New: Ultimate Dana 60 Semi-Float Rear Axle for JT Gladiator

[Ericshere03]

I was looking at the Currie and Dynatrac SF 60's this morning. The Currie has 40 spline axles but the D-trac has a much more robust axle flange, great ground clearance and F150 brakes. I think I would do either one of them before I would the Dana.

But the Dana has double row wheel bearings and stock brakes for easy replacements (I’ll never remember my brakes are from an f150 in 10 years or whatever).

all 3 have their perks. Odd they all cook this axle with a slightly different recipe

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[Sweetums]

Big brakes are a feature, not a bug.

Do other people not keep a build log of what they have done to their Jeep?

 

[Stan H]

Big brakes are a feature, not a bug.

Do other people not keep a build log of what they have done to their Jeep?

Nope maybe just you

 

[Jteakus]

If the F150 brakes are an upgrade they are welcomed to the party. Bigger brakes stop bigger tires better you know? If you can't remember what brake pads are required for your custom Dana 60 axle perhaps start a journal? You are going to have a different part number for the u-joint too.

 

[Stinggrey 21 Rubi]

Same rear wheel bearing as rubicon - deal breaker for me. I would own one otherwise.
I don't want monster truck size and weight. I love the ride currently, the huge unsprung weight penalty would not help.

 

[piroman683]

Why anyone would give up the ground clearance to run a 60 and be limited to 39s is beyond me. We've been running 39s on the wife's JLUR with bone stock xr axles for years. John Bull, holcomb creek, the Rubicon, and dozens of other trails without issue.

I picked up a dynatrac 60 semi float and decided not to install it as I lose about 3 inches of wheel travel. 2in on the uptrave and 1in down travel (down travel is easy to solve, but cannot solve for uptravel). In the end it's fine because the D44 I have has held up for over 105k miles, including racing in baja last april.

 

[piroman683]

the F150 brakes are not that much bigger, marginal increase in rotor diameter at best, and if you look at the OD and ID of the rotor brake area vs. the D44, the D44 has, what looks like more surface area. I have a Dynatrac 60 semi-float, is it weighs 440 lbs. I'll take brake measurements tonight to compare the two.

 

[Ericshere03]

the F150 brakes are not that much bigger, marginal increase in rotor diameter at best, and if you look at the OD and ID of the rotor brake area vs. the D44, the D44 has, what looks like more surface area. I have a Dynatrac 60 semi-float, is it weighs 440 lbs. I'll take brake measurements tonight to compare the two.

That's great information ... The Full float ultimate dana 60 is about 600lbs... I couldn't find a weight for our factory M220, but the bronco version is 587lbs according to ford...

that being said, the semi float looks real attractive with marginal weight increase. and like I said earlier, the full float is about 100lbs heavier than the semi float.

 

[piroman683]

Found info on Brakes, Rear for the JT they are 345mm x 22mm thick
JT spec sheet: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...ecifications-sheet-feature-availability.8468/

Ford F150 Rears are 336mm x 20mm thick or 350mm X 24mm
Spec sheet: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/...2021/f150/pdfs/2021-F-150-Technical-Specs.pdf

Doing the math the 345 vs 350 resuls in 4.23 more surface area of stopping power. But that is based on using the full disc, in reality there is an inner diameter and out... so, spec sheet aside, I need to measure. My initial reaction when I got the 60 was "thats a brake upgrade? doesn't look like one"

D44 with eaton locker, when I put it on my scale, was 230 lbs. D60 semi float is almost 2x the weight

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Found info on Brakes, Rear for the JT they are 345mm x 22mm thick
JT spec sheet: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...ecifications-sheet-feature-availability.8468/

Ford F150 Rears are 336mm x 20mm thick or 350mm X 24mm
Spec sheet: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North America/US/product/2021/f150/pdfs/2021-F-150-Technical-Specs.pdf

Doing the math the 345 vs 350 resuls in 4.23 more surface area of stopping power. But that is based on using the full disc, in reality there is an inner diameter and out... so, spec sheet aside, I need to measure. My initial reaction when I got the 60 was "thats a brake upgrade? doesn't look like one"

D44 with eaton locker, when I put it on my scale, was 230 lbs. D60 semi float is almost 2x the weight

That’s good info, thanks for posting that.

F150 rear calipers are also single piston like the Gladiators, so no upgrade there.

 

[RodRecket]

I picked up a dynatrac 60 semi float and decided not to install it as I lose about 3 inches of wheel travel. 2in on the uptrave and 1in down travel (down travel is easy to solve, but cannot solve for uptravel). In the end it's fine because the D44 I have has held up for over 105k miles, including racing in baja last april.

Lost up travel because of the size of the center section or....what limits the up travel vs the stock 44?

Have you made any upgrades to the components of the D44? Good to hear it has held up to a beating. Makes me feel good about cross country trips with a trailer and hard wheeling.

 

[piroman683]

Lost up travel because of the size of the center section or....what limits the up travel vs the stock 44?

Have you made any upgrades to the components of the D44? Good to hear it has held up to a beating. Makes me feel good about cross country trips with a trailer and hard wheeling.

For my 44 I have the rock Krawler pro-x upgrade. So I get rid of the track bar and can really tuck the rear, with 37's and still have 2+ inches before rubbing the tires. However, I also had to chop my exhaust because I would bash right through it. With my current shocks I'm at 16in of rear wheel travel, I have custom ones I'm finishing up that will get me to 18. Tucking it up was key.

On the 60, the cradle that goes on so I can keep it triangulated ends up raising the mounting locations of the uppers by about 3 inches. Also, the shock mounts on the 60 are about an inch lower which shortens droop by an inch when using the same shocks.

So all the hard work I put into getting to 18in gets reduced to 15. Those 3 inches are huge in terms of flex, capabilities, and stability at faster speeds. It was a huge difference going from roughly 13.5ish to 16 (13.5 was limited to existing springs, non were long enough and most didn't compress enough, I have a whole other post on that).

 

[Ericshere03]

Found info on Brakes, Rear for the JT they are 345mm x 22mm thick
JT spec sheet: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...ecifications-sheet-feature-availability.8468/

Ford F150 Rears are 336mm x 20mm thick or 350mm X 24mm
Spec sheet: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North America/US/product/2021/f150/pdfs/2021-F-150-Technical-Specs.pdf

Doing the math the 345 vs 350 resuls in 4.23 more surface area of stopping power. But that is based on using the full disc, in reality there is an inner diameter and out... so, spec sheet aside, I need to measure. My initial reaction when I got the 60 was "thats a brake upgrade? doesn't look like one"

D44 with eaton locker, when I put it on my scale, was 230 lbs. D60 semi float is almost 2x the weight

Ford must be weighing the crate with the axle for that weight ... nice job weighing the D44. I am surprised it’s that light! That's not much heavier than a TJ D44. My gut tells me that I don't want that cheesy 230lb axle towing my trailer ... There's obviously some engineering that's going on, such as the ring gear is actually smaller but stronger, and the tubes are "high strength steel” as opposed to mild steel I’d suppose …

 

[piroman683]

Ford must be weighing the crate with the axle for that weight ... nice job weighing the D44. I am surprised it’s that light! That's not much heavier than a TJ D44. My gut tells me that I don't want that cheesy 230lb axle towing my trailer ... There's obviously some engineering that's going on, such as the ring gear is actually smaller but stronger, and the tubes are "high strength steel” as opposed to mild steel I’d suppose …

I've towed 6000 lbs to Burning Man and back, over 1100 miles round trip, raced my truck over 1300 miles in Baja and drove home - all on the same D44 with 4.56 gears and supercharged. Only ever had 1 issue with the rear when I was hitting whoops in Baja and passing raptors, I chipped the ring gear. Honestly, I'm impressed with the D44.

I've gone through 4 intake cams, and only replaced my ring gear because of chipping it at 105k miles (been jumping this since I bought the truck in 2020) so, I wouldn't worry about towing

 

[WK2JT]

I've towed 6000 lbs to Burning Man and back, over 1100 miles round trip, raced my truck over 1300 miles in Baja and drove home - all on the same D44 with 4.56 gears and supercharged. Only ever had 1 issue with the rear when I was hitting whoops in Baja and passing raptors, I chipped the ring gear. Honestly, I'm impressed with the D44.

I've gone through 4 intake cams, and only replaced my ring gear because of chipping it at 105k miles (been jumping this since I bought the truck in 2020) so, I wouldn't worry about towing

An intake cam every 25k miles?!?!

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