Doing gear swap on front Dana 60. Change whole pumpkin or just gears?

[HSchroen]

I'm about ready to swap out the 4. 10 gears in my Crew Cab Dana 60 front for a 3. 54 gearset to match the rear. Would it be easier/adviseable to swap the complete 3. 54 gear set / pumpkin out of a donor front into my front differential, or leave my pumpkin intact and just pay someone to install new gears?



I have access to a low mileage Dana 60 front from which I could pilfer the front pumpkin (I don't want to swap the entire front axle).



I have no experience (or the right tools probably) doing gear swaps so I can't install them myself. What can I expect to pay?



thanks.

 

[dan brooks]

Around here, the labor for a R&P swap runs $200-300 per axle, but make sure your shop is willing to set up used gears. Some aren't, especially if they aren't the ones to remove the old gear set, and some that are will bump the price up if you supply your own parts.



The carrier is the same between 4. 10 and 3. 54 (the split is between 4. 10 and 4. 56), so you can reuse yours. As long as your carrier and the internals are in good shape I'd just reuse it.

 

[JFaughn]

Being that its your 1st it would most likly be easer to swap the whole axial becouse of getting the set up just right, but if you do want to play then get a installers shim pack at a gear supply house and maybe they could give you a set of instucktions out of a box that they have installed.

 

[RailroadJim]

Just today a guy i work with told me he's getting his ferd powerjoke 4. 10 changed out to 3. 73 or something like that, cost was 600, sounds very steep to me, but what do i know, i know ferd v8's cost more to fix than others so why not gears. This potential swap will take place near Houston as far as regional prices might go.

 

[HSchroen]

Being that its your 1st it would most likly be easer to swap the whole axial becouse of getting the set up just right, but if you do want to play then get a installers shim pack at a gear supply house and maybe they could give you a set of instucktions out of a box that they have installed.

Well, one of my main hesistations on swapping the entire axle is I'm unsure of whether they are identical. I was told by somebody familiar with the old Military issue Crew Cab's that the knuckles on the Military issue Dana 60 fronts, like my '85 Crew Cab has, are larger/heavier duty than what was used in the later 1st Gens including the diesels. So he advised keeping my original Dana 60 in place.



Anyone else heard of this or have insight into this?

 

[TKingsbury]

The only differences I am familiar with is tubing thickness and whether it has king-pin or ball-joint knuckles. Some axle assys are built with heavier wall tubing than others. I would think a 1st gen dana 60 should be as heavy as they come as far as tube thickness and they have king-pin knuckles too. I would doubt the crew housing is any heavier duty.

Travis. .

 

[RHancock]

Do some searches on the internet I found some real good do it your self stuff on dana 60's when I was doing my dana 70... . I isn't that hard to do the swap. If it is low milage and everything looks good just swap everthing then check the clearences and the contact pattern. . You may get lucky and the two housings are real close... .

 

[TKingsbury]

The other thing to consider is that you're only talking doing the front. Unless you see yourself doing alot of 4 high operation at decent speed, the set-up on the front isn't nearly as critical as the rear. As long as everything is in good shape, is properly assembled, and the pattern is close, you'll likely never have a problem with it.

Travis. .