Im running 35's on my 08 X 2door. Had the front 30 trussed and still have not broken it except for the stock steering linkage. It's even been airborn and has not bent so I will keep it for now. I disagree on the 30 being a week axle because I abuse the shit out of it and it has not broken yet. I have broken a rear 35 on an older jeep though running 32's.
nice welding job hey I don't use my jeep for rock crawling or anything like that I just use it to go fishing go to the beach from time to time go camping, dirt road stuff like that do I need to put those brackets on my Jeep ?
Hey, awesome job and very informative. Where in Syracuse are you located? I need this and some other stuff done to my JK and some advice on the build I'm trying to accomplish if you'd be willing and I live in Syracuse, NY too. I can't seem to find anyone around here that specializes in 4x4 stuff like this. If they do they don't advertise it very well.
i may be wrong but being the knuckles are probably cast iron and the gusset being mild plate steel, shouldnt this be covered in a insulation blanket to keep the ast and steel from cooling at different rates?
The inner Cs are steel so they can be welded cold. Also I followed the manufactures installation recommendations on this install. Trust me I was very concerned about them being cast iron.
Caleb Godwin The inner c and axle tube are mild steel . I have no idea what the knuckles and diff are if you research the web no one agrees , But I can say I have welded Ford dana 60 knuckles up with reinforcement plate and only prep was clean with soap/water then flap to shiny and burn plate home I did wrap them , but they were left outside in 30 degree winter weather they welded easily and have been holding 42-44 tires with full hydro on those plated knuckles . The diff is also internet mystery material , but I just cleaned it like the knuckles and mig welded it with basic er70s6 it was warm out so no post heat there was no pre heat on either ...tubes welded great and have not cracked . The biggest thing I see for prep us washing or burning the oil/greese off before sanding to shiny stuff to guarantee no contaminants to screw up the weld puddle .
Husbands Dana 30 inner sleeves, C gussets, has run Sourgrass, Slick Rock (AKA the little Rubicon) Deer Valley, Fordyce many times without issue. Only people doing stupid stuff break axels.
I have a 2007 Jeep Wrangler sport crd in Australia. I keep hearing that the dana 30 is weak but haven't met anyone who has damaged there front axle or housing. What sort of damage could I expect by wheeling with 33" tires on a dana 30. And what would I have to do exactly to damage it? I mostly wheel in soft sand and some rocky roads 2' rocks at most.
Sounds to me like you style of wheeling is much different than the wheeling that people do that junk dana 30 axles. jeeps are light weight so running a Dana 30 with 33 inch tires isn't an issue in the terrain you described. Weight, tires larger than 33s, and agressive wheeling is what tears these axles up. Larger tires create more leverage and stress on the axle shafts. the reason for these gussets it to strengthen the inner Cs. they are not very strong. Some pretty hard suspension hits will start bending them this will throw off the caster on your front axle and put more stress on the ujoint on the axle shaft. The axle tubes on a d30 are also very weak in comparison to let's say a d60. you can bend them. I've personally seen it happen on an XJ. However again the person who was driving it was being very agressive with it. Basically the d30 is a light duty axle. If you're not beating the piss out of it in a jeep you should be fine as long as your tires stay on the smaller side. you can got with a larger tire but you'll be lowering the level of how hard you can push your jeep without breaking things. Yes you can upgrade axle shafts and other aspects of the axle. What you're doing thou is changing the location of the "weakest link". You make ot strong but now when things break it's not a easy to replace axle shaft. Now you might be breaking something in the differential. Something much more expensive and harder to fix. Long story short. If you keep your wheeling mild and tire size down you'll be fine. If you plan on pushing it more beafing up the housing should be first thing on the list. Smoother roads and sand can lead to large suspension hit due to driving at higher speeds. making the housin stronger will help keep it straight when you smash into an unexpected hole, rock, bump, or whatever. As far as upgrading any internal components, outside of a locker i wouldn't. Keep the week link the axle shafts and just carry trail spairs just in case. If you start breaking axle shafts it's time to upgrade the entire axle to a d44 or better. Building a "strong" (internal components) is sort of like chasing your tail. Plus it's very expensive for very limited improvement.
The ball joints would go before that inner C would bend or break. He should of sleeved the axle & put new dynatrac ball joints to get any real benefit.
mike22501000 Not true my first Jeep was a mildly built ZJ on 35s I snapped the driver side axle tube the BJs were fine . If you're going to polish an axle make sure they start out with 8-lugs .
Im running 35's on my 08 X 2door. Had the front 30 trussed and still have not broken it except for the stock steering linkage. It's even been airborn and has not bent so I will keep it for now. I disagree on the 30 being a week axle because I abuse the shit out of it and it has not broken yet. I have broken a rear 35 on an older jeep though running 32's.
Nice welds...wish I could weld like that in some tough spots.
+Jeffrey Manrique Thank you. Sometimes they look great and sometimes not so much lol. It's all part of real world fabrication.
As always, well done. Very informative and great information pertaining to technique.
Thanks buddy
nice welding job
hey I don't use my jeep for rock crawling or anything like that I just use it to go fishing go to the beach from time to time go camping, dirt road stuff like that
do I need to put those brackets on my Jeep ?
no
Were are you located you shop ? I’m from buffalo
Alvarez , were in Az, are you from ? I'm here in Tucson .
All over the Phx area as well as northern Az. Moved to Syracuse in 2012.
Hey, awesome job and very informative. Where in Syracuse are you located? I need this and some other stuff done to my JK and some advice on the build I'm trying to accomplish if you'd be willing and I live in Syracuse, NY too. I can't seem to find anyone around here that specializes in 4x4 stuff like this. If they do they don't advertise it very well.
i may be wrong but being the knuckles are probably cast iron and the gusset being mild plate steel, shouldnt this be covered in a insulation blanket to keep the ast and steel from cooling at different rates?
The inner Cs are steel so they can be welded cold. Also I followed the manufactures installation recommendations on this install. Trust me I was very concerned about them being cast iron.
Caleb Godwin The inner c and axle tube are mild steel . I have no idea what the knuckles and diff are if you research the web no one agrees , But I can say I have welded Ford dana 60 knuckles up with reinforcement plate and only prep was clean with soap/water then flap to shiny and burn plate home I did wrap them , but they were left outside in 30 degree winter weather they welded easily and have been holding 42-44 tires with full hydro on those plated knuckles . The diff is also internet mystery material , but I just cleaned it like the knuckles and mig welded it with basic er70s6 it was warm out so no post heat there was no pre heat on either ...tubes welded great and have not cracked . The biggest thing I see for prep us washing or burning the oil/greese off before sanding to shiny stuff to guarantee no contaminants to screw up the weld puddle .
Husbands Dana 30 inner sleeves, C gussets, has run Sourgrass, Slick Rock (AKA the little Rubicon) Deer Valley, Fordyce many times without issue. Only people doing stupid stuff break axels.
I have a 2007 Jeep Wrangler sport crd in Australia. I keep hearing that the dana 30 is weak but haven't met anyone who has damaged there front axle or housing. What sort of damage could I expect by wheeling with 33" tires on a dana 30. And what would I have to do exactly to damage it?
I mostly wheel in soft sand and some rocky roads 2' rocks at most.
Sounds to me like you style of wheeling is much different than the wheeling that people do that junk dana 30 axles. jeeps are light weight so running a Dana 30 with 33 inch tires isn't an issue in the terrain you described. Weight, tires larger than 33s, and agressive wheeling is what tears these axles up. Larger tires create more leverage and stress on the axle shafts. the reason for these gussets it to strengthen the inner Cs. they are not very strong. Some pretty hard suspension hits will start bending them
this will throw off the caster on your front axle and put more stress on the ujoint on the axle shaft. The axle tubes on a d30 are also very weak in comparison to let's say a d60. you can bend them. I've personally seen it happen on an XJ. However again the person who was driving it was being very agressive with it. Basically the d30 is a light duty axle. If you're not beating the piss out of it in a jeep you should be fine as long as your tires stay on the smaller side. you can got with a larger tire but you'll be lowering the level of how hard you can push your jeep without breaking things. Yes you can upgrade axle shafts and other aspects of the axle. What you're doing thou is changing the location of the "weakest link". You make ot strong but now when things break it's not a easy to replace axle shaft. Now you might be breaking something in the differential. Something much more expensive and harder to fix.
Long story short. If you keep your wheeling mild and tire size down you'll be fine. If you plan on pushing it more beafing up the housing should be first thing on the list. Smoother roads and sand can lead to large suspension hit due to driving at higher speeds. making the housin stronger will help keep it straight when you smash into an unexpected hole, rock, bump, or whatever. As far as upgrading any internal components, outside of a locker i wouldn't. Keep the week link the axle shafts and just carry trail spairs just in case. If you start breaking axle shafts it's time to upgrade the entire axle to a d44 or better. Building a "strong" (internal components) is sort of like chasing your tail. Plus it's very expensive for very limited improvement.
+Alvarez Metal Works I'm getting some money together for a teraflex t44 with rcv axles and an airlocker and 4.88 gears to run 35"tires.
+fourbypete you'll be happy with that.
It's just what it's going to cost me in dollars and time waiting for the parts I'm not happy with.
Better get use to it lol. It's a loosing battle for sure.
The ball joints would go before that inner C would bend or break. He should of sleeved the axle & put new dynatrac ball joints to get any real benefit.
mike22501000 Not true my first Jeep was a mildly built ZJ on 35s I snapped the driver side axle tube the BJs were fine . If you're going to polish an axle make sure they start out with 8-lugs .