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Axle decision

S

Speedbump96

NAXJA Forum User
Location
29 palms
im in quite a pickle. im in afghan and im trying to decide what to do with my dana 30 and dana 44 or if i should just uprgrade my axles and that would be cheaper. but i was going to run rcv axles spartan lockers and yukon gears the whole kit for both axles cost around 2200 bucks but would i be better off running a 44 up front or building my axles i dont plan to run tires bigger then 35s which should be good with the rcv shafts anyone have some advice?
 
The reason i upgraded for a 44 front, is that the whole axle in general is beefier, ball joints, ring and pinion, tubes, its got locking hubs, serviceable wheel bearings.

Dana 30s and 35s is a lot of maintenance, ball joints and wheel bearings go, as well as alot of stress on the small pinion gears, ring gear so and so forth. I never ran 35s on a dana 30, but with 33s it was bad.
 
You can run 44 gears in a 30, with shaving to fit. Look up I think Jana on Pirate. I think they do a Jana 34. I know they have a 54 kit to run D50 gears in a D44. You can upgrade to 44 outers and get the bigger brakes and better bearings but keep the clearance and lightweight. But then again, you could just swap in a 44 out of a late 70's Ford and get all the bigger stuff plus bigger tubes and beefier housing. More weight, less clearance, but stronger.

That said, many run 35s on a 30 with some turd polishing and have good success. I will likely be polishing my turd unless I can get a smokin deal on a 44 and then eventually running 35s. In my book, the biggest benefit of the 44 is the ability to go deeper than 4.88 when running 35s.
 
Really? D44 gears in a D30 housing? Other than EVERYTHING being different, it should bolt right in.

You're gonna need to back that up with some links and proof.
 
Seems as though there is no Jana 34 available, via pirate :
The difficulty is not so much fitting the larger gear set in diameter its the hypoid offset. if the hypoid offset is the same then all you have to do is move the pinion back to make up the difference in ring gear diameter. But if say one hypoid distance is 3/8" different then the other then housing pinion bore would have to be offset bored 3/8"" to make up the difference. Just not cost effective and not enough casting material to do it.

For example the hypoid offset for a 30, 60, 70, and 80 are all 1 1/8"
but the hypoid offset for a 35 , 44 and a 50 are 1.5" so that is why there is just nothing close to put in the 30*. Now if I go to other diff types like chy and gm I may find a usable gear set with he same offset as the 30, and I have figured out that the 12bolt is a possibility for the low pinion 44. But it all takes time and parts to mix and match.
*the 36 ICA would work but the lowest ratio available is 3.31
Click to expand...
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=914583&highlight=shaft&page=9

I have my 30 polished about just as much possible minus a truss and full case locker (alloys, diff cover, 760's, WJ brakes, yada yada) and it's held up just fine on 33's minus a faulty roll pin that destroyed one set of gears. I will be buying 35's within the next couple weeks and I think it'll hold up just fine if i dont hammer down on it. But, I have been slowing gathering parts for a front 44 for a while now.
 
I'm also still running a highly polished turd (4.56/ARB/cover/lower skids/strengthened upper pass mount/Superior alloys/Warn 5x5.5 conversion/1ton steering) on Q78 Swampers and beadlocks and a 5 spd/NP231 doubler in front of an early Bronco D20 twin stick.

Broken 1 long side axle assembly when the sidewall/beadlocks was stuffed into a rock face with the winch, while doubled and locked.
 
It all comes down to your style of wheeling, for me at this point in time a dana 30 has done well. The only problem I have is with wearing out the ball joints and u joints but that could be brand related. If you snap ring your u joints in I will bet stock shafts will hold up a LOT better to 33-35s. Almost every single axle shaft break in a 30 I've seen is because the clip pops off and the cap walks out.

With that said I would not go bigger then 35s on a dana 30. I also would not go bigger then 36s on 44s. My biggest concern at this point with my dana 30 is the physical size of the ring and pinion with 4.88s. I would be careful running 35s on stock waggy shafts due to the small outer spline count and the area near the splines where it necks down considerably. Once you hit the 35 inch tire size any axle becomes breakable, all comes down to the trails you run and your desire for mashing the fun peddle.
 
im in a delema i wanna run 30 spline shafts run a lunchbox locker and 4.56 with 33's being my current side i plan to upgrade to 35s sometime in the near future i priced everything out and with the locker axles and gears its gunna run me about 2k so it is worth really going to a 44 to prepare for the future or can i get myself a 44 for about that price range and so ive read waggy axles are the closest to bolt in but still need some modification anyone have some details on that ?
 
Speedbump96 said:
im in a delema i wanna run 30 spline shafts run a lunchbox locker and 4.56 with 33's being my current side i plan to upgrade to 35s sometime in the near future i priced everything out and with the locker axles and gears its gunna run me about 2k so it is worth really going to a 44 to prepare for the future or can i get myself a 44 for about that price range and so ive read waggy axles are the closest to bolt in but still need some modification anyone have some details on that ?
Click to expand...

What makes them so "close" to bolt in is the width. They are darn close to XJ width already. Other than that, they are not any easier than any other D44 front. If you don't want full width, pretty much all your other options need to be narrowed. Nothing about waggy D44's "bolt in." Everything has to be made.

Your other D44 option that would be a bit easier is Rubicon D44's. But those are pricey, and have enough X factors to probably not be worth the trouble.
 
I don't know if you have heard of the "Rubicon Trail" in northern California but it is supposed to be kind of difficult. I ran from one end to the middle and back with no problems last week. I have a Dana 30, five year old Alloy USA axle shafts, an Aussie locker, 35" X-terrains, and an Atlas transfer case. Just FYI. I got talked into trying something they were calling the "Little Sluice Box", and that sucked, but nothing broke.
 
If 35s are in your future, go 4.88. I love em with my 33s, and wouldn't to be any taller, gearing-wise, I imagine it would be worse running 4.56 on 35s.
 
If you don't plan to go bigger than 35's then you can build a plenty sturdy D30. RCV axles are great but for half the money you can have alloys that are strong enough. Since you plan to use 35's I would use a full case locker because the lunchbox lockers can break a D30 carrier in half ( I had this happen with an Aussie). I bought a used detroit for $400 off craigslist. Add a sturdy diff cover and some gussets and a truss and you're cooking with Crisco :D
 
jeeperjohn said:
If you don't plan to go bigger than 35's then you can build a plenty sturdy D30. RCV axles are great but for half the money you can have alloys that are strong enough. Since you plan to use 35's I would use a full case locker because the lunchbox lockers can break a D30 carrier in half ( I had this happen with an Aussie). I bought a used detroit for $400 off craigslist. Add a sturdy diff cover and some gussets and a truss and you're cooking with Crisco :D
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice john my only problem is i dont know when im gunna stop building to go bigger:D i got 3 months till i get back i am deffinitly consider alloys and a detroit how do 4.88s handle with 33s?
 
yeah 33's and 4.88's will be just fine. Till I messed up the steering I DD'ed my rig with 5.13's and 35's.
 
I would recommend 4.56 over 4.88...too many R&P failures due to the very small pinion. I would especially urge you to step away from the stock open carrier.
 
im decided im gunna run a 44 front 44 rear with 4.88s i have 33s with 4.56s i like the power but i plan to step up to 35's when i get back from deployment how do 4.88s handle on the highway ? high rpms?
 
Shoot, if you're going 44s, go 5.13 for the 35s. I love my 4.88s with 33s, but would go deeper with 35s. Heck, I'd almost be tempted to go deeper with my 33s except the D30 stops there.

Bob, how many failures have you seen of a 4.88 vs 4.56. General consensus from a few of the guys I respect on here regarding their many years of wheeling experience says that 4.88s are no more likely to go than 4.56s.
 
Darky said:
Shoot, if you're going 44s, go 5.13 for the 35s. I love my 4.88s with 33s, but would go deeper with 35s. Heck, I'd almost be tempted to go deeper with my 33s except the D30 stops there.

Bob, how many failures have you seen of a 4.88 vs 4.56. General consensus from a few of the guys I respect on here regarding their many years of wheeling experience says that 4.88s are no more likely to go than 4.56s.
Click to expand...
I was talking about D30's. D44 should be better off. I have seen a few D30 4.88 failures over the years...usually a setup issue, some flexing stock carrier issues, and a couple of "torque input and traction exceeded the R&P rating"

But seriously, you really think you need more than 4.88 on the road for 35" rubber with 175+hp, and a motor that has a 5k rpm rev limiter?
 
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