I found this 1978 F250 today. It was owned by the Fire Department for most of it's life. They had a big water tank on the back so the current Owner put a beat up box on the back. The truck has 68,000 original miles on it. I believe it has Dana 60 axels front and rear. Or maybe a Dana 44HD in front... I can see the rear is a full floater. Would these Dana's work on a Cherokee build? Or are they too heavy and overkill?
I don't know if I'd have them shortened or use big flares...
The truck has a 4 speed. I have the VIN does anyone know where I could run it online to find out more info? If not I guess I will call the Dealer tomorrow. Hopefully they go back to 1978.
It has the less desireable 400 M motor. It starts and runs fine. I'm still negotiating on the price.
Thanks
Mike

 

I'd buy it if its cheap and use it for a plow truck. looks like it even has a icemelt spreader on the back.

 

looks good you could turn it into a toe truck for the toys and the jeep

 

What do you suppose it's worth? I have a Diesel Tractor to plow with so I could sell the plow and salter. I wonder What I could get for them? The Guy said he was thinking about asking $2000 for the Truck.
Thanks
Mike

 

What about using the Dana's under my Jeep?
I could sell the plow motor and salt spreader and end up with the axels for pretty cheap? They look real heavy... Maybe I wouldn't be able to move with them on!
Thanks
Mike

 

i am cheep so i would offer like 1200 to 1500 but that's me and it looks to be in ok shape with low miles so 2000 may not be to bad

 

i have seen a lot of builds using ford Dana 60 but i am unsure of the year they are from but anything can be made to work with enough time and money or work

 

Yea, I'm cheap too... I kinda laughed when he said $2000. He needs the cash because his business got hurt real bad by the slow down in automotive.
Has anyone put those Dana 60's under their Cherokee?
Mike

 

take a look at this build i think he is doing the swap with the axles from this kinda truck.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/project-wreck-rocks-19942/

 

Cool, thanks a1
Mike

 

You need to get a measurement of the diameter of the lock out... or of the diameter of the front axle tube.

Most fords of that era especially the 250's had d60 rear.... If the front end has king pins, and the hubs are like 4" it's a D-60

Here is an interesting read for ya'!

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...ont/index.html

It has pictures and tells you how to identify the axle under various models of trucks... IIf you get the BOM number you can go to DANA's website and enter it and it will tell you what the axle came out of.

 

I think it said DB4 on the door sticker. I took a picture of it but when I got home it was too fuzzy to read. I'll call the Ford dealer and see if they can give me a rundown. If not I'll go back and measure.
Thanks
Mike

 

that is the good year for ford axles. 78-79 should have d44HD hp flat top front with ball joints and big brakes with a d60 rear.

you'd have to machine a bit of the leaf spring perch from the front axle as it's cast into the pumpkin, but you can weld on control arm mounts and coil buckets easy enough.
as for the rear, you just remove the leaf spring perches and weld on new ones in the correct spot.

it would take a bit of work, but very doable.
only thing is, you'd need 8 bolt 16.5 inch rims to clear those brakes.

i was gonna go with those exact same axles, but figured for the wheeling i do, those would be too big and heavy. so i went with 79 bronco d44/9".
here, those same axles go for 600 bux for the set.

 

Ahhh! Excellent info! Thanks for that. I'm thinking since it was ordered by the fire department for a brush fire truck it has something pretty beefy under there. It had a big water container on the back. I bet they are very heavy. Almost seems like too much weight... Have you ever seen anyone run these?
The Ford Dealer couldn't run the VIN. Too old they said. I'll have to go back and look at it if it's worth it. I guess if I could get the whole truck for $1000 and parts the rest of it out that might be ok.

 

Mike

Since this is a 3/4 ton, it is most likely that the front is a D44 with heavy tubes and 3/4 ton outers. If you are going to use this equipment in your XJ, there are a few things you need to ask yourself. Like what am I going to do with this XJ? If the answer doesn't involve rock crawling, I would suggest going with the 1/2 ton running gear instead. That D60 weigh a ton and that pumpkin hangs down a long ways and will hang up on everything. The 9" rear end can be made just as strong, and in fact has a stronger ring and pinion with half the weight and much better ground clearance.