Axle help.

Got a lead on a HP D30 and a 29 spl Chrysler 8.25 from a 98, both complete axle assemblies....the lady wants $100 for the pair. There's one problem though. They have 3.07's and i have 3.55's right now with 31's.

I'd like to add lockers f+r in the next stage of my build and currently my 2001 has the LP D30 and D35. Would it still be worth getting these axles and just re-gearing to 3.55 or 4.10 and adding lockers? Or would I just be better off looking for one that already has 3.55's and go from there? Because if I can find 3.55's I won't waste the money or time to re-gear cause I'm fine with 3.55's on a DD.

$100 seems like a steal, but I don't know if I'd be worth the hassle and cost of re-gearing cause gears cost ALOT, especially on a college budget.

YES. re-gear them and win, you are allready ahead financially.

BUT, do not waste time gearing them to 3.55, or 4.10's.... go straight to 4.56 and 33's! unless your one of those people who for some strange reason want to stay on 31's... cant figure out why though.

xcm said:

YES. re-gear them and win, you are allready ahead financially.

BUT, do not waste time gearing them to 3.55, or 4.10's.... go straight to 4.56 and 33's! unless your one of those people who for some strange reason want to stay on 31's... cant figure out why though.

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agreed.



unless your the guy who thinks his rig on 31s can keep up with anything on the trail and beats the dog piss out of his jeep, the axles arent going to do a whole lot for you aside from the added insurance of getting rid of your 35. remember a lot of the TJ guys wheel LP axles, its not a complete POS especially at mild lift heights. so you wont gain anything more than piece of mind in getting a 30/8.25 combo with 3.55s. your getting the axles at a steal. id put the on the bench and build them as you see fit to wheel bigger and badder. the convenience is that your jeep wont be down in the mean time.

gears, lockers... chromo shafts? rear disks? upgraded steering? new mounts? quality bump stops? trusses? (this is getting exspensive isnt it? ha!)

Yes I am one of those strange people who wants to stay with 31's...for now. 33's would maybe be in the picture in a couple years at best. I need to keep this thing a DD and a low COG for commuting and all that good stuff. I know I could fit 33's at 3.5" but I'm not about to butcher up a perfectly straight, rust free body to fit a bigger tire cause I can.

I'd probably go with 4.10's and a no-slip rear and e-locker front (I like my np242). I'm sorta after the dream of a Cherokee rubicon build here, basically a sleeper on the trail. I know 31's have their limits, but I'm gonna try and get the most I can out of them.

Are you happy with your 3.55s or could you live with a little lower. What speed do you run on the hwy. Auto or manual. How many times have you wished you had lower gears on the trail.

I would go ahead and get them. That way you can work on them as you have the time and cash. Makes it nice that you won't have any down time either as you are working on them.

that axle setup will hold up for a while so i say get the set. i ran 35" tires on my low pinion 30 and 29 spline 8.25 locked f/r and never broke anything. regear them then throw lockers in and you will be set for a long time if you are going to stay at 33" or smaller tires.

Or just find a D30 and a 8.8 with 4.10s. You'll get the limited slip rear, throw a locker in the front and be great for 31s and be just fine for 33s when you decide to upgrade.

MJ3000 said:

Yes I am one of those strange people who wants to stay with 31's...for now. 33's would maybe be in the picture in a couple years at best. I need to keep this thing a DD and a low COG for commuting and all that good stuff. I know I could fit 33's at 3.5" but I'm not about to butcher up a perfectly straight, rust free body to fit a bigger tire cause I can.

I'd probably go with 4.10's and a no-slip rear and e-locker front (I like my np242). I'm sorta after the dream of a Cherokee rubicon build here, basically a sleeper on the trail. I know 31's have their limits, but I'm gonna try and get the most I can out of them.

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i ran 4.56 on 31's, untill i had more lift (went from 3.0 -> RE 3.5, realistically 4
"+) it was fine, if a bit high in the revs. i'd consider it as if it was in sport mode.

a year goes by quick! paying to regear both of those axles, twice can suck your budget dry... go straight to 4.56!, it'll save you the cost of regearing in a year or two. 4.56 axles also have a significantly higher resale value.

i know re-gearing is expensive, thats why im trying to help you avoid wasting time and money. if your interested in lockers now, chances are you'll be moving up past 31's soon enough.

4.10s would be fine on a jeep mostly street driven with 33s. youll be content with 31s and if your confident youll never go bigger than 33s youll be fine. having 4.56s may compel you to run 35s and youll find yourself spending a lot of extra money to do so. who knows... in a few years when/if you do want to go bigger... you may find a deal on a set of axles already built.


dragthatsht:
needing lower gearing on the trail is a matter of personal opinion. a lot of people who claim they dont "need" lower gears on the trail have not driven something geared very low and dont know what they are missing.



4.10s and 4.1 low in the t-case. youll be more than happy on and off the trail up to 33s. or you could use this site to see if you can locate axles with 4.10s near you. i did, and it was cheaper than regearing.

But see the thing is that if I'd go with 4.56 I would be running really high rpms and my gas mileage would be worse than it already is. Back and forth to school I run at 80 mph (yes I said 80 in a lifted jeep lol) for about an hour straight. And even with 3.55 I'm running at about 2750 rpm. I really don't want to be running at like 3500rpm or whatever with 4.56's.

MJ3000 said:

I'd like to add lockers f+r in the next stage of my build and currently my 2001 has the LP D30 and D35. Would it still be worth getting these axles and just re-gearing to 3.55 or 4.10 and adding lockers? Or would I just be better off looking for one that already has 3.55's and go from there? Because if I can find 3.55's I won't waste the money or time to re-gear cause I'm fine with 3.55's on a DD.

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MJ3000 said:

I'd probably go with 4.10's and a no-slip rear and e-locker front (I like my np242). I'm sorta after the dream of a Cherokee rubicon build here, basically a sleeper on the trail. I know 31's have their limits, but I'm gonna try and get the most I can out of them.

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Consider this... if you're planning on going with a full case locker (e-locker) you have to get your gears re-set anyways. You can't just bolt your old gears onto the new differential and expect that it is going to work.

Buy the axles for $100 and sit on them until you save enough for that e-locker you want. When it comes time to pay to have the locker installed and your gears re-set, go ahead and spend a little extra and buy new gears in the ratio you really want. The gears themselves are relatively cheap, it's the labor cost that gets you and you'll already be stuck paying that regardless.

If in the mean time while you are saving up you happen to find a sweet deal on a rear end that already has the gear ratio you want, buy it and sell the one with 3.07's to recoup some of your money. If not, then I guess you're stuck paying to regear your rear end even though a no-slip doesn't require it for install.

There's really no cheap way of doing what you're trying to do. The only "cheap" option would be to install lunchbox lockers in both the axles you already have but (as you already seem to be aware of) they will not allow your 242 to work correctly and won't contribute to that DD quality you're looking for.

It took me a looong time to save up enough to pay for selectable lockers, gears, labor, etc. all at the same time, but it was worth the wait to only have to do it all once.

fyrfytr1717 said:

Buy the axles for $100 and sit on them until you save enough for that e-locker you want. When it comes time to pay to have the locker installed and your gears re-set, go ahead and spend a little extra and buy new gears in the ratio you really want. The gears themselves are relatively cheap, it's the labor cost that gets you and you'll already be stuck paying that regardless.

If in the mean time while you are saving up you happen to find a sweet deal on a rear end that already has the gear ratio you want, buy it and sell the one with 3.07's to recoup some of your money. If not, then I guess you're stuck paying to regear your rear end even though a no-slip doesn't require it for install.

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if you happen to find a sweet deal on anything your still only out $100.

get them the worst case you have to sell them and id bet you could get more then 50 bucks each for them. i ran 75-80 in my last xj 6 inch lift 33s and no sway bars 7 hour drive from here in socal to carson city, nv. unless your jeep is a beater or a big chopped up crawler there should be no reason to be afraid to do 80 in it.

That's cheap, I would grab them.

Buy the axles, save your money and regear them when you have the dough. It'll probably be easier for your installer because he can do the work on a bench instead of under the Jeep. Might save you a bit of money on the install.

If you are short on funds even then, I'd recommend a powertrax no-slip in the rear and leaving the front open for now. I wheeled like this for 2 years and did all kinds of tough trails. Just recently got an ARB in the front when I could afford it. Now that I have 35's, even when I leave the ARB off, I can still do 80% of the stuff I try.

Oh, and definitely go 4.56 if you plan on doing 33's or bigger in the future. I ran 32's with 4.56's for over 2 years with a least 40k miles on the street and it was perfectly fine. It's nice to have that low end power when you need it.

Get 'em, gear 'em, lock 'em, wheel 'em, smile, repeat!

Get them and gear them to 4.56.... Be happy man.

This way you can keep driving and have a good time until you have finances to lock and gear them.

It was just shy of 3 years for me to get my axles, gear them and get them under my jeep.

spare axle shafts if nothing else, its still worth the price, the you could scrap the steel and get some more out of them.