Dana 50 to 60 swap gear recommendations

[Gary Lewis]

LOVE this pic Gary. Where did you get the front Bumper, and what winch are you using?

BTW, I was reading your page where you talk about the Bullnose and quote from Wiki. You mentioned about the clear v. amber lights.

Mine was built in Louisville, and came with the clear lenses, with amber bulbs. Dunno if that helps, but some info FWIW.

Thanks, guys.

The wheels are 10" wide and the tires are 285/75R16 Falken AT3W Wildpeaks, which are 33" in diameter. The bumper is from Warn and was on the truck when I got it. But there was no winch, so I added a 12K Smittybilt as well as an aux battery to run it.

A 460 of our era only came with one auto - the C6. That's a 3-speed with no overdrive and no clutch in the torque converter so it is always slipping. So I really wouldn't want to go as low as 4.10 since that will give you 3000 RPM at 65 MPH. Compare that to 2700 with 3.73's and 2600 with 3.55's - still using the C6. And all of that is with 33" tires. I'm turning 1800 at the same speed with the ZF5 in 5th, or 2400 when in 4th. (I have 250 RPM in the C6 calcs for torque converter slippage.)

 

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, guys.

The wheels are 10" wide and the tires are 285/75R16 Falken AT3W Wildpeaks, which are 33" in diameter. The bumper is from Warn and was on the truck when I got it. But there was no winch, so I added a 12K Smittybilt as well as an aux battery to run it.

A 460 of our era only came with one auto - the C6. That's a 3-speed with no overdrive and no clutch in the torque converter so it is always slipping. So I really wouldn't want to go as low as 4.10 since that will give you 3000 RPM at 65 MPH. Compare that to 2700 with 3.73's and 2600 with 3.55's - still using the C6. And all of that is with 33" tires. I'm turning 1800 at the same speed with the ZF5 in 5th, or 2400 when in 4th. (I have 250 RPM in the C6 calcs for torque converter slippage.)

Oops, I forgot the turn signals.

Does your truck also have slide locks? And what was the manufacturing date?

[Ford F834]

yeah the only choices I can find locally are 3.73 and 4.10 but currently by back is a 3.55

Probably another obvious side note, but 3.73 is a later gear offering, and most likely has the metric lug pattern. You would want the metric lug rear axle to go with it and the rims.

Given the choice I would lean toward the taller gear set. 4.10’s don’t play nice with modern highway speeds.

[Satchmono]

yeah the only choices I can find locally are 3.73 and 4.10 but currently by back is a 3.55

Probably another obvious side note, but 3.73 is a later gear offering, and most likely has the metric lug pattern. You would want the metric lug rear axle to go with it and the rims.

Given the choice I would lean toward the taller gear set. 4.10’s don’t play nice with modern highway speeds.

Thanks!

[Nothing Special]

Probably another obvious side note, but 3.73 is a later gear offering, and most likely has the metric lug pattern. You would want the metric lug rear axle to go with it and the rims....

Good point and maybe not so obvious. The '99 and later trucks don't have the 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern, so you will want the matching rear axle and will need new rims.

Also I'm not sure that the spring perches, shock and track bar mounts on the front axle will just bolt in. It's easy fab work if it needs to be done. But it might need to be done.

But the plus is it should give you disk brakes in the rear.

[AmericanSavage]

Oops, I forgot the turn signals.

Does your truck also have slide locks? And what was the manufacturing date?

Hi Gary,

No Slide locks. Built Nov 1979. Thanks for theinfo on the bumper, etc. I want something like that on mine! Where is the aux batt? I assume it charges with the rest of the system, or a stand alone to the winch:nabble_anim_confused:?

[Gary Lewis]

Hi Gary,

No Slide locks. Built Nov 1979. Thanks for theinfo on the bumper, etc. I want something like that on mine! Where is the aux batt? I assume it charges with the rest of the system, or a stand alone to the winch:nabble_anim_confused:?

Interesting that you don't have slide locks on a truck built in Nov of '79. Supposedly they didn't phase out the slide locks until of March of '81, and even then several plants continued to install them. So I wonder if yours have been changed out.

As for Big Blue, the factory aux battery sits on driver's side where the coolant recovery reservoir usually goes. I've included two pics below, the first showing BB now with the EFI, and the other showing it as it was with the carb.

The aux battery supports both the winch as well as the 3KW inverter - which powers the air compressor, among other things. It is charged by the 130A 3G alternator, and the two batteries are paralleled via a 200A Cole Hersee Smart Battery Isolator. Those isolators close when either battery voltage is above 13.2V for 2 minutes. And the batteries are isolated when both battery voltages are below 12.7V for 1 minute. But I can force parallel for one minute with a switch in Mission Control.

[Satchmono]

Thanks, guys.

The wheels are 10" wide and the tires are 285/75R16 Falken AT3W Wildpeaks, which are 33" in diameter. The bumper is from Warn and was on the truck when I got it. But there was no winch, so I added a 12K Smittybilt as well as an aux battery to run it.

A 460 of our era only came with one auto - the C6. That's a 3-speed with no overdrive and no clutch in the torque converter so it is always slipping. So I really wouldn't want to go as low as 4.10 since that will give you 3000 RPM at 65 MPH. Compare that to 2700 with 3.73's and 2600 with 3.55's - still using the C6. And all of that is with 33" tires. I'm turning 1800 at the same speed with the ZF5 in 5th, or 2400 when in 4th. (I have 250 RPM in the C6 calcs for torque converter slippage.)

Let me ask you, if I ended up putting a 6R80 tranny instead of the C6... would that change your answer on the gear ratio? I lost my opportunity for 3.73 and even though she's a tank and can't crawl off the line fast... wouldn't the 4.10 give me a little more push?

[Gary Lewis]

Let me ask you, if I ended up putting a 6R80 tranny instead of the C6... would that change your answer on the gear ratio? I lost my opportunity for 3.73 and even though she's a tank and can't crawl off the line fast... wouldn't the 4.10 give me a little more push?

The 6R80 wasn't made in the 460 bolt pattern, so while there are ways to attach it they are expensive. This one from Speed Gems is $1895 and it doesn't include the required controller for the transmission, which is another $1249. So all up, not including the transmission, you are looking at $3144.

But yes, with the two overdrive gears of .87 and .69 you could easily go to lower differential ratios. But the E4OD has a .71 OD ratio, so you could go with that tranny and still use lower ratios in the diffs. And there's no $1895 adapter needed as the E4OD bolts right to the 460. And there are $800 controllers for it, so instead of $3144 you'd be looking at $800.

HOWEVER, you said you might go with EFI. If you were to go with Ford's EEC-IV or EEC-V EFI system you won't need a controller for the E4OD as the ECU controls both the EFI and the tranny.

So you need to think through the long-term plans.

[Satchmono]

The 6R80 wasn't made in the 460 bolt pattern, so while there are ways to attach it they are expensive. This one from Speed Gems is $1895 and it doesn't include the required controller for the transmission, which is another $1249. So all up, not including the transmission, you are looking at $3144.

But yes, with the two overdrive gears of .87 and .69 you could easily go to lower differential ratios. But the E4OD has a .71 OD ratio, so you could go with that tranny and still use lower ratios in the diffs. And there's no $1895 adapter needed as the E4OD bolts right to the 460. And there are $800 controllers for it, so instead of $3144 you'd be looking at $800.

HOWEVER, you said you might go with EFI. If you were to go with Ford's EEC-IV or EEC-V EFI system you won't need a controller for the E4OD as the ECU controls both the EFI and the tranny.

So you need to think through the long-term plans.

Thanks for being a wealth of knowledge...I plan to rework the axle to a Dana 60 first and then head to the inside, so I wanted to make sure I got the gears right for the later inside work. I do see rebuilt E40Ds everywhere. I want to make her as reliable as possible but also fun to hit the gas pedal and burn the dollars down the road.