Dana 60 | B-Body turned E-Body

[ignition1]

March 2022 decided to take this B-Body housing that was bent into a horseshoe about 1/2” off and turn it into an E-Body housing for the ‘71 ‘ Cuda.

So I cut it apart to replace the tubes and weld back on the housing ends.

Cut out the plug welds and pressed out the old tubes

Turned down some new stock and cleaned up the old ends for welding

Pressed in new tubes and welded up on a jig, new we are looking good and measurements are on point with new 35 spline axles from Dr. Diff

Took apart the carrier to replace the clutches and add 4:10 gears

After powdercoating housing semi-black it is time to set the pinion depth

Got a decent pattern, backlash set, and preloaded carrier bearings, next ready for the cover

October 2023 - Finished installing 11” x 2.5” Drum Brakes, Hotchkis rear leafs, Firm Feel rear sway bar, QA1 double adjustable shocks.

 

[Adam]

Excellent work. I have never built a Dana axle, did you have to use a case spreader? And hypothetically could a Truck D60 housing be used?

 

[ignition1]

Excellent work. I have never built a Dana axle, did you have to use a case spreader? And hypothetically could a Truck D60 housing be used?

Yes, I used a case spreader for this to set bearing pre-loads. Homemade 2” bar steel, 1” all thread, and couple thrush bearings.

Rear truck axle would work, but there would be no bolt provisions for a stock pinion snubber. Maybe housing ends for big mopar would need to be changed also.

 

[Katfish]

Impressive, well done!

 

[larry4406]

Very impressive!

I thought folks liked the B-body width units in E-bodies so you can run wider tires?

 

[heminut]

Very impressive!

I thought folks liked the B-body width units in E-bodies so you can run wider tires?

I think the one he used was bent very badly and both axle tubes needed to be replaced anyway.

 

[larry4406]

I think the one he used was bent very badly and both axle tubes needed to be replaced anyway.

Understood. I was trying to say I was surprised he made new tubes to the wider E-body width.

 

[ignition1]

I considered to make a b-body width tubes with e-body perches, but decided to go with e-body with so I could run the stock 15x7 rallye wheels or use factory backspacing wheels.

I didn’t want to mini tub or get any major modifications to the car and getting wider rims doesn’t interest me

 

[ignition1]

Bolting up the Dana 60 after sandblasting all the hardware and shock plates, re-painting… then 4 hours later, still modifying sway bar mount to clear the QA1 shocks (base of shock is larger in diameter than stock).

12:00 midnight got shocks & body grommets back in, sway bar mounted, and brake lines hooked up.

Now I need 4 upper shackle bushings, the other 4 came with the spring set.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Nice job. I did the same with a 1 ton truck axle. Cut and narrowed to fit under my Challenger. I mini tubbed and moved springs inboard with Caltracs, split mono leafs and a anti roll bar so no pinion snubber was needed anyway.

 

[ignition1]

That is a nice looking challenger… with HEMI. My next phase will be to also add a HEMI

 

[6PKRTSE]

That is a nice looking challenger… with HEMI. My next phase will be to also add a HEMI

Thank you. It's all stock....

 

[ignition1]

Thank you. It's all stock....

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Like the valve covers you used with the wrinkle finish. Overall very clean build and looks like a lot of time went into planning and building this car

 

[6PKRTSE]

Thanks. They were polished covers originally. I sand blasted them and painted them with the VHT wrinkle paint and baked them with several heat lamps.