Having just been actively making this search, this has been my experience with pricing:

If you find a D30 in a self-service junk yard, you'll probably pay between $150 and $250. My local Pull-a-Part sells complete front axles for $190 each + $30 core, front axles without hubs or brakes for $130 + $20 core, and rear axles complete for $100 + $16 core. That doesn't matter if it's a D30 or a D60; to them an axle is an axle is an axle. The problem is that I rarely see 4WD Jeeps in any of the self-service yards within a 3 hour drive. The price list doesn't really matter if they don't have the thing you're looking for.

The going rate on Craigslist for a D30 seems to be about $250. I have seen some lower than that and some higher, but $250 seems to be the magic number. The biggest problem is that even if you find one, nobody wants to deal with shipping it to you if you're out of their area. Another big problem is that Craiglist is full of stupid fools who list things for sale and then just simply don't respond when you call or email them.

The going rate on the car-part.com parts exchange is all over the place. I found one that was a good candidate until the yard quoted me $650 for a used axle with 140K miles on it. They wouldn't budge. Usually the asking prices seem to settle in the $250 to $350 range. Some of them will also charge you a core, but I was able to negotiate that away on both of my axles.

There are virtually no deals to be had on axles on eBay. That was a surprisingly dry pond. The few that were listed were ridiculously overpriced.

If you're having an axle shipped, expect to add anywhere from $50 to $200. From what I've read, Forward Air is about the cheapest way to ship it, BUT the seller has to put it on a pallet and drop it off at the FA depot. The yard I bought my D30 from wasn't willing to do that, so I ended up paying $180 to have it picked up by the carrier and shipped. I probably could have found a better deal on shipping, but I wasn't in control of that. I was briefly tempted to drive 13 hours each way and get it myself, but when I ran the numbers for gas it was going to cost me at least $290, not even including a motel. So the $180 shipping wasn't so bad after all.

So, all that said, $200 for a complete HP D30 in good shape that has already been pulled from the truck is a very good deal, at least in my neck of the woods, especially if it's local or within a reasonable drive. I would generally expect to pay more.

 

Or earlier ones with the full time 4wheel drive option.

 

extrashaky - That's what I've found now that I've called on a few car-parts posts and Craigs Listings. I've got a couple of possible hot ones now. So I called my local shop that I'm working with to do my lift (i'd do it myself, did my 3" EMU with leaf packs, etc, but want to pay to have it done this time). I wanted to tell him that I identified my diffs, and wanted to find a HP D30 so I could swap it out when we do the lift. So he tells me he's got a friend who has HP D30 out of a TJ or CJ, can't remember. But said it has the beefier knuckles, gusseted and trussed, Synergy ball joints, heavy duty control arm mounts, and larger brakes. Just doesn't have gears or axles. Bolts right in.. Score? maybe. I'm waiting on a call back, he had to check with him to find out how much he wanted. I'm still a noob trying to learn jeep as I go. I appreciate all of your feedback.

Thanks

 

i just got a d30 and c8.25 from Missouri for 500 shipped. a tad much but its a matching set from a 2000 xj.

 

D30 out of a 2000 would be "Low Pinion"

 

If I were you, I would visually verify all that myself before paying out any money.

A TJ axle will bolt right in, but it's low pinion. So you would basically just be trading your LP axle for another LP axle.

A CJ axle doesn't just bolt in. The CJ has leaf springs in the front, so it would need spring perches welded on before you could use it in an XJ. Maybe that's included in all that welding that's already been done, but I would verify it.

All that extra bracing sounds pretty nice. Has he thrown any numbers your way at all? "Good deal" may or may not mean what you're expecting.

 

Also, a CJ has the pinion on the Passenger Side, so would not work at all in an XJ (unless you had a transfer case with a front passenger side output)