Well I had my dana 30 off for rebuilding, so I went ahead and thought this would be good welding practice. One roll of wire, a can of primer, scrap lying around, like ten cutoff wheels, and countless hours later:






Pointless? maybe. but why not?

 

can't hurt... looks good. might as well throw on some lower control arm skids and brace the mounts. looks good to me...

 

Ya skids are next on the list, ran out of paint, scrap, and patience
Grinding/cutting with nothing more than 1 harbor freight 4"
gets old real quick!

 

i like it i want to do the same but mine is a daily driver (cant go out of town lol) but yea i want to really beef up those lca mounts

 

The first CAD D30 w/ a truss I have seen! Inspiration to do mine...eventually. haha. I like it, thanks for posting this! Good name too.

 

looks good what did you do for internals?

 

Just throwing some one-piece jy shafts in there, has an Aussie locker, and debris seals.
New ball joints, new seals,
Nothing too fancy.
Also welding to cast is a pain, cause it cools at different rates, so you get cracks sometimes,
but I just make another pass when that happens.
(Don't have money for special wire)
Also: don't weld in breezes...lol

 

Looks great. Even if its overkill, it looks like a rockwell 2 1/2 with put the rotor on top. Lol. Great job again

 

Here's one from naxja. its where I heard that nickname "rock plow"
lol
Apparently the jeep-speed guys undersling 'em cause clearance is not as
much of an issue as bashing your oil pan when your getting air at 60+!
One like mine (disco)



Probably stronger cause he went from c-to-c, but no clearance for rocks.
But I could imagine adjusting your approach angles and it wouldn't be too bad.....I dunno lol

 

you better be careful welding housings....you can warp them rather easy.. i looks good but i am just forwarning you

 

The key to wleding cast is prep.


YOu must preheat the steel, weld in short bursts, weld using High nickle rod..and slowly cool the object.


I personally build a cooling box and pack the object in it with kitty litter to slow down the cooling. No issues with cracking then

 

Don't burn up your axle seals!

 

Yeah I got this for free from a guy.... Just dont like the clearance loss...

 

Free is good! I would take a grinder to it, and truss the top.

 

free is good but time is worth money...i'd rather buy a d30 for $50 than cut that all apart...that and in the picture it looks tweaked