Is a dana 44 enough for the front of a Chevy K20 6bt conversion?

[Niki]

The truck I'm thinking of repowering is a 1980 Chevy K20 w/ a full floater 14 bolt in the rear and a Dana 44 in front, its 8 lug, has manual hubs. Is this axle enough to adequately support the Cummins? My 93 W350 weighs like 3700# on the front wheels.....

 

[Steve Graham]

I would not use a D44 on the front with the weight of the 6B on it. The D44 will definitely will not handle the Torque if you go wheeling. IMHO.



Steve

 

[PKirby]

My conversion now has a Dana 60. Before I finished the conversion I removed the D44 that a previous owner had installed because I was told they were too weak to support the extra weight of a Cummins. There is a Cummins converted K20 here in Lafayette that supposedly has had balljoint problems more than once. I don't know the owner personally and I am not sure if it has the D44 or Corporate axle.

 

[CumminsChick]

i went with a dana 60. 14 bolt rear. i am doing a repower on my 88 v10 suburban. and after a buncha research determined that the one ton would be the smarter/safer and just better choice. but as always, that's my opinion

 

[BJMarshall]

Dude what are you working on?

It's not that difficult to put the Dodge 60 from a first gen under a Chevy.

I personally would run the 44 until it broke. You will break axles and gears before the weight is a problem. As the chick says though, the 60 is a better option.

 

[Jong]

He'll rip the ball joints and steering joints out of that 44 long before the kingpins and steering joints wear on a 60. If you've got a small block above the front axle, a 44 or Corporate 10 bolt will live. Big block or better yet a Cummins needs the 60. Even the 60 needs to be beefed up in some applications IMHO. Best part is you only need the U-bolt plates from a 60 to bolt one in...

 

[Niki]

Dude what are you working on?

It's not that difficult to put the Dodge 60 from a first gen under a Chevy.

I personally would run the 44 until it broke. You will break axles and gears before the weight is a problem. As the chick says though, the 60 is a better option.

This is one of those questions I pretty much knew the answer to already. The truck has a 454 in it now, the more I think about the swap the more I think if I want another truck I'll just buy another first gen... I figured some people w/ plows, winches/winch bumpers, etc are overloading the D60's, maybe I could push it w/ a 44, but the brakes, etc are probably larger on a D60 too.

 

[BJMarshall]

I think it would be a cool swap. I actually had a CUCV that I was going to put the motor and transmission from the blue truck in. Just not enough time. I wound up selling the CUCV. Aftermarket support for the 73 - 87 Chevy trucks is much more substantial than that for the Dodges. The engine fits very well and the 14 bolt D60 combo is tough. The 8 lug 44's and 10 bolts are adequate for small blocks, but are marginal at best for big blocks. I'm not positive, but I think the 60's were mostly used in the k30's both SRW and DRW. I have never seen one in a k20, but I have heard they exist.

 

[Jong]

Yeah, the D60 fronts in Chevys and GMC's only came in the K30/3500 series trucks OR the military CUCV trucks. Took me a while to find mine. I was going to put a freshly rebuilt 496 stroker in my 1984 GMC 2500 regular cab that I boxed the frame on, and put in the 60/14 bolt combo. It's the only way to go if you're using anything above a small block for street duty, or taking the rig off road. Now I'm looking for a 12 valve Cummins with a NV4500 for some REAL power . Then I can put stacks on the truck. Gotta love the look of the 81-87 Chevy-GMCs.

 

[MMcCallie]

I can't count how many times i've broken Dana 44s in Jeeps with 350 Chevy engines. The weight and power of the Cummins is FAR too much for a Dana 44. A cheaper and lighter weight alternative would be the Dana 50 out of a Ford Super Duty. Feel free to email me if interested. Kingpin Dana 60s are the ultimate, though i wouldn't trade for the +05 axle i now have.

 

[Niki]

Now all I have to figure out is if a 6bt/205/518 or 727 will line up close to the rear crossmember, The truck has a 454/TH400/NP205 in it now.

 

[Jong]

You should have up to 12" of room to move your transmission crossmember to match up to your drivetrain. Nice thing about 73-87 GM trucks... 4 bolts hold the crossmember in and the framerail it mounts to is relatively flat and open. A body lift will also make it much easier to play with exactly where you want your engine and transmission to go. Slide the engine back as far as you can, this will help transfer weight to the rear axle. Your front axle will thank you down the road.