So due to a series of unfortunate events I find my Dana 30 locked up and a broken piece of the pinion keeping it from moving.....my first thought is to take the inner axles out and gears out. Will that allow the jeep to drive to I can get new ring and pinion or upgrade to a d44? is there an easier fix to this that I'm not seeing? Also if I do need to tear everything down does anyone have a link to a good write up on how to do it ?

 

You can either pull the shafts or the internal gears. To pull the internal gears you have to pull the shafts out anyways. If you want to make it quick just pull the shafts. should take about 30mins for both sides.

 

Ya 30 minutes if you have a slide hammer for the hubs....

 

Dont you need a hub tool or big as$ socket to remove the nut that holds the hub and axle shaft together? I guess if your desperate you could beat the ujoints out of the axle and leave the short shaft in the hub.

 

If you pull the shafts, you must leave the outer shafts in the wheel hubs. The hub bearing sets are not ment to support the vehicle with out the stub shaft in place. A jeeper was killed from that exact reason. He broke his axle on the trail, he pulled the shaft and just left the hub. The hub came apart and the jeep flipped.

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB...0859b59b300ec3

Pull the inner shafts, leave the outer stub shafts and pull the front drive shaft just to be safe.

 

^X2 it will separate without the stub shaft bolted in.

 

Slide hammer to get the hub out helps. You can do it with screw drivers and pickle forks but its a lot more of a pita

 

or loosen the bolts, leave the 13mm 12 point socket on it and turn the steering wheel for leverage and it will pop its self out. some videos and DIY's out there. I don't have links though...

 

Thats good to know, I just figured it would be damn near impossible to get the hub bolt off without the right tools.

 

so let me get this straight.

I take a d30 any d30, say a vacuum discajunk d30 from a yj, and I remove the pinion carrier, and inner shafts, leaving the outer shafts and the hubs, and itll be all I need to drive say at 130mph?

Ive been debating using a jeep axle / steering / front leafs for a gasser style rod build (im a hot rod guy) and have been wondering what the difference was from a 2wd front dif, to a 4x4 front dif.

someone with more knowledge of the matter can enlighten me if they feel inclined, it would be appreciated.

 

the 4wd has a diff, the 2wd does not (obviously) But the 2WD has a beam, not a housing (XJ), and it has the knuckles on the outside with the same unit bearings but the shaft only goes threw the bearing and covers the back side, but goes nowhere... so in a sense yes, you pull the inner shafts, and leave the outers for the bearings and its a 2wd axle that should work normally. pulling the diff will make it lighter but yield nothing in how it functions as a 2wd. hope that helps to answer your question?

 

Hmm I'm gonna start carrying my 2wd shaft stubs for spares now. The 2wd stubs dont have the ujoint ears if you want a cleaner look for a rat rod

 

thanks for the replies! anwsers alot of questions.