Would putting a truss on my front dana 30 axle help

[muddyjeep]

IMO I would upgrade to the D60 I broke my D30 with just 31's that was when it had the small 260x joints in it now it has the 297x joints and 33's

 

[rondo]

I think ya should go straight to a D60. I have a D44 HP custom narrowed and I ran 35s for years without issues. Now i have 37 Krawlers and although i haven't fully tested this, i spent a bunch of cash on allow axles and superjoints. After looking at the bottom line receipt for all of it would have been better to go with a D60 from the beginning. I'll push this combo until it all cracks up(at the time i didn't know i'd be running anything bigger than 35s).
But it seems like you are evolving into off-roading quickly to the hard core.
BTWthese days i'm seeing more and more jeeps running 35s with D60s. Seems there are folks out there who just want a guarantee not to break.

 

[waynehartwig]

IMO 37's on a D30 is too much... Too much for a D44 and 9", too. Lots of people have a D30 and 35" tires with no problems. Driving style? Luck? But I'm sure in the back of their mind they are always worried about breaking down. I have D44's, and I'm semi worried with 35's. I say semi worried, because it's always in the back of my mind, but it doesn't keep me off the obstacles.

 

[jcanderson33jp]

My rear dana 60 is out of a early 70's ford and has been narrowed to the same width as the tj axles are.

 

[redrock_4x4]

has anyone heard of sunray's axles?

If you want to go all out look into a Rock Jock 60, or a Currie HP 9" front w/ 60 outers. If you want even more strength on the front 9" go to TrueHi9 for the center section, although on the front the Currie HP center section should hold up just fine to 37-40" tires and it would be cheaper than the TrueHi9.

Sunray builds some nice stuff, but I've also heard of my fair share of problems with custom axles that were built by them. Currie has a much better reputation.

Any of the options mentioned above are going to be $$$$$$

 

[redrock_4x4]

IMO 37's on a D30 is too much... Too much for a D44 and 9", too. Lots of people have a D30 and 35" tires with no problems. Driving style? Luck? But I'm sure in the back of their mind they are always worried about breaking down. I have D44's, and I'm semi worried with 35's. I say semi worried, because it's always in the back of my mind, but it doesn't keep me off the obstacles.

I couldn't keep my axles together when I ran the 36" Irok's, which were about equivalent to a 37" MT/R.

I have CroMo axles front and rear, w/ CTM u-joints up front and a HP 30 which all in all is about equal to the LP Rubi 44 in the front in terms of gear strength. My rear axle is the standard TJ 44.

I blew up the pinion in the rear 44 in about 6 months, and the front gears had started developing a few different patterns in that time. The front ARB was also shearing the case bolts (old style ARB) which hadn't ever been a problem before and there was plenty of pre-load on the carrier bearings. Our best guess, the housing was flexing. A 44 w/ CTM's may have held up in the front better, but I would have needed a 60 rear, and I personally don't see any point to a 60 rear 44 front combo.

Either way 35"s are very reliable with a nicely built set of 44's, or a 44/30 combo. Anything more than that and you need 60's if you don't want to worry about breaking. I like being able to be pretty hard on my axles without having to worry about breaking

 

[Devel]

u know i know the d30 and d35 are weak but in both my XJ and mt TJ i have never broken a shaft or bent the axle tubes. my XJ only had 31's and open front and rear and my TJ has an LSD in the back and a Lockrite in the front and i still have never had any problems even with 33's so either i am really lucky or dont wheel my rig hard enuff:greg:

 

[redrock_4x4]

The D30 isn't that bad, it's well suited for 35's, and you can run 37's with a built 30 if you want to push it. Same goes for a 44 front in my opinion, you can beat on it all day with 35's, if you go to 37's you do run the risk of blowing u-joints (even with CTM's). Both axles share the same u-joint, which is by far the most common failure point for each axle.

The D35 suffers from tiny shafts and weak spiders gears stock. With 33" tires and a limited slip, you're probably not going to break anything, at least quickly. Once you throw a full time locker in there it will be another story.

With that said for 33" - 35" tires max, the Dana 35 works pretty well if you upgrade to one of the 30 spline axle packages such as Alloy USA and Superior offer.

 

[mbryson]

The D30 isn't that bad, it's well suited for 35's, and you can run 37's with a built 30 if you want to push it. Same goes for a 44 front in my opinion, you can beat on it all day with 35's, if you go to 37's you do run the risk of blowing u-joints (even with CTM's). Both axles share the same u-joint, which is by far the most common failure point for each axle.................

Yeah, tell that to my little D30.

'Rough' obstacle to bust it on too......

 

[redrock_4x4]

So you blew a u-joint with what appears to be a stock axleshaft, and you took out the ball joint in the process??

Am I missing something? If not that's a common failure. Generally the ball joints loosen up after a few u-joint failures, as often times they get hit by flying parts . I can't see enough in that picture either to tell if you have 260x or 297x joints.

Throw in a set of chromoly shafts w/ full circle clips and 297/760 joints and you can run 35's very reliably. 35's are the limit though in my opinion. I wouldn't run larger on a 44 front either if I didn't want to have to worry about breaking.

By no means am I saying you can't break a 30 on 35's, nor would I ever personally recommend running 37's on a 30. All I'm saying is that built properly, a D30 can be very reliable for 35" tires.

 

[mbryson]

So you blew a u-joint with what appears to be a stock axleshaft, and you took out the ball joint in the process??

Am I missing something? If not that's a common failure. I can't see enough in that picture either to tell if you have 260x or 297x joints.

Throw in a set of chromoly shafts w/ full circle clips and 297/760 joints and you can run 35's very reliably. 35's are the limit though.

297 joints with stock shafts. These were stock joints on stock shafts. I had a hard time buying $800-1000 worth of shafts/joints (if you can get them that cheap) for a D30 when I kept bending housings. I did have a little better luck with the 760 joints with full circle clips. I just kept a sharp eye on them on the trail from there after. If the cap started moving at all, I'd weld the caps to the shaft. Ultimately, the shafts or joint would still bust, though.

Basicly what I've been trying to say in this thread is you can spend your money where you want to. I went for the D60 just so I didn't have to worry about it.

Upgrade your D30-- Let's say $1000 for shafts, joints and some steel for axle bracing of some kind.

Buy a D60 -- $1200-600 depending on drop and 'deals' -- You've got to add wheels to the $$$ part of that equation, but you can beat on that front end as much as you want and do it pretty reliably with even stock parts.

................and who's staying with 35" tires?

 

[redrock_4x4]

297 joints with stock shafts. These were stock joints on stock shafts. I had a hard time buying $800-1000 worth of shafts/joints (if you can get them that cheap) for a D30 when I kept bending housings. I did have a little better luck with the 760 joints with full circle clips. I just kept a sharp eye on them on the trail from there after. If the cap started moving at all, I'd weld the caps to the shaft. Ultimately, the shafts or joint would still bust, though.

Basicly what I've been trying to say in this thread is you can spend your money where you want to. I went for the D60 just so I didn't have to worry about it.

Upgrade your D30-- Let's say $1000 for shafts, joints and some steel for axle bracing of some kind.

Buy a D60 -- $1200-600 depending on drop and 'deals' -- You've got to add wheels to the $$$ part of that equation, but you can beat on that front end as much as you want and do it pretty reliably with even stock parts.

................and who's staying with 35" tires?

By all means a 60 is the way to go if you have the money or the fabrication skills to pull it off, but comparing failures w/ D30 stock shafts to good quality chromoly shafts isn't fair.

And for prices, we stock and sell the Alloy USA kits for $549.95 w/ spicer 760 joints pre-installed. If you somehow manage to break them within 10 years, they're replaced no questions asked.

My point is that the D30 can be a reliable axle if built properly for 35" tires, w/o spending too much money, and certainly spending much less $$$ than a 60.

If you're going bigger than 35's, throw the D30 idea out the window, you need 60 outers and nothing less.

 

[mbryson]

By all means a 60 is the way to go if you have the money or the fabrication skills to pull it off, but comparing failures w/ D30 stock shafts to good quality chromoly shafts isn't fair.

And for prices, we stock and sell the Alloy USA kits for $549.95 w/ spicer 760 joints pre-installed. If you somehow manage to break them within 10 years, they're replaced no questions asked.

My point is that the D30 can be a reliable axle if built properly for 35" tires, w/o spending too much money, and certainly spending much less $$$ than a 60.

If you're going bigger than 35's, throw the D30 idea out the window, you need 60 outers and nothing less.

I don't have experience with alloy D30 shafts, but have seen quite a few alloy D44 shafts break with 35" tires. $549 is SIGNIFICANTLY less than the shafts were being quoted to me about 3 years ago and possibly worth considering. Are the 760 joints installed in the superiors with c-clips or snap rings? Honestly, that made a HUGE difference in my shaft life on my D30.

How do you address the housing bending issue? My D30 were 'non-disconnect', high pinion units and it took a while for me to bend the first one, but I went through 2 others after that (and then treated my D30 like it had 260 joints in it).

 

[waynehartwig]

By all means a 60 is the way to go if you have the money or the fabrication skills to pull it off, but comparing failures w/ D30 stock shafts to good quality chromoly shafts isn't fair.

And for prices, we stock and sell the Alloy USA kits for $549.95 w/ spicer 760 joints pre-installed. If you somehow manage to break them within 10 years, they're replaced no questions asked.

My point is that the D30 can be a reliable axle if built properly for 35" tires, w/o spending too much money, and certainly spending much less $$$ than a 60.

If you're going bigger than 35's, throw the D30 idea out the window, you need 60 outers and nothing less.

I sell the Alloy USA's and Yukon's for a lot less than that. But it still doesn't change the fact the D30 is going to break. I've seen the exact same break as the Cherokee pictured earlier on a D30 with Alloy USA axles and a D44. It happens, and will happen at some point.

...And a D30 r&p is no where near as strong as a D44 r&p.

 

[Devel]

How do you address the housing bending issue? My D30 were 'non-disconnect', high pinion units and it took a while for me to bend the first one, but I went through 2 others after that (and then treated my D30 like it had 260 joints in it).

if you knew that ur D30 couldnt handle the tire size you were running why didnt u go a smaller tire size? or upgrade to an axle that could hold up to those tires?

 

[Tacoma]

smaller tires won't work
bigger axles cost money

Knowing Marc, that's my guess LOL

 

[waynehartwig]

smaller tires won't work
bigger axles cost money

Knowing Marc, that's my guess LOL

That's why I took off the 37's, went back to 35's and still have D44's front and rear....What I REALLY want are a pair of Rock Jock 60's (HP D60's from Currie). :greg:

 

[mbryson]

if you knew that ur D30 couldnt handle the tire size you were running why didnt u go a smaller tire size? or upgrade to an axle that could hold up to those tires?

Mostly personal economic conditions. I could have upgraded the axle in the XJ, but thought the weight of a D60 while flexing would just start ripping the XJ unibody apart worse than it already was.

smaller tires won't work
bigger axles cost money

Knowing Marc, that's my guess LOL

That pretty much sums it up. I did upgrade in axles. I sold the XJ and now have a 'Jeep' with a 60 front and 14 bolt rear running 38" tires. I think I'm good to 40" tires and still maintain reliability.

If I ever built another rig with a D30, I think I'd stick to 33" tires. It's a great little diff, but you've got to realize it's limits and for me, 33" tires are it unless you want to polish a turd.

 

[waynehartwig]

Mostly personal economic conditions. I could have upgraded the axle in the XJ, but thought the weight of a D60 while flexing would just start ripping the XJ unibody apart worse than it already was.



That pretty much sums it up. I did upgrade in axles. I sold the XJ and now have a 'Jeep' with a 60 front and 14 bolt rear running 38" tires. I think I'm good to 40" tires and still maintain reliability.

If I ever built another rig with a D30, I think I'd stick to 33" tires. It's a great little diff, but you've got to realize it's limits and for me, 33" tires are it unless you want to polish a turd.

I agree... And I think a D44's limit is 35" tires. Sure, you can upgrade the workings (axles, etc), but the ball joints are still a weak area. D30, D44's and GM 8.5's use the same ball joint and knuckles. Jeep D30 and D44 also use the same ball joint and knuckles. Now if you wanted to take a D44, upgrade it to D60 knuckles and a 35 spline inner and outer, then you can probably get 37's under it reliably. But the thing I've noticed about them, is the splines don't break, it's the axle ears or the housing bends. A 35 spline kit won't fix the housing issues... It will give you somewhat of the D60 strength, with the D44 clearance.

 

[notajeep]

You all just need some toyota axles, 30 spline longs and your good to go! :greg: