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Old 03-03-2002, 06:32 PM
HankL HankL is offline
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Default Ever run into a 2-speed Dana diff?

This is slightly off topic, but has anyone here run into the 2-speed Dana differential that was put behind the Mercury Cougar a few years ago?

Supposedly this was a smaller version of the very large 2 speed differential that Dana made for the commercial Dump truck market.

Was it a 44 or 60. What years? Anyone know a part number - or perhaps a manual that details it?
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Old 03-03-2002, 11:57 PM
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conig conig is offline
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difine few years ago. the new ones are front wheel drive and I have a 97 30th aniversary and it's independent rear susp. and I don't believe it's two speed
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Old 03-04-2002, 10:19 AM
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Two speed diff ?? I would love to get my hands on one for my truck It would probably weigh a ton though if it was built tough enough for a 4x4.
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Old 03-04-2002, 01:59 PM
John Kunkel John Kunkel is offline
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The 2 speed rear used in the Cougar and Mustang was actually a standard 9" Ford with an aftermarket Hone-O-Drive installed.
The Hone-O-Drive was a manually controlled planetary over or underdrive unit that bolted in place of the pinion carrier on the 9". It was usually installed with 4.11 gears and gave a final drive ratio of around 3:1. These were also available as an inline unit installed between two driveshafts or on the tail of certain transmissions.
Ford installed the overdrive Hone unit as a factory option in '69 or '70 but the unit added unsprung weight and the company went under a few years later making it an orphan.
I was always intrigued by the idea. Because of its removable pinion carrier, the 9" is a natural for some type of auxillary unit to be bolted in its place.
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Old 03-05-2002, 05:58 AM
chris115 chris115 is offline
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Default 2 speed dana

I have a 2 speed dana rear under a 52 chevy 1 1/2 flatbed. You have to have a monster truck to run this thing. It has a hi side if I remember of 4.56 and the low side is something in the hi 6.00 or low 7.00 range. I toyed around with the idea of sticking it in my truck but dont think it would be feasible.
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Old 03-05-2002, 07:33 AM
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How does it shift ?? Is there a cable or linkage ??
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Old 03-05-2002, 07:45 AM
chris115 chris115 is offline
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The dana 2 speed I have is vacuum operated by a switch on the dash
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Old 03-07-2002, 05:50 PM
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Sounds like that would be worth something to some people.
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Old 03-07-2002, 08:43 PM
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Did dodge ever put these in 75/76 tradesman 200 vans? My bud had a Shortbox one of these and it had vaccum lines to the rear. It did not have a switch on the dash- but when you would get to a cruise condition over 40-45 mph- you could feel a shift, but it wasn't the trans. Always wondered about that.
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Old 03-09-2002, 05:56 AM
chris115 chris115 is offline
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This is the only two speed diff I have ever seen. A friend of mine once told me about one he had seen in a dodge that came off an air force base.Mine does not shift automatically, you have to shift it with that switch on the dash. Maybe a newer model shifted automatically, but I think there would still be a switch somewhere to manually shift it if you wanted to. There is also a hell of a lot of difference when I shifted mine. It felt like going from second to fourth if I just changed from low range to hi.
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Old 03-09-2002, 02:14 PM
HankL HankL is offline
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I appreciate all the replies.

I have seen a Hone-O-drive once at the rear of a Mustang - but the Dana 2-speed I mentioned was supposed to be behind Cougars only. It would be very true that the Hone-O-Drives would increase unsprung weight - whereas an overdrive on the rear of a trans would not.

I saw the picture of this (supposedly) Dana built 2-speed diff in a book called 'Engine Swapping Tips' and wondered if anyone had more info. The picture shows a diff that does look like a minature version of the Dump truck 24,000 lb axle Dana's. The caption under the picture says it is a rare item, and as far as I could find the text of the book gave no more info.

The Mack 'Midliner' trucks of the early 1980's had shifting 2 speed diffs. If I remember these might have been French built. Anyone know anything about those diffs?
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