disco d30 to non disco d30 swap q's

greetings!
i'm planning on swapping my disco 30 out for a non disco one of lower gearing (to match my rear end), and i'm just wondering what, if any problems i might run into.

because i'm going to get it from the junkyard (half-off day sat 26!), it might be missing something (calipers for example). which parts off my axle will transfer onto the *new* one?

is there anything i should look out for? i don't have abs, so it doesn't really matter if the donor does or not, right? how can i easily identify if it has 297x shafts?
anything else?

thanks for the help,
dan f.
p.s. '89, 4.0, ax15, 231, 3.07s going to 3.55

Honestly I've only messed with axle housings from 88-89s but...

I do know the hubs/rotors were different from 97 to 89. The 97 hub & rotor does work on the old knuckle & caliper, but not seperately.

I posted the joint sizes on here not long ago, you might search back? IIRC the 5-297 joint is 1/8" larger cap dia than the 5-260...and double IIRC, the driveshaft UJs cap dia is = to the 260s

The ABS tone ring that is pressed onto those style axles is not in the way of anything for using them on older hubs or knuckles.

HTH

thanks woody.
i'm not too concerned about the different shafts, just thought it would be nice to know. i probably won't be getting it from a very new (97+) jeep, would the rotors, etc. be interchangeable between these years (96-89)?
thanks,
dan f.

To the best of my knowledge,when Jeep switched to the non-disco axle,they also changed the hub bearing design. Some have roller bearings,some have ball bearings with phenolic (fancy word for plastic) ball guides. The rollers are what you want for longevity,but work with what you have for now. If your donor axle is missing the brakes,just use yours,but keep in mind that you will need to also swap out the hub bearing assemblies,as well. If you don't swap the hub bearings,you will run into clearance issues with the rotor and knuckle (ask me how I know this little tid-bit of info ). If I'm correct,the earlier units use the roller bearing setup,as when I swapped one of mine out ('94),it had the ball bearings setup in it.

dan f. said:

greetings!
i'm planning on swapping my disco 30 out for a non disco one of lower gearing (to match my rear end), and i'm just wondering what, if any problems i might run into.

Click to expand...

None......they are a true bolt in.

dan f. said:

because i'm going to get it from the junkyard (half-off day sat 26!), it might be missing something (calipers for example). which parts off my axle will transfer onto the *new* one?

Click to expand...

I had to swap the early knuckles for the 'later' knuckles to get the brake pads and calipers to mount correctly. I've got the older non-disco housing with the '91 knuckles off my old bent housing. EVERYTHING else bolted right up.

dan f. said:

is there anything i should look out for? i don't have abs, so it doesn't really matter if the donor does or not, right? how can i easily identify if it has 297x shafts?
anything else?

thanks for the help,
dan f.
p.s. '89, 4.0, ax15, 231, 3.07s going to 3.55

Click to expand...

My junk came with the ABS. I'm running a D44 without any ABS tone rings or anything, and have busted the stock ABS shafts in the D30 long ago. No worries IMHO on the ABS vs. Non-ABS

Measure the diameter of an out of the box 260 vs. a 297 joint at the parts store. You can tell with a tape measure .....

I know this is a really stupid question but what would be the benifits of a non-disco axle besides the chance of the vacum going out? Is there really a strenth issue here?

azxjman said:

I know this is a really stupid question but what would be the benifits of a non-disco axle besides the chance of the vacum going out? Is there really a strenth issue here?

Click to expand...

I've not seen a bent disco XJ or YJ housing (I'm sure there have been some), but I have seen a bent D44 housing with the vacuum thing. I think it could be strength, but I'd also point to the simplicity/reliability of the non-disco (I've bent one of those, though). You can also easily swap in shafts from a TJ or late model XJ (etc.) with the 297 joints where with the disco housing you need to do a little seal work to make the one piece long side shaft work.

I don't think it's a stupid question, but I bet it's been argued before if you wanted to do a search.

thanks guys. keep 'em coming!