Axle identification

[NedFlanders]

Well guys, back with another possible problem. Got the Dana 60 from the donor 1028 put in today. Jacked it up, locked in hubs and put transfer case in gear, marked the tires and rotated the driveshaft 12 complete turns. Front tires pointing at 2:00 and rear tires at 5:00!!! I dont get it, front and rear should now be 4.56 gears. Is this an acceptable margin of error or am I gonna screw up my transfer case the first time I engage the front axle?

You can see the position of the white marks in the picture below.

 

[cobra20]

when you marked them were they in the same exact place? and do you have a posi in either axle?

 

[NedFlanders]

Yes marked all 4 tires at 6:00. Front has a Trac-Lok limited slip.

 

[cobra20]

so the rear axle is open?

 

[NedFlanders]

Yes rear is open.

 

[cobra20]

ok that is where the different rotation is coming into play because when you rotated the driveshaft you were only spinning one tire around instead of both of them.

 

[NedFlanders]

ok that is where the different rotation is coming into play because when you rotated the driveshaft you were only spinning one tire around instead of both of them.

Ok now I'm confused. As I turned the driveshaft all 4 tires turned in the same direction.

 

[cobra20]

I bet if u left the front end on the ground and the transfercase if 2hi that the rear end will have the wheels turning opposite of each other. So 1 will go clockwise and the other will go counterclockwise. What is going on is when you turn the driveshaft the spider gears in the rear end will turn opposite of each other because you don't have a posi to lock them together.

 

[NedFlanders]

Ok got another question. (big surprise right?)

Do 14 bolt 1 ton axles have different size drums? I noticed the drums on my parts truck are larger than my good truck. Axle tube diameter and shock bracket spacing are the same on both axles so they should both be 1 tons, although the shock mounts are a bit different on the 2 axles.

Also on the parts truck the ebrake line for passenger drum is longer, comes over to driver side before joining up with it. While on the good truck both side ebrake cables are the same length and meet up in the middle.

Could one axle be a semi floater and one a full floater? Wondering if the one with the bigger drums is better, and if I should plan on swapping it over to my good truck?

Here are some pics to better explain it.

 

[NedFlanders]

Heres the rest of the pics.

 

[bucket]

Those are both 1-ton axles. There were optional bigger brake drums, and the difference in the e-brake cables is a model year thing. IIRC, the cable setup changed in '84. The later axle might also have stamped spring perches rather than cast.

The difference in shock mounts might be because of the model year too. Is the axle with the lower hanging mounts a 2wd truck?

 

[Driver4r]

I bet if u left the front end on the ground and the transfercase if 2hi that the rear end will have the wheels turning opposite of each other. So 1 will go clockwise and the other will go counterclockwise. What is going on is when you turn the driveshaft the spider gears in the rear end will turn opposite of each other because you don't have a posi to lock them together.

Cobra this is where your wrong, turning the driveshaft(with both wheels off the ground) will rotate the WHOLE differeintial in one direction, now if we put a load on 1 wheel, then the powerflow with flow to the path of least resistance, But if both wheels have the same resistance, they will rotate the same as long as even power is applied.(burnout excluded)


now with resistance on the driveshaft and both wheels up, if you spin one wheel, yes, the other will spin opposite.

 

[cobra20]

Actually I did that with my suburban and only one wheel turned even when I turned the car on and hit the gas only one wheel turned.

Cobra this is where your wrong, turning the driveshaft(with both wheels off the ground) will rotate the WHOLE differeintial in one direction, now if we put a load on 1 wheel, then the powerflow with flow to the path of least resistance, But if both wheels have the same resistance, they will rotate the same as long as even power is applied.(burnout excluded)


now with resistance on the driveshaft and both wheels up, if you spin one wheel, yes, the other will spin opposite.

 

[bucket]

Actually I did that with my suburban and only one wheel turned even when I turned the car on and hit the gas only one wheel turned.

But they won't turn opposite of each other. Unless the driveshaft is stationary and you are manually turning one wheel, then the other will spin the opposite direction.

 

[68post]

Well guys, back with another possible problem. Got the Dana 60 from the donor 1028 put in today. Jacked it up, locked in hubs and put transfer case in gear, marked the tires and rotated the driveshaft 12 complete turns. Front tires pointing at 2:00 and rear tires at 5:00!!! I dont get it, front and rear should now be 4.56 gears. Is this an acceptable margin of error or am I gonna screw up my transfer case the first time I engage the front axle?

You can see the position of the white marks in the picture below.

Pull the covers and get the numbers off of the ring gears or count the teeth already. Just mark a tooth with a grease pencil or welder's chalk and count, do it twice to remove the doubt of error. Nothing like knowing for sure what you've got.