Closed vs. Open knuckle Dana 60

[F250MudPatrol]

What is the difference between closed and open knuckle Dana 60 front ends? Which is better? Why?

[Proeliator]

The earlier closed knuckle Ford dana 60's are not much stronger than their dana 44 countparts, with weaker axles than the '77 and up dana 60s. This is why they are not considered a desireable 60.

[averagef250]

Exactly as proeliator said, They are a glorified 44 in the axleshaft, hub and brake departyment. They share the same hub assembly as the 44 6CF axles. A major dissadvantage to running an early 60 front under a truck that you use hard is replacing parts if they break. The axleshafts are very difficult to find. You can buy another front axle for parts or have them made.

However, I must say in the closed knuckle 60's favor, that it is a very well designed front axle from a maintenance viewpoint. They are very, very easy to work on and the trunnions are very heavy duty. You can pull an axleshaft out in under 5 minutes if need be.

I have several of these old antique ford axles laying about and used the housing from one under my '70 F-250 4x4. I used kingpin open knuckles out from a later ford 60 front on the early housing with 35 spline inner and outer axles. The axle makes for the perfect front driveline angle under a stock height highboy and I built the axle to the factory bumpside 67" wms-wms front axle width so the tires don't stick out the sides.

A 78-79 HP60 front will not clear FE headers without a 4" lift and they are 69.5" wms-wms so your front tires stick out 3/4" each side.

[heep70]

I used kingpin open knuckles out from a later ford 60 front on the early housing with 35 spline inner and outer axles. The axle makes for the perfect front driveline angle under a stock height highboy and I built the axle to the factory bumpside 67" wms-wms front axle width so the tires don't stick out the sides.

You used the open knuckles on the D60 housing that had the closed knuckles?

That is a cool idea.

[averagef250]

Yep. I cut the closed knuckles off and replaced them with "C"s from a bent up late 80's ford 60 front. The job isn't for everyone. Go prepared with a minimum 50 ton press, 20" swing or larger engine lathe and one heck of a big rose bud on your torch. It turned out really nice in the end though. The low pinion 60 looks factory under the truck. The only issue I still need to address is the power assist steering cylinder. Because I used 80's ford knuckles and narrowed the axle to 67" the tie rod had to be shortened 3" actually 1.5" in two places to center the power assist mounting hole. The tie rod also sits further away from the king pin center of the knuckle as the 80's and up fords steered off the tie rod and needed more leverage. That means that from lock to lock the tie rod actually moves further than a 79 or earlier front axle and the power assist cylinder is about a 1/2" too short to fully steer the axle. I simply plan on building a stretch assist cylinder, but it's working fine for now.

[heep70]

I have had the opportunity to narrow a front D60 and a 14 bolt. It was cool to do. Learned alot!