Chev 10 bolt to Dana 60

awdvkd · January 17, 2003

Well. last night my son finally did it, he blew the spider gears out of his 10 bolt playing in the snow. I have found front and rear diff's out of a 1980 3/4 ton Dodge Powerwagon, how hard would it be to put them in a 1987 1/2 ton Chevy that presently has GM 10 bolts. I know Chevy's but I know nothing about Dodge. Is a Dana 60 a Dana 60, I know Chevrolet used to use the Dana 60 years ago in the 1ton and 3/4 ton trucks. How much is a Dana 60 worth. Any help would be greatly appreciated before I jump in!!! Thanks in advance.

Larry · January 17, 2003

Awdvkd,

I am in the same boat as you. I just scored a Dana 60 front axle and NV4500 5speed from a totaled 1990 Dodge 2500 Cummins to swap into my 78 K10. I already know the particulars to swap the Dodge version of the trans but I am not sure how the axle swap will turn out. I suspect the front axles on the older Dodge and GM trucks with leaf sprung SFA are direct bolt ins. I remember in the 70’s when Dodge used the hubless fulltime 4wd many Dodge owners would add a Mile Marker part-time kit in the tcase and swap the entire axle to a GM Dana axle to have a rig with lockout hubs and part time 4wd tcase. With that said I suspect the leaf spring perches are in the correct location. Brake lines and steering should be straightforward.

You may want to visit the discussion forums at ColoradoK5 as those guys are hardcore wheelers and junk yard pirates. Bet they will have an answer for us both.

96chevysfa · January 24, 2003

i believe the spring plates on the dodge dana 60 are a little mores spread apart, but using a hi lift to spread the jack would solve that problem eaily.

awdvkd · January 24, 2003

Thanks for the information, Something good happened for a change. A neighbor came by and heard of the situation and offered a truck he had sitting behind his barn and said we could have it for free. Went and looked at it, its a 77-78 3/4 ton chevy w/ 14 bolt 4.10 8 lug FF, the front looks to be Dana 44 8 bolt. Not bad for free!! From what I see everything but the e brake will be a match. Now I have to find some 8 bolt 15 in rims, from what I have read they are available or use adapters. I have a brand new set of 35's on 15's.