Alright, I rarely post in this section since I just search and find my answers but I think I have too many questions at this point to do that so I'm trying to put everything I one location to consolidate this info.

My jeep is a 88 xj - d44 rear, cad 30 front. This is not a daily in any shape or form. It maybe does 500 miles a year.

I have a spare d30 out of my 90 MJ that I'm going to put some money into to limp me along until I find the right full wide axles. I know all of this is a bandaid, I just want to stay on the trails a few more years until I find my big kid axles.

Plan is -
Trussed CAD dana 30, shaft upgrade to newer 760 ujoints and NAPA #11800 inner seal for passenger side, 3.73 and up carrier, lunch box, 4.88s, OTK steering(which I still need to fab up), track bar bracket moved.

What else am I missing?

Any tips/tricks are appreciated. I don't need to get told how this axle won't hold up. I'm currently running a stock cad d30 on 35's and stock steering with no major issues. My wheeling style is slow and steady, I just need a little more strength for some future trails.

Here's what she looks like right now. Give a take.

 

i put sleeves inside my dana 30 and you will want a c gusset kit too

 

Looks pretty solid to me. Maybe some C-gussets, LCA skids and an aftermarket cover?

 

Second on the c-gussets and beefier LCA mounts or LCA skids at least. I beef'd up my D-30 as well. We will see how she holds up.

customized/extended JCR tuss
JCR c-gussets
Artec LCA mounts
Spicer ball joints
4.88 gears
OTA trac bar
Ruff Stuff diff cover

Running a 3-link so no need for the passenger side UCA mount.

 

Nice, looks good!

C gussets will get tied in with all the truss work. I'm planning on a Blue Torch Fab weld together diff cover as well. And since its out and on stands anyway i'll beef up all the other mounts at the same time.

 

full circle snap rings on your ujoints! other than that, you're good. I'd take a built D30 over "big kid" axles any day

 

The end goal on this rig is 39.5's. I don't think the thirty is going to be able to handle those even with with my light footed crawling style

So an eventual 44 will go up front. Plus I want to go wider

 

Waggy44s?

 

If you're going to 40's id skip the 44 and go up to a 60. You're already talking a considerable investment, might as well go beefier. Yes, the 44 is stronger than the 30 but people break 44's all the time on 40's.

Just my opinion of course.

 

A dana 44s limit is 37s and thats built,You need a dana 60 if you want to run a 40 and it to live.

 

why such large tires? If you can't get to where you're going on 35's I doubt you'll make it there on 40's.


one of the worst D44's! Low pinion and replacement shafts hard to find


this. you can break RCV axles running 40" tires on a D44. The D60 will be your only option at that level. which is a big dumb heavy axle. But at least it will be cheaper than a polished D44 especially since you'll need RCV's in the smaller axle (people often forget that D44 and D30 share the same ujoints. not much of an upgrade!)

 

like the plan.

recently sleeved my D30 when I locked it. Still need to gusset C's, but I plan on breaking it before I drop $$ on another axle. I'm still on 33s, but beat on pretty damn hard a few weeks ago. held up like a champ

 

With rcv over a 40 inch tire will void the warranty for a dana 44 but on a dana 60 its good tell a 47 inch tire.

 

And u-joints and ball joints for that matter. The C's are a little larger on the 44 but not a whole lot in comparison to the D30.

 

Dont know what youve got going on under the hood as far as power goes but i also agree with d44 being a bit iffy on 40s. The reason i mention power is because (i know its a different scenario but...) my friend has a k5 blazer with a 454 and 38s and he breaks his d60 at least once every year or two. Obviously if you still have the 4.0 or at least nothing larger than a small block swap i dont think you would have enough power to break a d60 but it would probably be enough to break a 44.