ok, so i found a completely bolt on kit for the conversion. it doesnt come w/ the axle, leafs, or any new steering components to accomodate the conversion. the company, though, has two types of Dana 60's. the basic ford dana 60, and their own custom ford dana 60. if i didnt go w/ either one of those, JEGS has a ford dana 60 complete from rotor to rotor w/ 4:10 gears, eight lug spindles, and manual locking hubs for $3,400. the bolt on kit is $1,200, leafs for the front and back $1,400, and most of the required steering components are also a pretty penny. so im thinkin it will be around $8,000 or around that from start to finish and i paid $9,500 for my truck. i plan on having the truck for a very long time and my ball joints are just going to keep blowin out if i dont do this conversion. anyone know of anyway to do this a bit cheaper? i am doing all the work myself, so i wont be paying for some shop to do it.

 

what year truck? if its the one in the pic they must have just came out with that bolt on kit but if u can get the bolt on kit thas great. for your steering and other parts i would contact http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/ or http://www.blackbirdscustomtrucks.com/ or http://www.offroadunlimited.com/ or http://offroaddirect.com/ or http://www.ntwonline.com/. shopping with these people will make things cheaper some of them do not show on there website what they have and it is worth it to call and ask about parts and pricing and another thing is check what spring pad width the conversion your buying has. u know a 78 ford has the same spring pad width as a 73 to 87 chevy u can find one used somewhere out there

 

Also you will have ball joints in the straight axle. Most people do an straight axle conversion because they cannot lift the IFS over 10" before it gets too big for the tires to not hit the arms and still be able to turn.

Go and find the axles your self. That is the first thing you need to do to save money. Get a used one, replace the bearings and change the carrier to fit what you want. (If you want a locker (most people want a locker over a posi diff) then do it the first time) If you are building a rock crawler then you will need the custom dana 60. It will have gussets to support the differential housing and making the housing bigger so you can put more fluid in it. (Helps to keep the gears cooler) It will also be clean so you can build what you want with suspension. (Unlimited posibilitys!)

So it all depends on how high you want to go and what you want to do with the truck.

 

the kit i found was from offroadunlimited.com. they also have the basic ford dana 60 and their "ORU" dana 60 which has the pinion angle already set and i believe it is a 32.5" spring bad width. i just found an '81 ford dana 60 that is in decent condition for $1000, so i might end up going with that one. my truck is a 2002 and is going to be used as my toy hauler on the weekends. i pull a fifth wheel camper for my father in law to the LSU home games and a 26' trailer full of quads to red creek off road park in MS every two months. i basically want 38" tires, but i want the reliability of the solid axle for the future when i go bigger. yeah, this thing wont be crawlin up any rocks anytime soon, more like chuggin through the mud pullin my friends out that dont know how to drive in the slop. also, if i were to sell my IFS setup, how much could i get for it?