1998 dodge d60 and d80 stock up

[randall555]

I have a line on a complete 1998 dodge truck with 190,00 miles so would these axles workout . The front is a d60 and the rear is
d 80 . So how would these work on my m715 . Dana 60 chevy is very hard to find and very pricey in my area dana 60 is like $1500 alone if you can find one . What other front and rear would be a good choice . Thier is alot of ford stuff around me and is relitively cheap so would it be worth going to the effert to change everthing to go with ford stuff ?

[Mikel]

Those "modern" dodge D60's aren't as desirable as the older kingpin ones, but I suppose they must be leaps and bounds better than the stock M715 axles.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/60_front/

[Ronner]

The Ford stuff is good, but has the front differential on the drivers side. If you are planning on a motor/tranny swap then you could just for the Ford route, or get a divorced NP205 from a Ford Highboy ('67-'76) as they are divorced. That way you can run whatever you want in front of it - stock mild to custom wild.

[moosejr]

I believe your 98 dodge front axle would be driver's side drop, ..so won't work with the stock transfer case. Something I would caution about in swapping from passenger side drop to driver's side is there is a lot of engineering to look at there, . .clutch linkage, electrical wiring, exhaust and fuel plumbing, etc. Not saying it can't be done, but why make things more complicated than they need to be?

[glenn]

The Dodge axle would be driver side drop, it doesn't have any locking hubs or serviceable wheel bearings either. It uses a vacuum actuated axle disconnect for 4x4 but you can fix that with a manual actuated axle set up. There is a company that makes a setup to do away with your vacuum stuff. You will have to cut off all the front suspension brackets and set up some spring perches and weld them on. It uses balljoints for the steering knuckles which are a wear item and will need to be replace every once in a while. You would also need to change transfer cases to make it a driverside front output. I would look for a package deal on axles where the front had the passenger side drop unless you are changing the whole powertrain at the same time.