Dana 30 Axle & U-Joint

I'm looking for the strongest combination for my Dana 30 front end. I've got a 2001 XJ and a 1994 XJ. The 1994 is the one that I use off-road and the 2001 will never see anything more than a dirt road or a bit of snow. I've heard that the later XJs had a different axle than the earlier XJs with a stronger u-joint; is there any truth to this and if so can I swap the axles out of my 2001 into my 1994?

Also, I've heard a u-joint referred to as a 297 and that it's stronger than stock. Is this something that I can install on stock axles or do I need a different axle?

Basically what I'm doing is trying to make my Dana 30 as strong as possible without swapping it for a Dana 44, so any suggestions are more than welcome.

Robert

I believe that '97 & later XJs had the 297x ujoints (same as D44). Which is better than the 260x ujoints that you have now. If your '94 has a non-disconnect axle (which it should) then you can swap the shafts. You'll have to look at the passenger side of the axle housing and compare the two.

are you sure the spline counts are the same? I know they change I'm just not sure what year they changed. Why are you worried about breaking your front axle with 31's? Have you broken the axle before or are you preparing? If you're preparing then don't bother, have an extra set of u-joints (20 bucks) and save any more money you'd invest into upgrading the whole axle. You should easily be able to run 33's with an unlocked front d30 and not break axles. I only started breaking u-joints when I went to 35's and arb!

Also, 297x u-joints will not fit in any axle shaft, the shaft ends have to be made to accept this different size u-joint.
HTH
Mark

I'm going up to 33s and a locker on the front, that's the reason for my interest in upgrading. That's probably as far as I'll go since I'm in a wheelchair and have to be able to be able to get in it, but I want to be able to wheel hard with what I'm going to have and not break anything, at least as seldom as possible.

Robert

Hi Robert -
long time no email . . .
= )

The 297 shafts from your 2001 should swap into your 94 no problem as long as it's not a disco axle, which as vintagespeed said, it should not be. Look for the disconnect housing on the axle tube, if it's not there you're good to go. But, rather than sticking some old 260 jointed axles in your 2001, a better idea would be to leave your 2001 alone and simply get some 760 u-jointed shafts for your 94. The 760 is Spicer's replacement for the 297 and is supposed to be stronger. You can get a set of these (inners assembled to outers with 760 joints) for about $200 from a few different places. Call around and compare prices.
Good luck.

Im suprised nobody has mentioned this yet...

your 94 XJ has a High Pinion D30 and your 01 XJ has a low pinion, high pinions up front are always desirable because the gears contact on the drive side instead of on the coast side wich is much weaker. whatever you do, do NOT swap axles from your XJ. You do not have a fac disconnect because in 94 there where all solid shafts. so you dont have to worry about that. as far as reliablity with 33s.

This is what you do.
keep the ujoints and shafts factory.
install your gears and locker, and wheel it
while your wheelin it get yourself some spare shafts, and have them fitted with some 760s, If you dont break anything, GREAT! if you do. then swap in your stronger spares, you should be good to go. If you break your spares (which highly dought if your careful) then go ahead and get yoruself some shafts from warn and call it good.

I dont think he was talking about swaping the whole axle, I think he was just talking about the axle shafts themselves. If it were me I wouldn't touch that 01, I'd leave it be.

There is a possiblity that the 94 has 297 ujoints if the XJ has abs. My 95 didnt have abs and came with 260s, however my roomates 92 had abs and the 297s, so its possible you may be as strong as it gets from the get go.

mac '297s holding up to 38s' gyvr

does your 94 have ABS?

if so, it already has the Spicer 5-297X u-joints, and they can be replaced with the 5-760X u-joints.

the 5-297s are a cast piece where the 5-760s are forged

if your 94 does not have ABS, you can, and should swap JUST THE SHAFTS from the 2001 into the 94. If the 2001 has ABS, you may have issues with the ABS tone rings. I do not know if you can remove the tone rings separately from the shafts or not, you'd have to look, or maybe someone else will know.

I'm running shafts from a 2000 XJ in my 89 XJ. whatever you do, make sure that the bearing hubs STAY WITH THE ORIGINAL VEHICLE!!! (I know this from experience, there ARE rotor clearance issues throughout the years )

-Cheap "mac beat me to it" XJ

its not that the hubs stay with the same vehicle, its the hub and rotor need to stay together as a matched set. thats where the clearence issues are, for simplicitys sake, all my d30 hubs and rotors are TJ issue.

mac 'on d30 number 4' gyvr

all this talk bout 760s .. i dunno.. if it were me i'd go grab some shafts out of a junked xj with 297s.. put new ujoints in em for 12 bucks a side, throw em in, and run with em.. maybe buy a set of spares too...

i have 297s in my 30.. they hold up fine with a SBC and 35s.... its the pinion bearing that hates me :\ ... just do yourself and favor and dont try locking your steering wheel with something like an arb locked.... one of my buddies has a problem with this and went thru 2 driver's side shaft/ujoint combos within 5 feet at paragon

Armstrong

Jeff, is that you? I had a computer glitch and lost my entire e-mail address book. If it is drop me an e-mail at [email protected]

Someone mentioned picking up axles; any suggestions on the best place to go to do this?

Next question. How do I know if I've got 260s or 297s? My 94 has ABS.

On a related subject, I'm looking for advice on differentials to install in the front. It's my understanding that a full locker is difficult to turn, since it wants to keep both axles going in the same direction. One of the guys in my Jeep club put one in his YJ and doesn't like it at all when the trails get tight.

In light of that I'm thinking about a limited slip in the front to go along with a locker in the rear. The Detroit or Auburn both appeal to me, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm not really interested in something like an ARB due to costs and complexity. It's been my experience that the more complexity you introduce into anything the more problems that you invite. On the last ride that I went on one of the guys had ARBs front and rear and due to a vacuum line problem he wound up running open differentials for the day.

Thanks for all the help and info; keep it coming,
Robert

you'd actually be surprised at how durable an arb is when installed right... one of my buddies runs one in a hp 9" front end... he beats the crap out of it with 37 inch krawlers.. routed the air lines up the control arm and it works perfect. ::shrug::

Re: Armstrong

XJWheelie said:

Next question. How do I know if I've got 260s or 297s? My 94 has ABS.

Click to expand...

If It's ABS you should have 297's already.

If you want to be absolutely sure, measure the caps:

297x has a 1 3/16" cap diameter

260x has a 1 1/16" cap dia.

Robert -

Yep. It's me. I'll drop you an email later tonight - right now I'm off to the garage!!!

Jeff