68 4x4 axle swap

[Matt Miller]

My son has a 68 4x4. He wants to swap out front and rear diffs for 1 ton axles. Any suggestions on what to use.

[b454rat]

If its coil spring, then you will have to get spring pads made. If it's leaf sprung, then a 1 ton or cab and chassis axle will bolt in. As for the front, 1 ton 4wd only will have the Dana 60 front axle, from 77 to 91. Don't expect to get a Dana 60 front cheap inless the seller doesn't know what they have. I've sold 3 Dana 60s now, two GMs went for $800 each and the Ford 60 went for over $900. The two GMs needed to be completely rebuilt, the Ford just needed small stuff.

[1969 GMC]

gm never made any coil sprung 4x4's back then so you don't need to worry about that. b454rat is correct, 1 ton axles will have the correct spring perch width. 3/4 ton axles will be slightly different, but nothing a grinder and welder can't fix.
you get two choices for rear axles in 1 tons, 14 bolts and dana 70s. dana 70s only came as a dually setup and are very big and wide, so you probably want to avoid them. 14 bolt would probably be your best bet.

another thing to consider is dodge axles. i am going to swap a dodge dana 60 into the front of my truck, and it is only slightly different than the gm version. 2 inches narrower and the spring perches are 0.5" different.

i guess your budget will dictate what kind of axles you get. good luck with the swap!

[b454rat]

Another route is to use late 70s heavy duty 3/4 ton or maybe 1 ton Ford. I got an axle from a 78-79 Ford, has the heavy duty Dana 60 rear with the extra ribbing around the cover, these axles use the same 40 1/2" pad width as your truck. I measured a couple of 3/4 tons before I found a clean one, and the regular 3/4s have a wider padth width. Easy way to tell a HD from a regular 3/4 is if it has the 60 front, or big hubs on a Dana 44.