Re: JPOR: Dana 60/70

[Ben Bargabus <ben_b@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> There was a story recently in Peterson's that said they have the same diff
> cover and the 70 was only 5/16 inch lower than a 60, and pretty  much all
> 70s were 35 spline. They recomended them for the rear axle but not the
> front.


Going from a 33" tire to a 35" tire only gains 1" of ground clearance
(assuming that both tires were actual size) so who cares about bumping
up to the 35 right?  I'm not picking on Chad here (or any of the people
who responded to my last email) I'm just trying to make the point that
.5" (having a 60 and 70 sitting on the ground at the shop I have a
REALLY hard time believing 5/16", they are visibly different in size
from across the shop) seems small but it's a large percentage of the
gains you made when you bumped up from 31's to 35's.  If you're running
tires in the 39.5" or above range I could see using the 70 (I run one
under my 42" tired blazer, and a friend of mine runs them at both ends
under his 44" tired M-37) but for most Jeeps you've taken out the weak
link by going with the 35 spline shafts so you're not gaining anything
by going to the 70.

Other points: locker and gear availability isn't really an issue between
them except for the fact that 70's aren't available in reverse
rotation.  There are 70 front axles but they're closed knuckle pieces of
#$%^, if you have something big enough that you want a 70 front build it
out of 60 outters and a 70 center section with 35 spline outter shafts. 
All the 70 rears I've had have enourmous drum brakes, to the point that
if you removed them to do a disk conversion you would have about 2.5' to
3' of axle left, the drums are literally most of the axle.

Anyway, to sum it all up, 60's are more than enough for 98% of the jeeps
on the trail.  If (when) I decide they're not enough for me I won't go
to a 70, I'll track down some top-loader Rockwells.

Later,
Ben.