So which breaks more

[womb raider 940]

The rear axle shafts or the front with 35inch tires. What is common?

I had my front axle shaft pulled out and the ears look pretty weak. The u joint broke and was still locked in there. Easy change out but just curious to which goes more.

I have the Rubi with dana 44's with 35 tires.

[Brice]

i have broken 7 (yes, seven) d30 yukon stubs/inner shafts. a friend gave me in/out superiors and i haven't broken one. No rear failures with stock d44 shafts.

[Kodiak Spirit]

shoot dude, I'm running 35's with a D30 front axle, and I havent broke yet! quit poppin' da clutch! :devil:

No, really x2 on the superiors, I am running them in my D30 and they have done well for me.

[Double AA]

The rear axle shafts or the front with 35inch tires. What is common?

I had my front axle shaft pulled out and the ears look pretty weak. The u joint broke and was still locked in there. Easy change out but just curious to which goes more.

I have the Rubi with dana 44's with 35 tires.

The fronts will break before the rears for the reasons you pointed out. With the typical areas you wheel, and with good shafts and 35"s, you'll be fine. But one thing I would change are the U joints. I would spend the money buy some 300m joints. Sometime you get lucky and the U joint will break when you're not on the gas or in a position where there's a lot of torque on the front, and the axles survive. But more often then not, the U joint breaks and damages or destroys one or both of the shafts. Bobby Long's U joints are 300m, half the cost of CTM and are very good quality. I believe they're $145 each shipped.

[womb raider 940]

ok was exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks. Looks like I will be investing in the front first.

[Jerry Bransford]

Front u-joints fail more commonly by the 'ears' on the axleshafts that hold them stretching and failing. When that happens, the u-joint pulls free and spins around a few degrees until it catches on something where it then breaks. It LOOKS like the u-joint was the weak point but it is actually the non-hardened OE axleshaft ears that usually fail first which then causes the u-joint to fail after it gets released by the axleshaft ears stretching and releasing them.

The u-joints will pretty much stop "failing" once hardened aftermarket front axleshafts like from Warn, Alloy USA, or Superior Axle are installed. They don't even have to be 30 spline, their hardened 27 spline axleshafts hold up well to at least the 35" tire size with a locker installed.

I'm running Warn's hardened 27 spline alloy axleshafts and I've had no more failures of my Spicer 760 front u-joints since installing the hardened axleshafts.

[peteyg]

I broke a Warn 27 Spline axle shaft in the front once....I deserved it, though, with what I was trying to do. It wasn't the axle's fault...I finally started wheeling above the tolerance level of the D30.

With stock outers and Warn inners, I stretched the ears on the stub axle, and to go wheeling for one trip, just welded them in. They held fine, and a friend of mine still has them around somewhere as spares.

The front is inherently weaker than the rear on a TJ. That's just physics - everything is smaller.

I also twisted the splines on 3(!) stock rear TJ D44 axles, and both of the stock Ford D44 axles. I now run a 9" rear.

Elusive broke 2 Superior rear 30-spline D44 axle shafts and now runs 35-spline Alloy USA shafts with a 35-spline ARB. So far those are holding, but he broke a ring gear.

[Brice]

i have good 'ol spicer 760x's with full circle clips. no u-joint failures. IMO you don;t need anything more.

[Double AA]

I broke four superior axles and countless U joints (760's, Brutes and Alloys) in my 44. After changing to the Longfields, I stopped breaking U joints and shaft ears. I did twist the splines a couple of times though.

Breaking sucks. If you can swing the extra $180 it's a good investment, if for no other reason, just knowing the U joints aren't going to break and take out your axles.

[Don Davison]

been running spicer joints with warn 1/2 conversion hubs sup.inner axles on my 30 because of the detroit in front done a lot of hammer trails and blew one u joint doing a front dig with my atlas not bad for a 99 TJ would rather blow a u joint than the ring gear

[Brice]

front digs with a 30 probably isn't the smartest thing. hah

[Jerry Bransford]

I broke four superior axles and countless U joints (760's, Brutes and Alloys) in my 44. After changing to the Longfields, I stopped breaking U joints and shaft ears. I did twist the splines a couple of times though.

Breaking sucks. If you can swing the extra $180 it's a good investment, if for no other reason, just knowing the U joints aren't going to break and take out your axles.

Do you have a link to the Longfields?

Edit, nevermind. Wow, a test of those Longfield u-joints I found at www.longfieldsuperaxles.com is impressive.

[womb raider 940]

thanks for the info guys I couldnt have gotten all this from searching.

thats 180 each on the u joints right?

I was looking at ctm I believe last night for 350 a pair.

[RAT]

I never break, so I wouldn't know...

[Double AA]

thanks for the info guys I couldnt have gotten all this from searching.

thats 180 each on the u joints right?

I was looking at ctm I believe last night for 350 a pair.

Longfields are $145 each delivered or $290 total TYD. The $180 is what they would cost over a pair of Spicers.