Considering A Solid Axle.
Thread Starter
|
Junior Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Considering A Solid Axle.
Hey all. Been into rock crawling/trails for the last 6 years or so. I have my toyota that I go out rock crawling with,but I just paid off my '99 F-150 and I'm considering swapping in a solid front axle (1 Ton Dana 60) and building it for trails and mild rock crawling. Just wondering if anybody has some pics of some solid axled '97 and up F-150's. Thanx guys!!!! 
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,946
Likes: 0
From: Right Coast
Well be prepared to drop up to $5k for the swap unless you can do alot of the fab yourself.
Jesse (bigreen) swapped in a SD D60 front axle using leaves, but honestly he built it for mud, not rocks. His truck has almost zero flex, but for what he's doing with it it works. If you want to do rocks then skip the leaves. Is this truck going to be seen on the street and how wild are you willing to go with this? As well as where are you located, as thats going to determine if its street legal.
To start with you're going to need to make a custom front engine crossmember. The stock one for the IFS hangs way too low and will require insane amounts of lift for the diff to clear. I would suggest that you run a coil setup, as this can flex alot better than leaves. Best thing to do is get the coil buckets from a 78/79 F150 and get a set of the same vintage F250 shock towers. These will need to be bolted/welded to the frame. You could also get the track bar mount from the F150 as well, but if not you can build your own. Just make sure that its BEEFY as the track bar sees ALOT of stress.
On the axle itself you will need to fabricate coil seats as the D60 drivers side has the leave perch cast into the side of the housing. This really isn't that big of a deal. Additionally you'll want to make the link mounts part of this mount as well. The passenger side will be similar but easier as the stock leaf perch can be cut off and you'll just have to weld to the tube. You'll also have to fab up a track bar mount on the axle, but that can be integrated into the PS coil seat.
For the links themselves you'll want to get some good joints, and I suggest the Currie Johhny Joint, Rubicon Express Builder Ball (my choice), PORC HD Flex Joints, or Precision Engineering Joints (I can't recall the name at the moment). You'll want to run that at the frame end and a poly bushing at the axle end. For the top link of each arm I'd run a poly bushing at each end. Its up to you if you want to make this link adjustable. If you do it'll allow you to adjust alignment. The PS you'll want to make sure the top link is removable to allow for a "wristed arm" effect. If you're not running this on the street, then don't even bother with the top arm. The link material will need to be DOM tubing, probably be in the 2" OD range.
You'll need to fab up a new transmission mount, which will also include the front link mounts. This isn't too difficult, but if you're on rocks the stock piece can get twisted up REAL easy, don't ask me how I know this
If this isn't being run on the street you can save big money on the driveshafts by doing square shafts. Regardless you can do the front like that even if you run it on the street, you just can't run in 4x4 at higher speeds.
The rear axle is pretty simple, just do leaf springs. That is unless you want to go crazy and do a 4 link, but thats going to add more cost and then you're going to get into much more complicated suspension design.
Now regardless of what you do, build yourself a GOOD set of sliders. I don't even HAVE rocker pannels anymore because I don't have sliders. Heck I need a whole exo cage, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Parts list:
Ford D60: Roughly $1000, depending on if its king pin or not, and what they go for in your area.
Rear Axle: $100-200. Its up to you if you want to go D60, 10.25, 14 bolt, etc.
Coils: $150
Misc Junkyard Parts: $200
Misc Steel Plate: $300
DOM Tubing: Figure it at $9/ft Just a wild *** guess you're going to need roughly a 24' stick
Poly Bushings: About $20 a pop and you'll need 6
Flex Joints: $60 ea and you'll need 2
Rear leaf pack: No idea there
Shocks: Its gonna be up to you here too
All that is just rough ball park figures. I'm in the process of doing a similar swap (mines on a Ranger, but its about 90% similar). Another thing you may want to consider is going to the 1410 yokes on the D60/rear axle that use u bolts instead of straps. Also upgrade the D60 to 35 spline stubs right away, the 30s don't live very well and tend to cause alot of colateral damage when they go. I would also suggest that for stability on the rocks you keep the lift as minimal as possible. You're going to need to run roughly a 37" tire or larger to make the D60 worth running, as a 36" tire will not give you very good ground clearance. Additionally you'll want to think about what kind of lockers you want to run.
The above build is what I feel is needed to wheel the rocks out here at Rausch Creek and Paragon without having constant failures.
Jesse (bigreen) swapped in a SD D60 front axle using leaves, but honestly he built it for mud, not rocks. His truck has almost zero flex, but for what he's doing with it it works. If you want to do rocks then skip the leaves. Is this truck going to be seen on the street and how wild are you willing to go with this? As well as where are you located, as thats going to determine if its street legal.
To start with you're going to need to make a custom front engine crossmember. The stock one for the IFS hangs way too low and will require insane amounts of lift for the diff to clear. I would suggest that you run a coil setup, as this can flex alot better than leaves. Best thing to do is get the coil buckets from a 78/79 F150 and get a set of the same vintage F250 shock towers. These will need to be bolted/welded to the frame. You could also get the track bar mount from the F150 as well, but if not you can build your own. Just make sure that its BEEFY as the track bar sees ALOT of stress.
On the axle itself you will need to fabricate coil seats as the D60 drivers side has the leave perch cast into the side of the housing. This really isn't that big of a deal. Additionally you'll want to make the link mounts part of this mount as well. The passenger side will be similar but easier as the stock leaf perch can be cut off and you'll just have to weld to the tube. You'll also have to fab up a track bar mount on the axle, but that can be integrated into the PS coil seat.
For the links themselves you'll want to get some good joints, and I suggest the Currie Johhny Joint, Rubicon Express Builder Ball (my choice), PORC HD Flex Joints, or Precision Engineering Joints (I can't recall the name at the moment). You'll want to run that at the frame end and a poly bushing at the axle end. For the top link of each arm I'd run a poly bushing at each end. Its up to you if you want to make this link adjustable. If you do it'll allow you to adjust alignment. The PS you'll want to make sure the top link is removable to allow for a "wristed arm" effect. If you're not running this on the street, then don't even bother with the top arm. The link material will need to be DOM tubing, probably be in the 2" OD range.
You'll need to fab up a new transmission mount, which will also include the front link mounts. This isn't too difficult, but if you're on rocks the stock piece can get twisted up REAL easy, don't ask me how I know this
If this isn't being run on the street you can save big money on the driveshafts by doing square shafts. Regardless you can do the front like that even if you run it on the street, you just can't run in 4x4 at higher speeds.
The rear axle is pretty simple, just do leaf springs. That is unless you want to go crazy and do a 4 link, but thats going to add more cost and then you're going to get into much more complicated suspension design.
Now regardless of what you do, build yourself a GOOD set of sliders. I don't even HAVE rocker pannels anymore because I don't have sliders. Heck I need a whole exo cage, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
Parts list:
Ford D60: Roughly $1000, depending on if its king pin or not, and what they go for in your area.
Rear Axle: $100-200. Its up to you if you want to go D60, 10.25, 14 bolt, etc.
Coils: $150
Misc Junkyard Parts: $200
Misc Steel Plate: $300
DOM Tubing: Figure it at $9/ft Just a wild *** guess you're going to need roughly a 24' stick
Poly Bushings: About $20 a pop and you'll need 6
Flex Joints: $60 ea and you'll need 2
Rear leaf pack: No idea there
Shocks: Its gonna be up to you here too
All that is just rough ball park figures. I'm in the process of doing a similar swap (mines on a Ranger, but its about 90% similar). Another thing you may want to consider is going to the 1410 yokes on the D60/rear axle that use u bolts instead of straps. Also upgrade the D60 to 35 spline stubs right away, the 30s don't live very well and tend to cause alot of colateral damage when they go. I would also suggest that for stability on the rocks you keep the lift as minimal as possible. You're going to need to run roughly a 37" tire or larger to make the D60 worth running, as a 36" tire will not give you very good ground clearance. Additionally you'll want to think about what kind of lockers you want to run.
The above build is what I feel is needed to wheel the rocks out here at Rausch Creek and Paragon without having constant failures.
Last edited by powerstroke73; Apr 23, 2007 at 06:53 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 256
Likes: 0
From: Panama city, Fl
you dont really need to make a whole new lower crossmember do you? All you have to do is cut and grind off all of the Ifs suspension brackets and then start mounting. The ORU kit for the Chevys doesnt require it, the Febritech SAS kit for a 97-2003 f150 doesnt require a new engine crossmember. I was just wanting to clarify this.