which is stronger a d 60 rear or a ff 14 bolt? and will a d 60 rear out of a '89 f250 ford fit a 73 chevy?  

i'm not sure that the axles are stronger, pinion bearinngs, pinion, ringgear, outer wheelbearings are. all in all one would say it's stonger than a d60
it compares to a 9.5 14 bolt although the axles in the 9.5 trump the 10.5 and the 60.......wanna take it from here snoman?  

This comes up from time to time and I would place a 10.5 14 bolt without doubt above a D60. 10.5 has a straddle mounted pinion (three sets of pinion bearing) and a 4 spider diff in stock open form. Never personally seen a ring and pinion broken in a 10.5 as it is a solid rear axle and was design as a replacement for the even more tank like 12 inch eaton/rockwell that GM had been using in HD P/U's until 73. I have heard that when you finally push a 10.5 too far the carrier bearing saddles tend to fail but you are talking about a extra overload. 10.5 has a designed input torque rating at yoke of about 2200 ft lbs and fails around 5000 ft lbs. I would rate a 9.5 14 bolt and D60 in same general league and would place a D70 as a closer match to a 10.5 (D70 as strong and maybe a tiny bit stronger)  

ok thanx guys . i almost bought that d 60 rear. now will a d60 & d70 out of a ford fit a chevy?  

oops i almost forgot, it's a 76 f250 and my truck of course is a 73 K10.  

I do beleive that GM and Ford have different spring center to center spacing, and different shock location.  

ok thanx GM. i'm not even goin to mess with them then. hell i didnt have the money anyway!  

the frt axle wont work the pumpkin is on the wrong side you can pick up corp. 14's cheap the frt dana 60 's are plentiful up here and cheap let me know what your lookin for gear ratio and ill hunt ya up a set  

ok ken thanx! that would be great!! i need at least 4.88 gears but would prefer 5.13's. i'm not too worried about the gearing tho as long as they are on the right side of the split so i can install these gears later. what i REALLY need is a cheap price. i know d60's are going for a fortune in some parts but i just dont have the money some guys want. not that these axles aren't worth it, i just dont have the resources to pay more then like $200 a piece. any help will be very appreciated! thanx!  

In strenghte the two are about the same, but the reason more people use the 14 bolt is becuase it and its parts are so much cheaper and eaiser to come by than that of a Dana 60 rear axle.  I dont know if a ford d60 will fit your 73 chevy but all you need to worry about is axle width and spring mounting pad and shock mount relocation to make it work,  When i swapped in the 14 bolt under my 78 K5 i found i neeed to move the axle shock mounts up higher, do a little modification to the brake hoses and of course get a combo joint and its all good now, i looks really cool seeing a 1/2 ton blazer on 8 lug rims and the rear full floating axle sticking out of the back rims  

i found a couple 14 bolts so i'm good at that end of the truck. now i'm lookin real hard for a front dana 60 in my price range which is real f'in cheap. anybody know where i can look?  

The 14 bolt has a definite edge on D60 in strength and it weighs more too. The 14 bolt 10.5 is rated at about a 4 ton load capacity housing wise(about 1 ton more than D60). As I stated before a D70 is a better match to compare to a 10.5 14 bolt. All 10.5' have 1.5 inch axle shafts minimum while many D60's do not. Also, the D60 has a 9.75" ring gear and 12ea 1/2 inch bolt holding it on and a 1.625" spline on pinion. The 14 bolt FF has a 10.5" rear gear and 12 ea 9/16 inch bolts holding it on carrier and a 1.750" spline in pinion. The D70 has a 10.2 inch ring gear with same bolts as D60 and a 1.75" spline. (about the equal of a 14 bolt) To clearly exceed a 14 bolt by a good margin you need to go to a D80 with has a 11.2" ring gear with 12ea 5/8 inch bolt holding it on and a 2 inch spline. It and the AAM 11.5 are about in the same league and both are pretty serious rear axles.  

does anyone know why dogde swicthed from using dana axles to AAM axles, i mean there is nothing wrong with the AAM axles under my ram 3500, the 11.5 rear is HUGE!! , but just curious?  

COST!!! The AAM axle cost less than the Dana. The switch happened in 03 on the AAM 11.5 and Dodge actually uses several AAM drive axles now. The CTD uses a 11.5  and 2500 and 3500 gas truck uses a 10.5 AAM that is not same axle as GM 10.5.  They also use a AAM 9.25 front axle in 2500 and 3500 trucks that shares its ring and pinion with GM 9.25 IFS. They also use a AAM 8.0 IFS diff assembly in front of 1500 full sized that designed for usage in the rear of medium sized LD SUVs and because of this is has no disconnect in it when in 2wd. It was cheaper than front drives with disconnects in them but far more expensive for owner in wasted fuel from extra drag that can easily exceed a few grand over life of truck at todays fuel prices. This is particularly sad about the AAM 9.25 front drive axle which is a stout axle otherwise and Dodge could have easily had it equipped with lockout hubs when it was designed for not much more but choose not to to keep their costs (not your operating costs) as low as possible.  

I sure wish my ram 3500 came with manual locking hubs up front, just becuase i think it looks cooler and i know it is more reliable along wiht better mpg, there is a free wheel kit out for about 2000 dollars to convet the rams to manual locking hubs, which i think is a big bummer seeing as to how dogde could have as snoman said designed it from the beginning for a lot cheaper.  Oh well that detroit for you, so dogde uses the 11.5 only in diesels? i thought it was for all HD rams, but a 10.5 for gassers sound about right as they don't make 600lb ft of torque stock!!  One more question, the 9.25 axle up front, is it the same in the 2500 and 3500 trucks, and how does it compare to Dana 60 front.