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Dana 30 high vs low pinon?'s

hagermanfolley

hagermanfolley

Builder
Location
Emmett, ID
So I have an '01 cherokee and want to switch to a high pinion dana 30, my question is what parts will swap over, are axle shafts the same? found a used 30 hp for 150 but is from a '91 i think. wondering if i can throw my '01 shafts in it? when ordering gear sets are they the same? what about master install kits.

Thanks

John
 
Will a 91 be a vac disconnect 30? I forget. I'm pretty sure it will be under certain circumstances.

EDIT: gearsets will NOT be the same - high pinion is reverse rotation/reverse cut I believe, while low pinion is standard cut. The ordering page will say whether a gearset will work with high or low pinion in most cases. I am pretty sure master install kits are universal though.
 
Why bother,a LP D30 is good to at least 6" of lift!
 
because I have read it is weaker, an I want to run 33's and a selectable locker. am I missing something is the low pinion strong enough for that. everything I have read so far says it is not.
 
Read what you want,all (1 owner,Me)45K miles on my 2000 are hard core wheeling.I have yet to do anything other than maintain it.I run an ARB in front and a No-slip in the back.The LP D30 has never been an issue,at 6" I still run stock steering,havent even replaced a tre yet!
 
nice thanks for the input. Always good to hear first hand accounts. Maybe I'll save 150 bucks and stick with the lp
 
From what I've always heard the LP axle will be stronger in reverse due to the ring/pinion engagement while the HP axle will have more strength while going forward.

As for the HP vs. LP I don't know if I would put a locker in a LP just because of how cheap HP30's are. If your not looking to swap axles though I'm sure the LP30 would be fine on 33"s depending on how hard you use the jeep.

The one thing I have noticed about all of these jeep forums is unexperienced people like to comment on what they have heard about certain setups instead of personal experience.

I ran a Dana 35 rear with 34"s for a while and never had a problem with it...and I used it pretty hard. I even tried to break it on the street before I replaced it by downshifting way to early and dragging the rear end a bunch of times. I'm not saying these setups are strong but sometimes they get bad reputations.
 
same here, I has went on trails few times now with D30/D35, no breakage yet at all, even with D35's welded locked
 
i also run a Arb in my front low pinion d30 with 35" tires and 4.56 gears. there are times i thrash on it pretty good and it has always held up. and im running about 6.5" lift
 
Thats good to hear. Looks like i may just regear the LP. I will save me 150.00. I do wheel pretty hard, so If I break it I guess I'll just upgrade then. The locker should switch between HP and LP 30's I dont see it as an option when purchasing. Thanks For all the comments especially from the first hand experience.

John
 
hagermanfolley said:
Thats good to hear. Looks like i may just regear the LP. I will save me 150.00. I do wheel pretty hard, so If I break it I guess I'll just upgrade then. The locker should switch between HP and LP 30's I dont see it as an option when purchasing. Thanks For all the comments especially from the first hand experience.

John
Click to expand...


TJ's run LP and they seem to hold up just fine.
 
You will be fine. The main issue with the LP30 is the potential to drag the pinion over obstacles and vibes at 6+ inches of lift.

I swapped a HP30 into my 01 only because it matched the geared 8.8 I was installing at the same time.
 
ran a lp for years in my 90xj as it had the gears and lockers....

ended up stripping the ring gear of some teeth.
DSC03965.jpg


it was a 4.56 set from yukon... i am just a little hard on things. i was running stock shafts, 35s, and a lockrite.


my .02 is keep it and wheel the crap out of it!
 
I took a warn lock out hub conversion with cromo shafts out of a 90 YJ HP D30 and put the shafts, brakes and hub on my 2000 D30 LP. Everything was bolt on and took 2 hours.
 
256offroad said:
ran a lp for years in my 90xj as it had the gears and lockers....

ended up stripping the ring gear of some teeth.
DSC03965.jpg


it was a 4.56 set from yukon... i am just a little hard on things. i was running stock shafts, 35s, and a lockrite.


my .02 is keep it and wheel the crap out of it!
Click to expand...

This is part of the issue you need to look at with a D30. It wasn't really designed to be locked with taller tires. What happens is that the case starts to spread from flexing, landing hard, locking the gears etc. Take your pick. When that happens the teeth on the gears are running on the edge and weak. This looks like that is what happened.

So, what do you do about it. You can use a truss, or get a heavy cover like the ARB to strengthen it. Or make your own for that matter.
 
If you are looking for what little strength is available in a d30, the HP30 is less prone to the previously mentioned flex that can cause gears to eat themselves, at least while going forward, like up rocks, etc. If you want a selectable locker, the OxLoc has a very strong cover and will really strengthen the case. Stock axle shafts are the weak link. You can put stronger shafts in, but that makes the ring and pinion the weak link, and axle shafts are cheep. Just get shafts with the 297/760 Ujoints and carry spares and tools, and then, don't be sceered!!
 
X2 pleebob. I put the oxloc on the hp30 in my ZJ and kept the stock XJ shafts with 760 u-joints. I welded clips on the ujoint caps so they couldn't slip out. Now with the oxloc cover and stronger ujoints, the shafts are the weak point. Easy to replace on the trail. My spares are setup the same way. The same would apply to the lp30. With common sense, it will carry 33s anywhere and 35s in a lot of places.
 
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