- Location
- Southern Maryland
I'm planning the lift phase for my beater, and one thing I will have to do sooner or later is get the axles replaced. I have a line on a XJ D44 stock that I could build up to replace my existing D35. However I've been really tempted to just buy a pair of the JK Rubicon D44 axles and replace the front and rear simultaneously.
Benefits of the JK Rubicon axles is that they come with 4.10 gears and lockers and disc brakes for a bit less $3000 total, and they also have a wider stance which will be good for after I lift. Downside to the JK Rubicon axles is that the new bolt pattern means new rims, and I pretty much have to do both of them at the same time. Benefits of the XJ D30/D44 pair is that the D44 is a bit stronger, and a wider selection of gears and lockers are more widely available (no aftermarket lockers for the JK Rubi carriers since nobody competes with 'free'), and I can build them individually as time permits (add lockers to one, etc). Downside is that it would cost almost as much to build the XJ D44 into a competitive axle as it would to buy the new JK Rubi axle, the XJ D30 is a bit weaker than the JK Rubi D44, and they would still be 'used' axles.
If you had $3k, which way would you go
Benefits of the JK Rubicon axles is that they come with 4.10 gears and lockers and disc brakes for a bit less $3000 total, and they also have a wider stance which will be good for after I lift. Downside to the JK Rubicon axles is that the new bolt pattern means new rims, and I pretty much have to do both of them at the same time. Benefits of the XJ D30/D44 pair is that the D44 is a bit stronger, and a wider selection of gears and lockers are more widely available (no aftermarket lockers for the JK Rubi carriers since nobody competes with 'free'), and I can build them individually as time permits (add lockers to one, etc). Downside is that it would cost almost as much to build the XJ D44 into a competitive axle as it would to buy the new JK Rubi axle, the XJ D30 is a bit weaker than the JK Rubi D44, and they would still be 'used' axles.
If you had $3k, which way would you go