Well, little secret. This truck started as a 2500 manual with a Dana 80 hybrid. Which is an abomination. It has a 80 center section, tubes, ring and pinion. On the outside however, they decided for whatever reason to put Dana 70 spindles and bearings, hence the "hybrid" or a more appropriate description, p.o.s. I found this out when I did wheel bearings a few years ago and orderd Dana 80 bearings and went to put them on and low and behold they were way to big. Some investigation at the parts house and we were both standing there scratching our heads saying, w.t.f?
So, as I said, I know why it broke, have been expecting it, wanting it to happen so I could upgrade to the true 80. I'm going to put this new/used one in and run it until I can locate a second truck then I'm going to have my buddy go thru this differential and replace everything except ring and pinion. I didn't get going very fast once it broke. When it started to squeal I pulled over and ordered the differential. Figured I had already driven the knife into it's heart so I might as well twist it a bit before pulling it out!
Wish I could get a diff out of an F450/550 in the right ratio!! Just need a bigger truck but thinking a second one to split the duties will be the best option....maybe
That bites. At least you were able to find a 80 to put in. I thought you had a 3500.
I don't know about the F550 idea, mine is howling now.
Nope, I started out with a 2500 and when I got laid off among other things it ended up being converted(spacers and tires) into a dually with a 3/4 capacity, such is the reason I've been doing everything I can to keep the weight of the truck around the 3/4 rating.
I have a friend who has had 350's and such, finally got him a kodiak and eliminated his problem. I've actually been thinking about an international 4300 or 4500, you can pick a used one of those up for nearly the same price as an '01 F350 and the international will have half the mileage. Been checking the truckpaper.com and have seen 100k 4300's for $14k and thought, "why the heck am I thinking about 3500 or 350 Ford and Dodge?". Gonna beef up the dodge and run her then mid summer I'm going to evaluate my rig situation.
I had to do some work on my F550 and found the parts are out of this world. I could have had a real truck and saved a lot of money in parts. But the size is sure handy to get around in.
Now if Your truck had a 318 2V in it like My Dad's '67 Power Wagon, You wouldn't have enough power to break an axle in a Dana 60.
At least He never did in 210K miles including snow plowing.
He did break a driveshaft in one of the Power Wagons, pulled it out and came home in front wheel drive.
I used to have a '68 Ford F250 with a 390 2v and 4spd. It was not the fastest thing in the world but there weren't to many trees around that 4lo could not up root!!! Never had wheel bearing, differential troubles with that ol' truck. Front wheel bearings were the "greased by you" bearings and not these p.o.s greased for life b.s.
In that '67 Powerwagon, the front end ran in gear oil all the way out to the wheel bearings. That was a MOPAR axle. It was always a gooey mess, and not easy to work on.
MOPAR = Many Odd Parts Aranged Rediculosly