08 F250 Dana 80 swap completed! Thanks Midwest and PMF

Rubenk

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So just wanted to make a quick post with any details that might help future members. I'll try and include everything but its been a several month process so i'll miss something i'm sure. Apologies for being long-winded.


First off, big thanks to Morgan at Midwest Diesel for building the rearend, and thanks for Trevor at Precision Metal Fabrication for working with me to get the traction bars back on. I actually got the rearend swapped in a few months back, but have been working with PMF to get the traction bar brackets sorted, and got them put on Tuesday night finally! Trevor was great to work with, especially since he had his accident right in the middle of my project. Everything went great considering he was building custom brackets sight unseen just going off my pics and measurements, and work has me all over so I wasnt the fastest at getting it all done. Also thanks to Robby, 08TwinTurbo, for helping me cross reference and find some shocks the right length last minute.


Morgan started with a 99-03 Cab and Chassis Dana 80. This specific year and application gives us the same bolt pattern(8x170, new 80's are 8x200), and very similar factory width. Added Detroit Eaton Tru-Trac, Yukon axles, Ford Calipers and rotors, and Hawk Severe duty pads(to match front). He also replaced the lugs with 14 x 1.50 to match the stock/front ones. Modifications to the shock mounts were required to move them to the correct location.


Factory drive shaft worked, but we had to knock the flange off and then use a parts store u-joint strap kit to mate it to the Dana 80.


First problem encountered was shock length. I took my rear blocks out at the same time(they're back in now), but even then the stock shocks were way too long. The stock hangers are dropped about 3-4" long, but the replacements were tucked up to the axle. Actually a much better idea, but something i'd overlooked. Robby started digging through parts lists and wound up with a shock that worked great. Rancho RS9000, part # Rs999267.


The sterling speed sensor worked fine.


The sterling hard brake line worked fine with a little "adjusting". And the PMF stainless braided kit for my stock truck also fitted right up to everything.


I converted to the new style ubolt kit at the same time. With top plate bottom nut configuration. This is where the first problem showed up. The typical Dana 80 traction bar bracket would not work due to hitting the caliper. I wound up with an oddball Dana 80(no fault of Morgan's) that has driver side caliper on the front. I guess they came both ways, dana 80 has a ton of applications. Anyways, the front of the bracket hit the caliper. I was able to flip the bracket to the rear and bolt the axle down and drive it out of the shop minus bars. Trevor worked with me and got another bracket sent out which cleared the caliper first try...but...I then realized two new problems. Due to how we moved the bar ears to clear the caliper the bars no longer reached the front mount. Additionally, the bottom nut u-bolts also touched the bars when raised up to the frame. Easy enough fix, Trevor sent out a new set of frame mounts(I opted for this so I could have a complete set of bar brackets leftover) with its ears move back and down. With this we were able to use the old holes and trim the u-bolts so that everything fit up just right and the bars slipped right in!


All in all a fairly easy swap to get the axle in, but traction bars could need some additional attention for future reference.


Also I dont recommend 4800 springs and no rear block with fat leaf removed, my truck was super squatty. I put the block back in when we got the bars on Tuesday and it looks much better, fat leaf still out. 4400's and no block/fat leaf would probably be just right.


Attached a few photos after the rear-end was in and rear block out. Its not super obvious b/c my driveway is slanted, but rear is squatted looking. I'll get a new photo of it with the block in ASAP.
 

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1badpsd

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Just for future reference more than likely that's a 99 axle. I know at least on the pickups the e99-99 had the flipped driver side caliper
 

Rubenk

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Just for future reference more than likely that's a 99 axle. I know at least on the pickups the e99-99 had the flipped driver side caliper

Thanks man! I couldnt find any hard data on which applications got the flipped caliper. Not a big deal other than traction bar considerations.
 

Zmann

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thanks for the thread
Why the swap ?

and the Cab chassis rear end is narrower than the dually D80
isn't it ?
 

Rubenk

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thanks for the thread
Why the swap ?

and the Cab chassis rear end is narrower than the dually D80
isn't it ?

Sled pulling making decent power. I drive to my events so anything to help avoid breaking at them is worth it.

Yes C&C is narrower. Only about an inch wider overall than my stock sterling so not even noticeable.
 

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