Well guys I knew i wouldnt be happy with 45-50mph .. i was given a free dana 61 axle but knew i wanted to run the old style rims so i decided to dive in and custom build a rear axle... figured some of you guys might be interested so heres how i did it...


i blocked the rear end up so i could swing a pipe cutter around it... i used the pipe cutter to go in about a quarter of an inch... this gave me a good line for the saws all
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0944.jpg

I cut both ends off
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0947.jpg
the cuts came out extremely straight.. although this turned out to not be that important

next i did the same to the donor axle.. it came from a F350 tow truck.. i know ford... thats some sort of sin right?
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0964.jpg

took the ends to work i have access to lots of good equipment.. but you could job this step out
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0970.jpg
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0971.jpg

so now that i turned down the ends they will fit right into the dana axle

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0974.jpg

i drilled some holes in the tubes for a little extra weld

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0979.jpg

then made sure it was all straight and welded it up
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo291/mack1416/IMG_0982.jpg

i planned the width of my axle so that original dana axles would be the right width.. its just a hair narrower than stock...

what do you guys think... ? It wasnt as hard to do as i origonally had thought it would be.. but we will see.. i wont know how well it all works out for a while...

Next on the agenda.. front disk break conversion...