Dana 60 rear swap

[66x3]

My first new thread and hope i'm posting in the right place if not feel free to yell at me! I just spent pretty much a full day cleaning up a 71 or 72 Dana 60 found a tag on the rear cover stating 3.54. I had done the rotating wheel driveshaft yoke and thought I got 4.10s.I had pretty much decided to keep the 4 speed in my 66 C20 but now thinking not a good combination with the stock 283. I do have everything to install a 700 R4. Are the 3.54 gears still too high? I sometimes haul my truck camper that weighs approx. 2000 # and use my truck as a truck some. Thanks for any help.

[The Rocknrod]

For a 700R4? Not too tall. Most people would like 3.73's but take a look at this calculator (Calculate Specific Trans Ratio) to see where your RPM's will be at say 60 or 70 MPH, your rear tires make a difference also. About half way down the page.
https://www.jawsgear.com/calculators/

[Captainfab]

The Dana 60's with 3.54 gears typically came in big block trucks. The lower 1st gear of the 700R4 will help with the low torque output of your 283 as well as staying with shorter tires. No doubt that a 4.10 or 3.73 gear would be better for what you are doing combined with the 283.

[66x3]

Thank you guys for the help. I have pretty tall 16.5 rear tires which did calm the 4.57s down some but the little 283 is still humming along pretty good at 60, hence the thinking behind going with the dana when I thought it had 4.10s.
I think i'm going to have to rethink my plans. Maybe I can talk my nephew into swapping center sections with his 66 Ho 52 which i'm pretty sure has 4.10s. Seems like that would be a better combination with the stock 4 speed or the 700r. The Jaws gear & Axle calculator puts it about 1925 @ 65 -2075 @ 70. I'm not wanting to spend big bucks on gears, bearings and seals on the dana and definitely not ready to yank my 77 thousand mile 283 that runs like a clock!

[Steeveedee]

The diff center sections do not interchange, to my knowledge. I'd expect taller tires and the OD of the 700 would work better without a lot of effort. If you really want the 700, do that first. The .70 OD gear will bring your 2075 RPM down to less than 1500 RPM with the tires you have now. It won't be a rock crawler, but that deep 1st gear is nice. If you want better splits on the ratios, you could look at a 200 trans. They can do amazing things with enough money (my brother had one behind a blown 383 stroker in his '62 pickup), but if you aren't set on making a boulevardier out of it or doing rock crawling, it should work stock.

[Captainfab]

Keep in mind that the 283's are a rpm loving engine. You do not want too low of rpm's with a 283 or you will have even less usable torque. Contrary to modern engines, the old school engines need to operate in their power band. If it is in good shape, that 283 would likely be happy cruising at 3000rpm all day long. And depending on how it is built, that just might be in it's torque power band

[66x3]

What I meant was swapping the centersection out of my ho52 with my nephews ho52. And yes Captain my concern was the 283 being in its powerband with the 3.54 and the 700r, not wanting to lug the engine or have it screaming either. I'm amazed at how torquey it is at low rpms . When they say "high torque 283" they aren't kidding. ( 77000 original well maintained miles). Understanding that trans and gearing make a difference. Pretty sure I would need to run the 700 in D while carrying the camper or towing anyway.

[Captainfab]

Some of that torque you feel is due to the 4.57 gears.