck.You could probably get by on a trail rig w cheaper units.I know they're beefy but whats the market gonna be for em?? $500/$700/$1000??? Due to the quanity of axles I've saw I cant imagine the market for em being very strong.
 
1-tonmudder said:
I changed the one's on my 06 and it was almost three bills each.But I got name brand units since it was on a street driven truck.You could probably get by on a trail rig w cheaper units.I know they're beefy but whats the market gonna be for em?? $500/$700/$1000??? Due to the quanity of axles I've saw I cant imagine the market for em being very strong.
Click to expand...

I didn’t realize they were that much. But buying good quality ones would net you quite a bit of use out of them considering they’re designed to be supporting a very heavy heavy truck that’s potentially towing heavy as well. Just something that should be checked often
 
UB life really depends on your driving.
Also worth mentionning I've never seen, heard of, or not even read on the interwebz about a failed UB that let the wheel wander off.

I've seen some that were so bad the runoff was scary (measured in inches !), but never seen them break.

They don't like smoking trees/rocks at speed, that's for sure.
 
Bebop said:
UB life really depends on your driving.
Also worth mentionning I've never seen, heard of, or not even read on the interwebz about a failed UB that let the wheel wander off.

I've seen some that were so bad the runoff was scary (measured in inches !), but never seen them break.

They don't like smoking trees/rocks at speed, that's for sure.
Click to expand...
Come to think of it, me either. I think they get a bad name from separating on a Dana 30. But they’re not even in the same ball park. As Samuel L Jackson said “it ain’t even the same sport”
 
1-tonmudder said:
I changed the one's on my 06 and it was almost three bills each.But I got name brand units since it was on a street driven truck.You could probably get by on a trail rig w cheaper units.I know they're beefy but whats the market gonna be for em?? $500/$700/$1000??? Due to the quanity of axles I've saw I cant imagine the market for em being very strong.
Click to expand...

The newer they are, the higher the price. The lower (numerically higher) the gear, the higher the price. The more swap in ready they are, the higher the price. Seems to me it’s still pretty easy to find 05-08ish sets with 3.73’s that need some refurb for sub-$600. But I’ve seen swap ready axles as new as 2017 pull $2500.
 
77GreenMachine said:
Come to think of it, me either. I think they get a bad name from separating on a Dana 30. But they’re not even in the same ball park. As Samuel L Jackson said “it ain’t even the same sport”
Click to expand...

99-04 UBs I've seen some walk off. But 05+, never.

Dana30 ones are actually surprisinggly tought IMO. Most of the issues come from broken inner shafts which remove the preload on the bearings.
05+ stuff has a different construction and doesn't need the shaft to be happy. Unlike my neighbors ex-wife, but that's a different story,..
 
I know this might hit a sore spot, but the reason SD60s are still reasonably priced is because used parts dealers HAVEN'T started hounding them hard yet. I can still buy a 99-04 for $200-300 and the same goes for 05+. Once folks catch on to anything bringing a profit, they jack the margin up and it doesn't do the poor rig builders any favors.
 
Yup.
I have a few stashed for personal use, but I know they'll hike up like everything.
In my opinion, fabricated knuckles are the solution.
 
So are the 05 up all the way to 2021? Mine has some form of auto hub with a lock feature. I was told a vacuum locking hub.
 
Bebop said:
Yup.
I have a few stashed for personal use, but I know they'll hike up like everything.
In my opinion, fabricated knuckles are the solution.
Click to expand...
I'm the same way with Ford 205s. Iv got three currently at my house that I bought for $50-100. For personal use knowing that if I did sell them, it would cost 3-4x that to replace em.
 
ghost said:
So are the 05 up all the way to 2021? Mine has some form of auto hub with a lock feature. I was told a vacuum locking hub.
Click to expand...
Yes, no notable changes that I'm aware of. The 05's have the same hub. Vacuum actuated, or manually locked.
 
Bebop said:
UB life really depends on your driving.
Also worth mentionning I've never seen, heard of, or not even read on the interwebz about a failed UB that let the wheel wander off.

I've seen some that were so bad the runoff was scary (measured in inches !), but never seen them break.

They don't like smoking trees/rocks at speed, that's for sure.
Click to expand...
i have saw axles that the bearing had came apart but they could have been 99-03 axles.Mine were just noisy at speed.
 
XJsavage said:
I know this might hit a sore spot, but the reason SD60s are still reasonably priced is because used parts dealers HAVEN'T started hounding them hard yet. I can still buy a 99-04 for $200-300 and the same goes for 05+. Once folks catch on to anything bringing a profit, they jack the margin up and it doesn't do the poor rig builders any favors.
Click to expand...
No sore spot.You're not saying anything I haven't heard 100 times before.
 
XJsavage said:
I'm the same way with Ford 205s. Iv got three currently at my house that I bought for $50-100. For personal use knowing that if I did sell them, it would cost 3-4x that to replace em.
Click to expand...
You can still find $100 ford 205's you just have to be willing to drive for em.I sent 20 205's to ORD a couple of months ago and averaged having about $100 ea in em and not all were Fords.Fords are the easiest to find since Ford used them almost exclusively thru the 70's.A 203 in a ford is kinda odd.
 
1-tonmudder said:
You can still find $100 ford 205's you just have to be willing to drive for em.I sent 20 205's to ORD a couple of months ago and averaged having about $100 ea in em and not all were Fords.Fords are the easiest to find since Ford used them almost exclusively thru the 70's.A 203 in a ford is kinda odd.
Click to expand...
It's baffling to me that the 76(77?) -79 married Ford 205 isn't the most valuable of any 205 given that they were shortest run and 32 outputs f/r from factory. I guess the number produced? Idk?
 
They're 205s man...
Super heavy, super big, shitty gearing transfer cases. IDK why would anyone use them :p
 
If someone will still make lower gears for a 205 it would be great
 
Bebop said:
They're 205s man...
Super heavy, super big, shitty gearing transfer cases. IDK why would anyone use them :p
Click to expand...
They have their place. Behind manuals or in anything making a ridiculous amount of horsepower.
I happen to enjoy sticky situations :flipoff2:
 
77GreenMachine said:
I didn’t realize they were that much. But buying good quality ones would net you quite a bit of use out of them considering they’re designed to be supporting a very heavy heavy truck that’s potentially towing heavy as well. Just something that should be checked often
Click to expand...
They're not that much, somebody got screwed if they paid that much for a SD unit bearing. New Motorcraft ones are $330 on RockAuto. For a trail rig I wouldn't hesitate to use Detriot Axle unit bearings which are ~$240 for a pair off Amazon.
 
Back
Top