Dana 60 gearing question

[ThinLizzy13]

I've been trying to do some research on switching out the gears in my 66's Dana 60. It currently has 4.56 gears. I wanted to go to 4.10 gears and some taller tires to take down highway speed RPM's.

From what I've been reading I'll need a new carrier to go from 4.56 to 4.10 gears. I haven't had any luck finding a decent rear end near me to swap out with, but I did find someone who has a 4.10 set with a carrier for sale out of a '89 F250.

Just to be sure, these gears should swap into my axle correct? Also what should I check for if I go check them out?

Thanks for any input, and if any of you experienced slicksters have any suggestions for what direction I should go I'm all ears.

[ICEMAN6166]

yes you will need the carrier its 4.10 and below and 4.56 and up for the carriers.

that said the dana is not an easy swap like the 9".
it would be much less work to find an entire 4.10 or even 3.73 and swap the whole axle.

[ThinLizzy13]

Thanks Iceman. I did just now happen to find a posting for a Dana 60 out of a 71 F-250. Hopefully its 4.10 or lower.
It seems like every other axle I find for sale around here is out of a chebby...

[ThinLizzy13]

Well looks like next week I'll be getting a Dana 60 and Dana 44 with 4.10's. That worked out well

[f25065]

Just a chime-in here, for no reason... my '65 F-250 had a Dana 60 with 4.10s from the factory. I liked the beefier drum brakes from the early-70s camper specials so I found one in a yard, and it happened to have 3.73s in it. I did like the change in gearing. Didn't know if you wanted to change that much but from 4.56, the 4.10s should be a pretty good noticeable change for you.

[ICEMAN6166]

but with 4.56 you can creep thru this

[Paul Merrell]

I will say this I have the 3.73 gears and running 33 inch tall tires. Its great on the highway and keeping up from stop light to stop light with traffic. But when at post speed of 55 mph and pulling a load 3000 lbs the engine seems to be lugging. I will be changing mine back to 4.11.

[ICEMAN6166]

if you go back to stock tire 7.50 x 16 you will notice a big improvement.

i had an 85 2wd with 33s and you had to be doing 75 to use o.d. any less and the 300 6 would lug.

[ThinLizzy13]

Would I be able to creep through that in 2wd? Lol

And I think 4.11 will be a nice change. I don't go much faster than 55, so that with some taller tires will be a nice adjustment. I'm pulling 8.5 mpg right now highway with my set up