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Dana 60 swap problem!!!

2752 Views 21 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  rgunn1
Im going nuts... I have a 96 Ram 1500 and swapped in a 1996 Ram Dana 60 with 4.10's in the front and a rear 2001 dana 60 fullfloater with 4.10's. All I had to do was shorten both drivelines and everything works perfectly (LOVE the braking power). EXCEPT, I feel like something is hitting the drivers side floorboard (like loose exhaust)... Anyway, I checked everything and it seems tight. Has anyone experienced this? It happeneds on the road at regular speeds, on the slightest bumps. Same happens after I installed new shocks.
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Check your front shock lower mounting bolts and make sure they are torqued to the proper specs. I installed some 2" spacers on a truck and had a rattling noise. It ended up being the bolts were not tight enough.
:withstupid: That's exactly what it is, loose shocks. I have had the same problem.
well, I changed my Rancho RS 9000's last week to Heckelthorns, and used an Ingersall Rand and cranked those mothers down... same noise...
I dont know if this helps, buts its worse in the rain, or when its wet...
:D: Trust me dude. It's the shocks. You are preaching to the choir...
Check the shock tower, lower shock mount, upper shock mount, then check them all again. It's going to be one of the three... errr, five actually. They may seem tight but make sure they are on there real good. They have a lot of force put on them when they absorb an impact.
I have daystars and they are tight. The shock bolts are at 120lbs. :wall:
a couple ideas,

1.) Control arm bolts are loose, been there, done that. Trust me, you have to crank the hell out of them to get them tight enough.

2.) Trac-bar, make sure that puppy is tight, check the bolt on the axle end.

3.) Maybe the vent line or any one of the lines running the the axle is loose and bumping the bottom of the cab?
Im gonna jack it up, take the wheels off and tighten every [email protected] @#cker on there!!! :shoot:
like i said in my pm, my problem (which matches yours, is the track bar - at least i'm pretty sure). i also have the exact same set up as you. one other thing is that if you have never changed your control arm bushings, the metal sleeve may have gotten a little oblong and there bumping around. i had that problem last year, threw in some poly bushings and all was good
Well, its FIXED... Turns out that I had to add a washer in between the drivers side upper control arm (at frame). While tightening the bolt (which I snapped by hand), I noticed no matter how tight it was, there was a .016 play. Got a new bolt, slipped a washer in there and no noises :): Thanks all...

Oh, to the choir master... :flipoff:
see... i toooooooooooooooooooooooold you! :flipoff: :rotfl:
The bolts WERE tight. I guess this new axle has slightly thinner control arms, weird since I went from a dana 44 to a dana 60.
the Problem I had was similar. the factory bolts don't have much of a shoulder on them and its mostly thread. I bought new lower bolts that had shorter amount of thread on them. What happens is since its just thread were the bolt is sitting in the shock, they wear out real fast. With a bolt that has mostly should going through the shock hole it will not wear out compared to the original bolts. Solved my problem
On 2005-12-03 14:25, ReddingRam wrote:

Oh, to the choir master... :flipoff:

Glad you got it fixed. I never had that problem when I swapped axles... I guess because I manned-up and tightened down the control arm bolts enough to squeeze the brackets against the bushings. :flipoff:
{expletive}r, I snapped a bolt crankin on it... it's just crappy dodge workmanship...
On 2005-12-04 00:08, ReddingRam wrote:
{expletive}r, I snapped a bolt crankin on it... it's just crappy dodge workmanship...

hey dont blame it on dodge, its must have been your super huge muscular arms :roll: hehehe
my conrola arms have washers between them and the mounts too so i think they are suppose to have them.
You know your frame has small bolts because it a 96 and the axle has large bolts because its an 01 right????

The control arm bolts are different sizes for the truck you have and the axle you put in it. You need to get that worked out............. its prolly those small bolts you have in the bushings on the axle end that are too big.
No, the rear is a 2001, the front Dana 60 is from a 1996 (like mine) 2500. In my case, control arm spacer/washers were necesseary ONLY for that one.
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