Project Crewcab Dually has begun.

[jltait]

Great looking project, I love crew cabs!
JLT

[lugnutz]

Thanks. I've been meaning to update with more pictures but I keep getting side tracked doing other things.

The frame is fully painted and I am working on getting the Dana 60 and Dana 80 bolted in. I will try to get some pics posted this weekend.

[ahale2772]

looking good, nothing better to bump your spirits up than a rolling frame

[lugnutz]

Okay guys, I’m looking for some ideas or info from anybody that has installed a Dana 80 into a 1st Gen.

The Dana 80 has ¾”centering holes in the leaf spring pads on the axle housing and the 1st Gen uses 6” blocks that sit on top of the axle housing that have nubs that stick out and measure ½”.

What did you guys use to take up the space? It seems like a ¾” collar with ½” inside hole would do the trick but I wanted to see what other ideas were out there.

[ahale2772]

you could weld up the hole, grind it flat mark it and re-drill for 1/2

clearly its more of a centering thing so almost anything will work

are the perch's in the same loaction? (same width?)

[lugnutz]

I talked with my machinist friend and he said he could make a collar on his metal lathe to take up the space.

I have not verified the spring perch width on the housing as of yet. I was going by a thread I found a few years ago about putting an 80 under a 1st gen and supposedly the pad widths/locations were real close. I have been unable to find the thread again so I will have to pull out the ole tape measure and see what happens.

[ahale2772]

cool feel free to share info, Ive never seen a good writeup on it, sometimes the easiest stuff is getting it mounted...hard part is integrating it

eventually going to d80 mine so im subscribed

[KTA]

When I put the Dana 80 in mine everything fit fine. All I had to do was grind the spring perches narrower on the 80 so mu u bolts would fit, and then I had to build mounts for the shocks to hook to and cut the second gen mounts off.

[ahale2772]

KTA, what vintage d80? drum?

im more worried about the ebrake, drive shaft, wheel cycl/caliper sizes...those are the ones that always come back to haunt

I'd LOVE to go to rear disk but not willing to have a hard pedal after huge pot calipers in the rear

[ellis93]

There are ways around the hard pedal issue. And if bigger wheel cylinders and a soggy pedal happens, I think I have a way around that one too with residual pressure valves.

[lugnutz]

When I put the Dana 80 in mine everything fit fine. All I had to do was grind the spring perches narrower on the 80 so mu u bolts would fit, and then I had to build mounts for the shocks to hook to and cut the second gen mounts off.

Did you install the Dually or Single wheel 80?



I have a few measurements from the 80 and will post them later.
The only one I don't have is the width of the Dana 70 Dually, wheel mounting surface from one side to the other.

[Free89W350]

I don't know if anyone said it or not but for the hole's in the perches why don't you use a brass bushing to take up the extra 1/4". Or a steal one if you can find one, I know they are out there.

[lugnutz]

I don't know if anyone said it or not but for the hole's in the perches why don't you use a brass bushing to take up the extra 1/4". Or a steal one if you can find one, I know they are out there.

Actually, a friend of mine is going to make some bushings on his metal lathe. Will work out perfect.



I was able to get some measuring done tonight on both axles.

The Dana 70 dually in my 92 has a leaf spring center-to-center measurement of
43 3/16”.

The Dana 80 (drum brakes) I have (from a 2003 3500) also has a leaf spring center-to-center measurement of 43 3/16” and a wheel mounting flange measurement from one side to the other of 72 5/16”.

I don’t have the wheel mounting flange measurement on the Dana 70 as of yet. I am hoping somebody will know that measurement so I don’t have to pull the wheels off of my truck to get it.

The leaf springs will sit in the same location but as KTA mentioned the spring perches and shock mounts will have to be modified/fabricated.

I just need to figure out what the overall width of the 70 is and than I can determine where the 80 will place the wheel/tire combo in relation to where the 70 does. I will pull the rear wheels off my truck next week if I don’t find the measurement in the meantime.

On another note, I called the friend of mine that runs the machine shop to inquire if I could use the sandblaster to blast more brackets for the frame.
It seems that sometime during the night somebody cut through the chain link fence and stole the copper windings out of the 3-phase electric motor for the air compressor. Gotta love tweakers!!!

[ahale2772]

that blows, nothing better than stealing something from a working bum that not only puts him out of money, but puts him out of service

we had a local bum try to steal the air compressor out of my dads service truck....he carries the 357 now

[KTA]

The axle I used was a single wheel Dana 80. It appears that it is about 2inches wider than the Dana70 on the mounting faces for the wheels as they stick out a bit more than ususal. If you use second gen wheels I think the offsets are diffrent and compensate for that. I don't mind it being a little wider as it matches my utility bed better so I used my original wheels. On the brakes I used the biggest wheel cylinders and brakes I could find that fit that axle. It stops good.