d30? how would you build?

just as the title says. the stipulations are, 1. on somewhat of a budget, 2. medium duty off-road use, 3. strong enough to hold 36-37's. and maybe give a ballpark $ on the parts you would use. thanks in advance.

Warn 30 spline inners and outers, 5 on5.5" hub kit, Tera High steer knuckle, ARB, CTM joints, some sort of across-the-front axle truss, reinforced lower control arm brackets, reinforced passenger side upper control arm bracket (if you have a non-disco axle).

If you really want it to be stout, don't go to 4.88 gears. Stick with 4.56.

The axle I just described will cost you about $2,500 - $3,000 to build, which is exactly what it would cost you to upgrade to a Dana 44, if you have the facilities to do the work yourself. The 44 would only be better in 4 respects: ability to run 4.88's and 5.13's reliably, better ball joints, better brakes and much better resistance to flexing under torque load.

Throw some WJ twin piston calipers on the 30, and teh braking would be much the same as the 44.

CRASH

36-37 are very questionable with a D30, in my opinion this is the the fine line where it all depends on the driver to determine whether you go home with a busted axle, at this point your front is not going to be very forgiving (one littel F**k up and kiss your 30 goodbuy)

what I would do is carry some spare axles and some ujoints and see what you break, if you start breaking things often then start thinking about building yourself a D44 or upgrade your 30 with some expensive shafts (which i think is not really worth it.)

just ditch the 30....

don't even think twice....

find a suitable dana 44

building a dana 30 just doesn't seem to make any sense, and before any of you wise-craka's spout off tyhe usual "they both have 297 joints" that has little if nothing to do with why a 44 makes more sense.....

I'm always ready for this debate.......who wants to take me?

I'll take you in Moab in the fall, get your K-Y ready.

CRASH

I don't think KY Chris is coming, but I'll let him know you were asking for him.

I really don't care who else comes, as long as I do.

CRASH

Only you two can hyjack a thread so fast.


Dump the 30 go for a 44.

It was our thread to begin with, GPRSDLYT just started it off......

but back to topic......

go dana 44

1400 bucks...

call tri-county grear and get the 30-30 kit.

warn 30 spline axles and arb locker specifically for the kit. The guy who runs the shop runs 37's on his D30 with no problem.

That is what I read anyway.

It would be the cheapest route. Beside spending 2500 bucks on a new D44 with the a locker.

That doesn't include the 5 on 5.5" kit though, which is about $900.

CRASH

thats ok.... its fun watching you guys go at it! but where can i find a 44 with out having to weld all the brackets on? other than buying a whole new unit from dynatrac? its just that when it comes to this stuff (axles) i can never make up my mind on what want and what i need.

mmm... interesting... I don't remember reading or hearing about the kit needing or including a 5x5.5 hub conversion.


most of the drivetrain companies build/produce D44's. usually start around 1600 with 30 spline axles, open diff,and your choice of gears all the extras from there add up.

welding brackets on is not that big of a deal.....really.

I find that its a bigger pain in the ass cleaning the donor axle of all its uneeded crap than it is to put new stuff on there.

RE sells a bracket kit that you could have welded on by a shop, or else, you could be REAL careful taking the mounts off of the 30.....

If you know any fabbers in your area, they could make it happen easily.

It's not that the 5.5" kit is NEEDED, it's that it is a desirable kit to have that allows the use of high strength Warn alloy shafts and CTM joints.

CRASH

I thought that part of the problem with the 30, low gears, and big tires is that the housing flexes, which creates problems with differential carriers and r&p clearance problems. Like shearing teeth etc.

Any thoughts on this Beez? You're always the first one to discourage putting lipstick on a pig.

Dan

the 30-30 from tri county is an exellent kit. but other than the usual ujoint failers, other internal parts break mostly due to axle flex its not really that smart to go with such strong parts and leave the axle that can fold like a tin can. unless you start trussing the 30 its not really worth it.

for the folk that read the owner of the 30 30 kit, or tri county runs this under his competition YJ and he does not run 36-37s he runs 38 TSLs (very heavy tires) Ive seen him in person at one of the comps back last year. I think it was a yellow and blue YJ. anyway. what you dont know is that he replaces those parts after mostly every competition, he has endless supply of parts for the 3030kit, you dont.

you say you are going to run mild trails... does that mean you will do mostly mall crawl and some back yard gravel roads and some ditches? Im not trying to rag on you im just trying to get a good description so we can help you to the fullest.

As beez and most of the guys here said. if you do start going into 3-3+ trails you are going to be hitting the limits of that 30, you really should think about a 44. I got my HP44 from Currie Ent. cost me 1400.00 (extra 200 for 'over axle bracket) youll spend about 1200.00 plus theyll want your D30 as a core.they do very good work. I can weld but something that important on my daily driver I cannot trust myself especially without a Jig. ( Sorry Beez I gotta disagree with you on that) yes if it was a weekend beeter, yek ya no problem.

heres a pic of something similar youll get from Currie
(if the pic dont work click HERE.




To rap this up If you are going to wheel you rig in most trails, you have 2 choices. Bite the bullet and buy a assembled or partly assembed D44 to save you $, or step down a knotch in tire size.

Karmir, That currie axle. Does it come with Hi-steer knuckles or is that something you have to find? Thanks, Justin

so what exactly did you get for 1400?

thanks for the info Crash...

I say def. get the D44 if you can get one for under 1600 bucks.