2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Rare military style Dana 60s?

[Wiredawg]

Fellow Rammers:



I ordered and was installing Skyjacker's dual steering damper set on my 2002 3500 4x4 when I found the center backet clamps wouldn't fit around the front axle housing. I called Skyjacker and asked them what's going on. They said I have the "rare" military style axles DC uses when they run out of the "regular ones. Any one ever here this before? I never have.



Wiredawg

 

[CumminsAholic]

I haven't heard of that either... Guess you're a lucky one or unlucky one with a non fitting dampener kit , depends on how ya look at it.

Corey

 

[Mundgyver]

Rare Military



Geeze, I hope you don't have to pay the MIL-SPEC price when you have to repair that rascal

 

[cam4g63]

My 2002 came with the usual center axle disconnect (CAD) axle. I heard that a few of the 2002 models came without the CAD and instead the transfer case is the only means to disconnect power to the front axle and the gears in the differential are constantly turning. I've never seen one of these axles though. I imagine the problem is it doesn't attach properly to the axle housing with the supplied brackets? Surely the vendor has something that would bolt to the axle, might need to mix and match parts or get creative though... .

 

[Cooker]

I think that is just some BS SkyWacker excuse so they don't have to admit they made a mistake.

 

[Andy Redmond]

Are you sure you don't have the American axle found on some late production 2002's rather than the Dana 60?



Your 2003 should have an American Axle for comparison sake. . if your trying to add an additional stabilizer get the brackets from Rancho's kit, I believe 4 whl parts can get this for you.



Good luck

 

[Wiredawg]

Hmmm....

Gents:



Just checked my truck diffs: They are stamped M60 front and M80 rear. Do you think M stands for military?



As to Skyjacker: To be honest, although I like this product, I am not impressed with Skyjacker's customer service. I briefly considered boxing it back up and letting them have it back. but like so amny of us, I'm somewhate creative (unlike Skyjacker) and worked out a solution. This did justify to my wife not throwing anything away. Those old extra Airlift brackets were from a 2000 Ram that I sold.



My truck was a last run (maufactured in May 02).



interesting ... .



Wiredawg

 

[Hohn]

My truck was made in JULY 02-- and I have the standard D60 and D80 w/o the CAD.



Justin

 

[Cooker]

Wiredawg, I have heard similar things about Skyjackers customer service hence the reason for my previous comment. It sounds like to got it taken care of ok without proper parts and directions, no thanks to Skyjacker.

 

[Jff24Gordn]

I have seen 1 truck, a 99 or so that was a fleet truck that had some unusuall options. It does NOT have hybrid axles, the front is a full 60 and the rear is a full 80. This was after running the vin at a dealer.

 

[Wiredawg]

Real Dana 60s/80s?

Guys:



Well, I may check out my local 5-Star Dealer and see what I have. I would be real happy to have the full Dan 60 and 80 versus the hybrid. I'll let everyone know when I find out.



Happy trails, Wiredawg

 

[Bill Lins]

That would be cool if you had a real (non-CAD) front axle- you could put locking hubs on it like 4x4's are SUPPOSED to have!

 

[rujpn2]

I can not find the post that covered this. If the 2002 model Ram was built in calendar year 2002, it comes with a Dana 60 without the CAD. Mine was built 7/02 according to the door plate. The 2002 built in calendar year 2001 received the Dana 60 with CAD.



As far as installing the manual hubs. I have thought about this. Would be a couple of ways to go about it. I have not followed up on the research, yet. I thought about switching everything from the ball joints outward to parts found off an older Dana 60. This would be the outer knuckle, the hub assembly. I would switch out the outer axles for 35 spline units out. Need to find out if the spacing for the knuckle/axles/u-joints are the same. If so, this might work. Would retain the 8x6. 5 bolt pattern. The other option is to look at the hub assembly off a f@rd Dana 60 to see if the hub will bolt onto the existing knuckle. If so, might be easier route. Though, would get the darn 8x170mm (I think) bolt pattern. I will investigate the first option before dealing with the f@rd option.

 

[Andy Redmond]

On conversion to manual hubs/stronger axle...



Have you called DynaTrac in CA for the conversion parts? Good stuff, but very $$.



Also see the DodgeRam.org site, Mr. Fritz, thought a Ram should have manual hubs too, he went the *ord conversion route, if memory serves.



Good luck

Andy

 

[rujpn2]

Andy, yeah I have thought of DynaTrac. However, they are very fond of their products. There are a few local guys who compete in the rock crawling compitions. They all seem to run Dana 60s. So, I want to talk with them and see if any of those guys have some "extra" parts laying around. However, most of them use the king pin style. This will probably be one of those indoor research projects for the winter. Will post up any info that I find that might be useful.



Greg

 

[Clinton]

I encourage your research and development, but I think you'll have a tough time. The Dynatrac stuff is expensive not just because of the top quality parts, but also to cover all their R&D. I don't think they've sold many of their kits and still need to recoup the cost of development.



Fritz's axle is a 'one-off' Dynatrac custom piece that borrows some Ford parts, but is mostly Chrysler/Dana. I think when they made it for him they got a D-60 from a Ram at a wrecking yard and went from there.

 

[rujpn2]

I just called DynaTrac and talked to Seth. He said they do not offer any manual hub kits for the Dana 60 under a Dodge truck. Also, no plans for a manual hub kit on the American Axle either. From talking with him, just does not seem like that much demand. I am guessing that those with the CAD never created enough of a demand for Dynatrac to create a manual hub kit. Afteral, they had a somewhat of disengaged axle so can see low hunbt for manual hubs. However, I had an old four wheel drive magazine that had an article on switching the Dodge Dana 60 to manual hubs. However, I can no longer find that issue.

 

[Clinton]

That's odd. I spoke with Dynatrac not too long ago and they offered three kits at that time. Maybe they discontinued those kits? The guy I spoke to sent me three Word files, one for each kit, that described exactly what came with each kit. If you're interested PM me and I'll pass those files along to you. Maybe the guy didn't know what you were after? I think they're listed as 'Front Disconnect Removal Kit. '

 

[Andy Redmond]

I have the ms word docs too. .



Maybe Poor seth is the new guy!

 

[rujpn2]

Clinton, I would be interested in those word documents. I would greatly appreciate it if you could PM me that info.



Thanks