I noticed that the manual for my 99F350 4x4 shows either a Dana 50 front / Ford 10.5 inch rear combination or a Dana 60 front / Dana 80 rear combination is available on the F350. The Dana 60/80 combination is the same axle set shown for the F450. Is this correct? My F350 is 9900lbs GVW but it sure has a smaller set of axles, brakes and wheels than any F450 or F550 I've seen. Has anyone seen an F350 sold with the larger axle set that comes in the F450?

 

I have a 2000, regular cab, F-250, 4x4 SD on order w/ PSD, auto, 3.73LS and snow plow package. I am wondering what axles I will get. Does anyone know?
Thanks, Andy Tierney

 

I believe the F-250 w/PSD will have the Dana50 front with Ford 10-1/2" rear. I believe it's the F-350 DRW that gets the upgrade to the Dana 80 rear, but I'm not sure about the front. I might, however, be totally wrong about all this...I don't own a Ford YET!

 

I'm only going by a page in the owners manual which shows that the possible overlap of F350-450-550 fron axles (DANA60)and possible overlap of F350-450 rear axles (Dana80) in the lubrication instructions. This also shows the F550 with a DANA-135 rear axle. I'm inclined to think this is just an error in Fords manual because all of the other lit. shows common axles and brakes dia. for the 250-350 and 450-550 with the exception that the 550 gets a larger rear axle. I doubt that FORD/DANA would make two sets of DANA60/80, one with large rotors and hubs for 19 inch wheels and one with small rotors and hubs for 16 inch wheels. Still.... I need an F150, I have an F350, my stupid side says TRADE for a 550!

 

Tim's got it. The F250-350 SRW gets the Dana 50 front and ford/sterling 10.5" rear while the F350 DRW gets the dana 60 front and dana 80 rear.

 

I've looked at several DRW F350's and they have had the same axles set as my SRW F350. Not to say that they always do though. The lit. lists the same front axle weight rating for the F350 DRW and SRW and I've always thought that the higher rear axle rating for the DRW reflects the higher tire load capacity. Have you ever seen an F350 with the Dana 60/80 axles as an F450? Did it use the larger brake rotors and 19 inch tires? This makes absolutely no useful difference to me but I'm showing gear-head tendencies in my approahing middle age and I have a stong urge to swap my 350 for a 550 just cause it's bigger!

 

Thanks J.C. I'll try there and post here if I can find out anything. Ford does some weird stuff sometimes. Several years ago I just missed buying an 83 F350 HD that had independent front suspension. At that time ford was running ifs on the F150 and F250 only and retained the solid front axle on the F350. I crawled around underneath and looked at some really big iron. The front axle had a large 'N' stamped on top of the housing. I did some asking around and found that on a very small number of F350's for ran a Dana ifs unit made of 'nodular iron', tuffer stuff than the standard metal they used. Well... this is useless information and I will stop now.

 

It is pretty amazing how a truck of the same model year can differ. Just a few of the things I've heard are, a small number of 99 super duty's having the old 10.25" rear end, Rangers with fiberglass leaf springs (I found that really hard to believe but, it was in a click&clack article), and a time when a few F250's had an optional front limited slip. Never know what you're going to find.

 

According to my '99 Ford Truck Source Book (I sell these things for a living!) the F-350 4x4 SRW will have a Dana 50 front axle rated at 5200#, the DRW version gets a Dana 60 rated at 5200# (The F-450 gets a Dana 60 rates at 6000#). The F-350 SRW gets a Ford rear axle rated at 6830# (same as the F-250) and the DRW version gets a Ford axle rated at 9750#. The F-450 has a Dana 80 rated at 11,000#. The Ford rear axles may be either 2 or 3 pinion, depending on the engine.
Hope this helps.

 

Graydon! Where were you when I was talking to the guys with dark tans and bad ties down at my local dealership? I'm always amazed at how little hard data is contained in the consumer information. You'd think that spending 30K would prod the truck salesmen to learn all of the gear-head data so folks like myself would know what they were purchasing. Oh well, the DRW wouldn't quite fit through my garage door anyhow. When I finish my horse barn next year how about you quote an F550 4x4 crew cab for me?
Thanks again.

 

Graydon: I forgot to ask do those lucky DRW owners also get the larger brakes along with heavy axles?

 

The 99 1/2 and newer Super Duty F350 DRW truck has a Dana 80 rear axle, disk brakes, and anti-sway bar. The Super Duty F250 SRW plus DRW and Super Duty F350 SRW has the corporate (Sterling) 10.25" axle.

To be sure look at a 2000 or 2001 truck. Remember the truck (with a bed) has a wider frame and axle than the cab and chassis model. This axle will fit in a 95 F250/F350, the spring perches are the exact width. The F450 has a Dana 80, the F550 has a Dana 135.

The 97-98 E350 and I presume newer cab and chassis has a Dana 80 DRW with anti-sway bar and 14.75" disk brakes. 4.63 ratio, and 16" wheels. Track width (outside edge to outside edge) of the rear tires is 96". The spring perches on this one are very wide apart!

The Dodge mid-90's and later Dodge 2500 is SRW only Dana 70 while the Dodge 3500 is DRW with a Dana 80.

Dana (Spicer Corp) calls the Dana 80 a M80/286. It's nominal GAW rating is 11500 lbs, 3.31 to 5.13 ratio, 6 on 8.75" lug pattern (Ford makes their own 8 lug hubs ?), 14.75" hydraulic disk brakes, and a 11.25"/286mm ring gear. This is substantially larger than the Dana 70 at 10.5"/267mm.

I don't know the diameter of the Dana 80's inner axle shafts but I'd venture to say they're close to 2" since my 85 F350 Dana 70U has 1 and 11/32" (maybe 11/16, I don't recall) diameter axles. The Dana 70 outer tubes are slightly over 3" and the Dana 80 tubes are 4" in diameter.

By the way, the 85 F350 had a Dana 70U rear axle, and the front was a Dana 44HD TTB unit. Only the inner pumpkin assembly is inter-changeable with a 86 and newer F150/Bronco Dana 44 TTB axle.

John

 

2001 MY

Front Axle (4x4) 250 and 350(SRW) = Dana 50.
Rear Axle 250 = Sterling 10.5 rated at 6084 lbs.
Rear Axle 350(SRW) = Sterling 10.5 rated at 6830 lbs.

'01 350 PSD CC 4X4 LARIAT / '00 LAND ROVER DISCO II CCP SRP ACE

 

Are there any differences in the various 10.25 sterlings or is the load capacity all in the springs?


Daywalker
92' F-250HD 351 4x4 xlt 4.10 ZF 5speed supercab longbed

 

More interesting news, after reading 4-wheeler magazine for July they found out during a gear swap on a Dana 50 front axle (01 psd reg.cab 4wd) that the the axles slim down to dana 44 size in the axle tubes towards the crown and pinion. I don't care fore that trick. My shop truck had a Dana 44 IFS with a 6.9 auto and we had a set of axles in stock because we would break 1-2 axles yearly. They usually broke at the carrier and sometimes the u-joints would just explode.