Military Vehicles, June 1997,: Re: [MV] M-37 vs M-715

Re: [MV] M-37 vs M-715

Jim Allen (jimallen@onlinecol.com)
Tue, 17 Jun 1997 18:59:33 -0700

>
>Jim,
>
>I'm no high-spending four-wheeler, but I read the mags. Lots of the
>featured trucks brag about using those axles under very-high-dollar rigs.
>Certainly, Bigfoot, et al., don't use tham, but nearly all the local
>four-wheelers and many of the magazine features DO. Me, all I can aford are
>the srtock Dana 40 front and corp. 12-bolt under my '69 1/2-ton Chevy, but
>lots of guys I know use and swear by the Dana 60 and 70.

You misunderstand. There are many varieties of Dana 60 and Dana 70 axles.
Some are good. Some are junk (relatively speaking). There are Dana 70s and
there are DANA 70s. Just like everything else, things have improved. Metals
are better as is technology.

For example, the 10 spline axle on the '715 are about 100% weaker than the
35 spline units on a late Dana 70. It all depends on what was ordered from
Spicer. I have most of the Spicer books dating back to at least 1962, and
the spec list, or Bills of Materials, is as varied as the manufacturers
themselves. Kaiser ordered a certain spec from Spcer (later Dana) and they
got what they paid for - basically a low end axle with oddball hubs and
axles (compared to the rest of the units out there.

To repeat, the Dana 60 and Dana 70 of the '715 bear only
superficial resemblanc to the stock modern or beefed up axles of today.

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