Grenade 74 Vega Hatchback

[greg72]

I had a Dana 60 in a 68 Chevy II / Nova drag car. It was set up with a spool, ran 5:13 gears. Car was originally built in the mid 70's . Dana 60s are great rear ends. Very strong.

[grenade]

I was about to reply with the Dana44 reference. Mail jeeps had them and they were popular for a swap for a while. I guess there is no need. Interesting. Somebody must have had a shortened D60 laying about.

Actually, it was pulled from a junk yard, taken to Randy's Differential in LA, where it was shortened, and fitted.

[grenade]

I had a Dana 60 in a 68 Chevy II / Nova drag car. It was set up with a spool, ran 5:13 gears. Car was originally built in the mid 70's . Dana 60s are great rear ends. Very strong.

Any idea what kind of tq they will handle in a 2700 lb car?

[megavega]

if its a dana 60, you wont ever break it with a small block, they are very tough and strong, heavy in weight, but strong. I have only ever seen 1 dana 60 let go at the drag strip in all the years there, it was from a friends big block stick shift 68 camaro, tubbed with 14x32 rear tires, a 500+ cu in big block , tunnel rammed engine dumping the clutch with a richmond 5 speed at some ungodly high rpm, it spit the head of the pinion gear out thru back of the cover on one of the cars 3 ft wheels up launches. The car ran in the low 9's-1/4 mile. You will never break that with a small block on the street or strip with slicks, your good to go with that rear axle.

[greg72]

Agreed, they are heavy but strong... nearly bulletproof. Especially in a lightweight H-body.

My 68 Nova had a Dana 60 in it, funny thing it also had a Richmond 5 spd and 14/32 slicks , but was a small block car not big block. Ran 10's in the late 70's / early 80's. The picture of the rearend is from when we stripped the gears. Turns out the rearend housing was slightly twisted.....we didn't figure this out until the second gear set also stripped....then we figured we had a problem.

But not completely unexpected , the car car was built in the mid 70's. This rearend was run for over 10 years , competing in class racing almost every spring . summer and fall weekend!




Anyway a Dana 60 is a great rearend, it should serve you well for years to come in your Vega.