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D30 front axle strength

customxprone

NAXJA Forum User
Location
california
First off I will say hello to everyone, new to NAXJA, came over here from http://www.jeepaholics.com because I will be off to college next year and am looking to get a XJ to take with me up there..San Bernadino. My dad has a CJ that we wheel but, its just that..His. SO..I've seen many people on this board have some preety well setup XJs; 35s, lockers, 4to1, caged, etc etc etc...And many still are running the stock D30 front axle. So how well has it held up? Or what upgrades have been done to make it hold. I wont be wheeling anything to had for a while, as this will be my one and only means of transportation for college, but would like to do a good size lift, 33-35s lockers etc... Thanks in advance...lemme know if this should be in here or else where to

Christian
 
Thanks for the info..Already read the first one after a lil searching, but did not find the second. Great write ups. So anyone else got a testimony to add?
 
mk thats kinda what I was thinkin. Brett, I think I saw you converted the front to leaves? Really like the thought of that, how do you like it...Seems it would make a front axle swap SUPER easy if converting to leaves at the same time vs. getting all the coil brackets. etc. setup right and placed properly to clear steering...My cj is SOA and preforms awsome...How is it on an XJ or MJ?
 
36s on a D30 here. its amazing what a little know how of wheeling will do to prevent breakage. its not hey I got big tires point and go.
DIG IT!
 
BUCKYXJ said:
36s on a D30 here. its amazing what a little know how of wheeling will do to prevent breakage. its not hey I got big tires point and go.
DIG IT!

I run 37's on my 30 and couldn't agree more with you
 
customxprone said:
mk thats kinda what I was thinkin. Brett, I think I saw you converted the front to leaves? Really like the thought of that, how do you like it...Seems it would make a front axle swap SUPER easy if converting to leaves at the same time vs. getting all the coil brackets. etc. setup right and placed properly to clear steering...My cj is SOA and preforms awsome...How is it on an XJ or MJ?
I really like it. If you want more info than that you will have to search elsewhere because I don't feel like rekindling that discussion for the thousandth time.
 
Its all in your style of wheeling. granted running 35's or bigger you will event. break a shaft. But I know several who wheel that setup very hard with success.
 
customxprone said:
First off I will say hello to everyone, new to NAXJA, came over here from http://www.jeepaholics.com because I will be off to college next year and am looking to get a XJ to take with me up there..San Bernadino. My dad has a CJ that we wheel but, its just that..His. SO..I've seen many people on this board have some preety well setup XJs; 35s, lockers, 4to1, caged, etc etc etc...And many still are running the stock D30 front axle. So how well has it held up? Or what upgrades have been done to make it hold. I wont be wheeling anything to had for a while, as this will be my one and only means of transportation for college, but would like to do a good size lift, 33-35s lockers etc... Thanks in advance...lemme know if this should be in here or else where to

Christian

The D30 will hold up fine if you respect it, and don't push it. Forget about 35's, you don't need them. You can easily run every trail that you will end up running with 33's, in fact, you can run the trails that you won't end up running with 33's. The only reason for you to run 35's is for looks, and then it's going to cost you, both in axle and steering reliability. If you're going to school, and this is your daily driver, and you still want to have some fun wheeling, you'll wheel more and have more fun on the 33's because you'll be more reliable.

Get some Dana Spicer (stock) shafts that use the large 760x u-joint, then recess the inside of the yokes to accept full circle clips (snap rings), and run Spicer 760x axle u-joints. If you don't get stupid, and if you don't climb big rocks and ledges with your wheels turned (climb with the tires straight ahead), you probably won't break the D30. If you have a little more money, and can get chromo shafts, then you can still run the 760x u-joints and with 33's you should be pretty reliable.
 
Goatman said:
The D30 will hold up fine if you respect it, and don't push it. Forget about 35's, you don't need them. You can easily run every trail that you will end up running with 33's, in fact, you can run the trails that you won't end up running with 33's. The only reason for you to run 35's is for looks, and then it's going to cost you, both in axle and steering reliability. If you're going to school, and this is your daily driver, and you still want to have some fun wheeling, you'll wheel more and have more fun on the 33's because you'll be more reliable.

Get some Dana Spicer (stock) shafts that use the large 760x u-joint, then recess the inside of the yokes to accept full circle clips (snap rings), and run Spicer 760x axle u-joints. If you don't get stupid, and if you don't climb big rocks and ledges with your wheels turned (climb with the tires straight ahead), you probably won't break the D30. If you have a little more money, and can get chromo shafts, then you can still run the 760x u-joints and with 33's you should be pretty reliable.
yep, 35s make things much more expensive, and so do lockers, but you gain a lot more in offroad ability with lockers than tires 2 inches larger.

33s and 2 lockers will go basically anywhere with a little driver skill, just look for pics of Jes
 
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