your thoughts on front end upgrades

[ylwrnglr01]

so axle shafts and u joint upgrades in the 30 counds like the way to go...even with 35's though? ive seen the housing of the 30 and the 44, the 44 housing is so beefy and strong, i guess im a little hung up on getting a 44, but everyones advice and ideas are also looking pretty good as well...so many choices, so little money.........

[aston]

so axle shafts and u joint upgrades in the 30 counds like the way to go...even with 35's though? ive seen the housing of the 30 and the 44, the 44 housing is so beefy and strong, i guess im a little hung up on getting a 44, but everyones advice and ideas are also looking pretty good as well...so many choices, so little money.........

When I started beefing up the Jeep a little, I thought, there's no way in the world I'm gonna be climbing on 'kin huge rocks. That's just crazy.

Well here I am...$2,000 into the D30 and I'm still worried about it's longevity :poop:

[ylwrnglr01]

my plan is longevity, id rather put 5k into now andnothing down then road rather than a couple hundred here a couple hundred there of the course of a few years...

[aston]

my plan is longevity, id rather put 5k into now andnothing down then road rather than a couple hundred here a couple hundred there of the course of a few years...

Good call!

Get a Currie 9" now! :yay:

[goodtimes]

Good call!

Get a Currie 9" now! :yay:

Forget Currie 9"....they want too much $$$ for to little axle.

Watch the auctions.....HP60 fronts (with companion rear d60) have gone for under $500.

[mrblaine]

Take a look at the OX U joint. I just installed them in my D30 with Superior evolution shafts.

In my experience, the common failure mode is the u/j caps backing out. I chose the OX over the CTM 'cos of the clever cap retaining system.

Yes, take a look at the OX joints, but that's it. Clever design by a talented machinist, unfortunately he is not an engineer. If he were, he would have known that with the soft bronze bushings located in the body, they would see more stress than a bushing located in the cap where it belongs.

Due to the location, the bushings wear badly and then the pin leaves blowing the yoke in half.

The reason the caps back out is the yokes are too soft to retain them. Alloy shafts solve that problem very nicely and will even allow 760's to act much stronger or reach their full strength.

[aston]

Watch the auctions.....HP60 fronts (with companion rear d60) have gone for under $500.

Or you can watch Goodtimes' garage, I am told he has a couple of D60s lurking in there.

[goodtimes]

Or you can watch Goodtimes' garage, I am told he has a couple of D60s lurking in there.

I also have a pit bull with aids lurking around the garage....so come on over, he's getting hungry.

[WheelingPiazza]

No matter how you look at it your still polishing a turd.

Housing is thin, Ring and pinon is small. Beef every thing else up and your going to start breaking Ring and pinons.

I have seen more bent and twisted 30s then 44s. And I have had and wheeled both. From Johnson valley, Rubicon etc.

[brian4.2]

I go with chris L, high pinion 30. I'm running 4.1 , 48s 0n 35" tires, havent had any problem, and I am rough on my gear. When the rears hit the log it actually bit into it and I came down on all 4 wheels together, no problem, nothing bent, it never touched the center skid.

[Sully]

Polishing a turd? Are you kidding me? Why should he blow more money on getting a dana 44 when he can get a direct bolt on from the HP 30, use his stock dana 30 parts for spares, and it will be about as strong as a dana 44. Unless he is going high pinion 44 that axle will for sure be stronger than a HP 30. But a LP 44 is about the same strength as a HP 30. HP 30 is just cheaper and utalizes stock 30 parts if needed.

[mrblaine]

No matter how you look at it your still polishing a turd.

Housing is thin, Ring and pinon is small. Beef every thing else up and your going to start breaking Ring and pinons.

I have seen more bent and twisted 30s then 44s. And I have had and wheeled both. From Johnson valley, Rubicon etc.

True, you are polishing a turd, but, why polish a more expensive turd in the form of a 44 unless it's HP? Only to wind up with a highly polished turd that is not bolt in and shared the exact same weak link in the form of a u-joint.

We also wheel JV, regularly, with HP 30's and rarely do we have an issue. The only caveat is that you don't thrash your junk. If you do, 44's front and rear won't last either.

[ylwrnglr01]

so would a high pinion d 44 with an arb locker be a turd?

[mrblaine]

so would a high pinion d 44 with an arb locker be a turd?

How do you plan on gettting one of those under a TJ unless you have a line on one from a South American XJ?

Even then, it still have the same u-joints as a low pinion 30. Comprende?

[Chris_L]

I run the south american HP 44 out of an xj, on 37's, and its seen some pretty hard core usage. Only thing I have ever broken was a ctm u-joint. I bought the axle from mrblaine.