Mini Spool or Spool in a Dana 44?

After spending many evenings reading about differential choices, spools, welded rears, tire wear, spring damage, handling on road, off road and in snow an ice etc I have decided to spool the rear of my XJ.

Has anyone broken a Dana 44 rear with a mini spool when a spool might have prevented it due to greater strength?

Assuming running the mini spool is OK compared to a full spool, are there any mini spool manufacturers to be avoided because of a low quality product or that should be chosen because of a superior quality product. Looking for first or second hand experience here.

John
San Diego Ca.

I dont know much about spool strength but I know alot of guys that run the el cheapo $35 mini spools out of JC whitney and they seem to like them alot.

I know Phil has run a spool in his 44 rear. He changed it out for a Detroit because of the excesive tire wear. Are you asking if people have broken shafts or the actual spool itself? Im sure people have done either, but I dont know from personal experience.

what size of tire are you planning on running? what kind of trails? anything unusual for power or gearing?

a good mini-spool is just as strong (or stronger) than a so-called lunchbox locker, which people generally have very few problems with. which ones are good and which are bad I do not know.

mini spoolin mine, but also getting some street tires for when im not wheelin

Vehicle set up and use:
The vehicle is stock other than saftey and recovery. Adding home made sway bar disconnects and longer brake lines to go with them . Looking to put a compressor onboard before heading back out this fall. 6 cyl, auto, 3.73 gears, 235 75R 15 tires, non disconnect dana 30 high pinion up front. Vehicle is driven about 40 mi or less per week except for trips to the desert to go off road which is about 200mi RT. Off road is easy trails, washes, some sand. Given how little time it spends on the highway or in town, the lack of ice and snow, small tires and low power a mini spool in the rear, even with its associated baggage seems to be the best way to go for now. Gobs of traction, easy to install, low cost and it can be removed and replaced easily at a later date if I decide to run something else unlike welding which trashes the spiders and risks destroying the rear end if debris comes loose or cracks develop.

Regarding spool versus mini spool:
I am looking for any downsides to running the mini spool over the spool. Are there cases where a mini spool resulted in an axle failure where it would not have occured had a full spool been used?

sounds like it's perfect for you. but if you find that the good mini-spools are over $100 I would seriously consider an Aussie locker for $200.

i've heard someone comment before that if a mini-spool takes a dump (however they can fail, i'm not sure) it likely will Not kill the rest of the differential/axle assembly like can happen w/ the failure of a spool, you might research that bc i'm not even sure if the person i heard it from was correct or what can happen if either fails/breaks...

i know with my tendancies to upgrade things, myself i would probably just weld the spiders and then likely before it ever breaks i would have swapped the carrier for a detroit and regeared it anyway so if you think you'll pursue that route in the future i would be inclined to say save your money and weld it..

I jsut reread your entire post
I would go with the mini spool
with tires that small you should not have a problem
when I was reading up on the same exact thing on pirate everyone said mini suck but as yoiu knwo no one over there is runnin small tires
btw a spool is great for traction.. I had a lock rite and my full spool blows it away
had I know about spools back then I would have done it
as far as quality
ya get what you pay for

I used to have a Richmond mini in my d-44, when every thing locked up, it turned out that the diff. carrier is the weak point in the d-44. I called Richmond up, and told them what had happened, and they said that it is unusual, but it does happen because the mini relies on the strength of the original carrier and some times they can break, even the ford 9-inch. So I would say try it, maybe things will work better for you. Oh, yeah, I was running 35" X-terrains, SM-420, and LS-6 power. By the way, the D60 can even break the carrier, just ask me how I know. ( Time to go full spool)

Full spool will possibly require the gears be properly setup, where a mini will avoid this step (I know, doesn't really help your question). I run Lincoln Lockers front and rear and wouldn't have it any other way.

I appreciate all the responses.

Ordering the mini spool in the morning. Until I go for deeper gears, bigger tires or a lot more power it should be a bullet proof solution.

John