70hemicuda

Wasn't sure if this was stock or modified but oh well. My lp 30 is making some pretty bad growling noises and instead of put money into I think it would be beneficial to upgrade to a hp30. Problem is hardly any are for sale and if one pops up it's either rusted badly or people want to much. The junkyard by me has a bunch of 95+ plus they are all pretty crusty as well. There is a 30 cad there though that is surprising clean. I would do the 1 piece shaft conversion because I already have them now. But if I swap knuckles can I keep everything from my 2000?

cruiser54

Yes.

bad_idea

I have a 90. I swapped a HP D30 from a 99 into it. I retained my brakes (they were new) and unit bearings. 99 is about the best year to use. The earlier CAD axles were weaker as they used a smaller u joint on the axles shafts. I would recommend you hold out to find a later HP axle. By the time you update the CAD to be as strong as the later model, you've invested your cost savings.

70hemicuda

Well I would reuse my axle shafts which have pretty new u joints in it, so the only thing I would have to buy extra for the cad axle would be a block off plate and seal.

bad_idea

Ok, fair enough. You will also need to do something with the axle seal on the passenger side. The CAD axle has the seal outboard of the disconnect assembly.

Only other headache I see with using the CAD axle is the large cast section of the housing for the CAD. The passenger UCA mount is cast into that chunk. Putting a truss on the housing may prove difficult.

70hemicuda

Well they scrapped that Jeep with the cad axle. But good news it's I found a hp30 out of 96 that looks pretty good. Gonna clean it up, new ball joints and paint it. Hopefully get it in soon because on turns mine sounds like it is eating itself

bad_idea

Nice. What is your use/goal for the jeep? DD, trail rig, or somewhere between? If you can weld, or know someone who can, I would suggest you plate the LCA mounts (also referred to as LCA skid plates) and stiffen the passenger UCA mount. Can easily be done w/ some scrap 1/8" or 3/16" plate.

70hemicuda

DD with the occasional offroading on the weekends. I'm trying to get this thing in asap because my current axle is making some nasty noises. So just clean up, paint, and ball joints for now. In the future I want to truss it for sure. Now that I have a hp30, I'll actually want to put money into it.

bad_idea

I hear ya. I was fortunate when I did mine, I had the time to completely build mine on the bench, then throw it in. I would hate to weld a truss in on the jeep. Wish you the best of luck, sounds like you have it sorted out.

ZJMAX

My one word of advice is be careful putting your axles back in, there will be crud in the axle tubes and if you let the axle drag on the tube during install it will push that junk into the seal and you will be dealing will leaking axle seals at that point. That or remove the carrier while you are doing the knuckles and clean the tubes and install new axle seals to just avoid that issue all together. Easier while its already partially apart than all back together IMO.

Max