hey all, Im in the process of upgrading axles and I am in the debating process of whether to build my Dana 30 and Chrysler 8.25, or to find a new set of axles. I was planning on using my stock axles and putting HD axle shafts, gussets, IRO inner sleeves for the Dana 30, and 4.56 gears in both. The reason why I am leaving the Dana 30 in front is I dont want to mess with making the control arm mounts on a new axle, it seems a little to precise for me to do.

So my questions are: Will a built Dana 30 stand up as well as a stock Dana 44, Do C-clips in the 8.25 really make it that much worse? How hard is it to make your own control arm mounts on a blank axle?

Correct me if im wrong but im thinking the only weak point on a built dana 30 would be the knuckles breaking.

thanks a bunch guys

 

What size tires are you planning to run and what kind of terrain? The biggest problem with c-clips is if you break a shaft the wheel falls off. If all you plan to run is 33-35s a built 30 and 8.25 should be fine but if you plan to go bigger you may want to step up to bigger axles. You can buy a front truss with the control arm mounts already on it which takes a lot of the guess work out of setting up the front axle. Wish I had known about them but if you have the skills and time you can fab up your own.

 

Dana 44 and dana 30 front axles use the same shafts.
27 spline I believe.

you should ditch the 8.25 now and pick up a ford 8.8 from a newer ford explorer with disk brakes.
they are c-clip as well but the disk breaks will hold it all together in case it breaks.
plus the c-clip is like 1/4" thick, and the 8.8 has thicker axle tubes.

just my advice.
and it you lock them and have all those nice shafts you speak of it will be unstoppable!

I am changing my Low Pinion Dana 30 with a High Pinion dana 30 with 4:10 gears from a 4cyl also swapping my rear diff with a 8.8 w/4:10's adding a Aussie locker and calling it a day I think.

 

Stick with your high pinion Dana 30. Pick up some knuckles from a WJ. The Chrysler 8.25 is pretty solid.

 

^x2
You have a 29 spline 8.25 put a disc break kit on it, and it will work fine. If you feel you need a stronger rear axle 250.00 plus shipping gets you Superior shafts about 40% stronger than stock good enough for anything under 38 inches if driven with a brain.

 

If you run Superior and break a shaft make sure you lie to them if you are running 38 since they suggest 33s as the maximum size tire with their shafts. You can make it out of the trail with a broke shaft and rear disc but you will have to replace the pads afterwards and if you are as lucky as I am one of your backing plates.

 

no they dont have the same axles. real dana 44 are 30 splines and d30 are 27. when you build a real dana44 you get larger ball joints (come in handy since you will be running larger tires) thicker axle tubes, you can do hysteer much easier, larger brakes.

d30 DO NOT compare to a d44

 

Nope
They use the same U-joints (297x or 760x) on the more recent models. The older models used a 260x U-Joint which is much smaller/weaker
The shafts are much stronger.

 

this is true but when you are building an axle you upgrade to real ujoints like ctm, super joints and such

 

Thanks for all the input guys! Its all a great help. Im planning on running 35's in the near future. So I think my plan of action is to just stay with the stock axles and build them up rather than start from scratch.

One more question: I know there is a break in the gearing on the Dana 30 where a bigger carrier is required, but where is it. Im thinking its 3.73 and up I need a new carrier, is that right? and does the 8.25 have a break in the gearing like the dana 30?

 

Carrier break on the 30 is 3.55 down and 3.73 and up numerically. The 8.25 doesn't have a carrier break.