What tire/wheel/terrain broke your D30?

So I'm on the verge of 35s and trying to decide on what to do with axles.

Currently my build is a 92,4.0,aw4,231,d30/8.25 just finished a 6" lift and I'm planing on the q78 tsl's on stock rims. Wich I feel will be an easy tire for a beefed up 760x swapped 30 and my graceful light foot to handle and with most of my wheeling beeing in sloppy twisty trails it should help it stay intact . Even then it seems every day I wake up thinking "i'll keep my d30 fron and swap in an 8.8 and ill be fine" then I get on internet and by the end of the day I end up on pirate4x4 contemplating full frame plating and one ton's, then i wake up the next morning and do it all over again.

I think a lot of this is due to the big split between "it will explode!" And "it will live" comments scatterd about the internet, but not a lot on what is causing the failure or the reasons its surviving.

So my question is, what tire broke your d30?

Id like to know the size (hight and width)
What tire it was.
What rims?(size, width, BS, steel aluminum)
What type of d30?(vac disco,hp260x,hp760x,lp)
What kind of terrain?
How hard you hammer on your jeep.
Upgrades to the axel.
And what broke.

sorry if this has a thread like this elsewhere but the only thing i found like this was on the TJ section of JF and it was just about breakage.

On my YJ I was running 35" BFG Krawlers, 15x8 Allied Steel Beadlocks(super heavy), HP D30 non-disco, Alloy USA Chromo inners and outters with 760 u-joints, 4.88 gears, and an ARB. I never broke a thing on it untill the ARB blew-up out in Moab. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to get up a water fall, hammered down on it and it broke.

I ran 35's on my 30 for a while. Went thru quite a few shafts. Then I wasted a shit ton of money on the 30 so it would hold up to the 35's (Truss, cover, chromos, gears, locker, WJ conversion, etc.). Biggest waste of money. Ever. I could have built a nice 44 for half of what I spent on the 30.

and I did. It just took 2 years to figure out that's what I needed to do.

But I guess that wasn't what you were asking... Oh well.

I've been running my HP30 on 35" kevlars for about 7 months now..

4.56 USA.Standard gears
Open carrier w/Spartan locker
Mini-trussed..
WJ knuckle swap


for the first 3 months, I blew up 5 axle Shafts.. In june I won some Nitro Alloy's, My transfercase started skipping teeth on the chain, and the impact took out my Ring & Pinion..

I'm currently waiting for a Grizzly locker and new R&P..
I will be Cryo&heat treating the R&P before setup..

I am also Planning to add Inner sleeves, aswell as C-gussets..
I calculate i am close to $3k into my D30 at the end of next week..

I regret Every dime.. I wish i could get it all back and build a 35spline HP44..

The thing that keeps me from committing to the idea of a 44 font is finding one that's not full width and then finding something to match the rear.

I have a 2000 with a crappy LP d30 and I treated it horribly on 31x10.50's with stock rims for about a year and a half (daily driver as well) and never broke anything. Wore out a few joints but no breakage.

As far as how hard I wheel, I guess that's relative. I try to be graceful but I also suffer from "f*ck it" syndrome when I get stuck. In which case, I give it all the skinny I've got followed by steering lock to lock while bouncing on rocks and such. Another thing to note is that the axle has over 250k miles on it. I guess I'm a lucky one :dunno:

I have however broke my 8.25. Spider gears. No biggie, but just for comparison/context.

Wow, that is an odd one, blown 29spline 8.25 but not the low pinion? This is the stuff that give me a headache.

I've seen multiple spider gears go out in 3 different differentials though. Seems to be the weak point in many axles IMO.

Ive never broken a 30 shaft... So I will remain silent on that part.

xj bmx said:

Wow, that is an odd one, blown 29spline 8.25 but not the low pinion? This is the stuff that give me a headache.

Click to expand...

I know, I'm sorry!

My decision to keep my 30 was primarily weight, and clearance. But I'm only planning on running 33's and I'm getting RCV's, diff cover, truss, inner sleeves, inner c bracing, full case locker, and for now I'm planning on converting to D44 outters/bj's/breaks/etc. The D44 outters address the remaining weak points of da turdy. Also, the main purpose of my rig is overlanding - and I think that the main purpose of your rig should be the determining factor for ya. If you're gunna be in a lot of rocks, invest in a 44. For most other situations, upgrade your 30 as it breaks and I think you'll have a reliable axle.

I know that that seems like a lot of work to put into a 30 but it's also a lot of work to narrow a 44 and then it's still gunna be heavier and hang lower. And a 30 built like I've described I would argue would be just as strong if not stronger than a "stock" 44.

Milford Cubicle II said:

I know, I'm sorry!

My decision to keep my 30 was primarily weight, and clearance. But I'm only planning on running 33's and I'm getting RCV's, diff cover, truss, inner sleeves, inner c bracing, full case locker, and for now I'm planning on converting to D44 outters/bj's/breaks/etc. The D44 outters address the remaining weak points of da turdy. Also, the main purpose of my rig is overlanding - and I think that the main purpose of your rig should be the determining factor for ya. If you're gunna be in a lot of rocks, invest in a 44. For most other situations, upgrade your 30 as it breaks and I think you'll have a reliable axle.

I know that that seems like a lot of work to put into a 30 but it's also a lot of work to narrow a 44 and then it's still gunna be heavier and hang lower. And a 30 built like I've described I would argue would be just as strong if not stronger than a "stock" 44.

Click to expand...

I have the same mindset as you then. And I'm mostly in low traction low rpm body panel eating trails. But our local park just added a few verry nice rock courses. I guess l try to blow mine up next weekend on 31s and go from there.

I guess my mindset is different..

I would MUCH rather have a stock 30 spline carrier, 8.5" ring gear.. Dana 44.. Over the D30s tiny ring gear, and 27 splines..

xj bmx said:

What tire it was.
What rims?(size, width, BS, steel aluminum)
What type of d30?(vac disco,hp260x,hp760x,lp)
What kind of terrain?
How hard you hammer on your jeep.
Upgrades to the axel.
And what broke.

Click to expand...

1)35" BFG MT
2)15x8 soft 8's
3)HP with RCV's
4)I was on solid ground pulling a toyota up a trail, I was in reverse(not smart) and all 4 wheels were spinning(locked front/rear)
5)Moderately hard
6)Home made truss out of 2x3x3/16 box, full case Detroit, RCV shafts, RuffStuff cover, Yukon 4.88's(non-cryoed)
7)The ring gear, it did not break but it did loose a tooth and cracked 16 more. I wheeled the rest of the day on it and drove it 30 miles home.

Right now I am getting another set of Yukons cryoed and that will keep me going until I find some 60's for it.

Taint broke one yet... Mud/Rock/Dirt/Sand, 31x10.50 MTR, 297 Joints, with ARB and 4.88 gears, Ruff Stuff cover with the 1/2 inch ring and counter sunk bolts

Mine has to be bullet proof because I drive it to and from the trail head. I also baby it a bit because if I do drop the hammer too hard, too early ... I might have to walk home.

30 spline ARB, 30 spline inners, 30 spline hub kit, CTM's, trussed, alloy usa shafts and gears. 35" mtr's at the hammers.

NEVER BROKE A THING.


Now I have a hp44 and 37's, and have broken everything but the locker.

Your mileage may vary, but going from a 30 to 44 is only a slight upgrade to some components, and a downgrade to others.

i'm running 33's 4.56 an Aussie locker chrome moly axles. my housing slowly bent over the years.final straw a was a small jump at the Oceano Dunes. the housing was a high pinion disconnect.i'm now running a 93 high pinion non disconnect with the Synergy susupension internal axle tube trusses and the Rusty's axle brace and lower knuckle bracing. see how it holds up.i got 6 years out of my old 30.

Stock HP30 with 297/760 shafts, 32x11.5" BFG all-terains, 15x8 steel wheels. Blew up the spider gears because I was stuck in some mud ruts, and tried using the gas/brake method to get out. It went boom.


Cal, which parts on a D44 do you feel are downgrades?

Begster said:

Stock HP30 with 297/760 shafts, 32x11.5" BFG all-terains, 15x8 steel wheels. Blew up the spider gears because I was stuck in some mud ruts, and tried using the gas/brake method to get out. It went boom.


Cal, which parts on a D44 do you feel are downgrades?

Click to expand...

19 spline stub shafts, spindles, hubs, lockouts, brake calipers. All weaker than equiv dana 30 27 spline or 30 spline stuff.

I can't say much about the lockouts, I've blown up 2 Warn premiums in my 44 on 33's. I understand the concern for the 19 spline stubs, and have heard of people even taking out hubs. What about the spindles concerns you (I understand they can be bent, but I don't believe they bend that easy), and what about the calipers?

When you break a stub, it has a high chance of breaking or swelling the spindle with it.

I've broken 3 D52 calipers. Braking hard in the sand, the ear rips off of the caliper at the lower pin, the caliper pivots up, pushes on the caliper bracket off plane and can destroy it. The last one left me stranded 200 miles from nowhere - a local club member had to come get me.

I bought a tow rig a couple of days later....