Dynatrac

In a sleeved JK housing, while the sleeves would certainly eliminate some of the bending, most of the bending now would be focused on the weakest area- at the center of the housing where the sleeves end.

DJSJK50

Ok, you are way over my head on this. And I understand this is a depends kind of thing because there is no real test made for this condition. And that not many JK had this problem. So persons like me, would this be a true way of thinking.

1) If one does not wheel hard, then one does not have to do anything. And if you have the rubi, this makes this even more true.

2) If I just want to be a little more protected, and depending on how I wheel (more than point 1) I would use an inner sleeve.

3) If I know I have a good welder that understand what I am doing, then outer sleeves would be good.

4) If I have the cash, and I am really concerned, get the PR44.

Dynatrac

Even if you wheel lightly, certain modifications must be made to make the stock housing reliable.
In stock form the axle brackets are weak and prone to failure. The end forgings (the 'C') are very weak and must be reinforced.

mr_natural78

wow. never seen one break like that. I have bent my front D30 already though....oddly enough....it's on the short side though....and I only had 33 x 11.5's at the time. It might be the C that's bent. I don't really know. I plan to replace it with a D44.

Drowe303

This is awesome. I poor college student is now stuck with a weak d30 axle housing and cannot afford a $2,000 pro rock D44 axle housing or the gears, shafts, etc that go along with it. And if I wanted to reinforce what I have with sleeves and gussets, it still will not help the situation. Thanks Jeep

wayoflife

I know a guy who used to work for a sanitation company and his official title was that of an "engineer". Now, I don't know what kind of "engineer" some of the people who claim to be one on here are but, I can tell you that my engineering friends are all in the industry and are very familiar with the JK, the axles and the existing solutions that out there. But, for the purposes of this post, I'm going to put all that aside and just stick with what I know - facts:

1. Of the tens of thousands of JK's that are out there, there have only been about a dozen breaks that I know of - 3 of which happend to people I know personally.
2. Of all the breaks, all but one occured in the exact same location.
3. The one break that didn't happen in the same location was also the only one that had sleeves installed.
4. The breaks happen on both factory Dana 30 and Dana 44 axle housings and regardless of tire size.
5. In over 60,000 miles of wheeling hard on my White JK, I have never suffered an axle housing break.

Now, I'm not going to try and sell you on any product or solution that's currently available or make any unsubstantiated claims about what is stronger than what. Based on my experiences, I would have to say that installing sleeves is definitely a good idea if you plan on wheeling your Jeep hard. As far as what is better - inner or outer or both, I would have to say that anything is better than nothing. However, no matter how much you beef up your factory axle housing, it will always only be as strong as it's weekest point. Again, blazer4949 did not break his axle where everyone else had but rather, he broke it next to the pumpkin. So far as I know, there is no inner or outer solution that ties the axle tube to the pumpkin and so, that will ultimately be your weakest point regardless of what solution you go with. If you want absolute strength, you will need to get something that is built a lot beefier right from the get go. Everything else is just added insurance that you won't have a catestrophic break and hey, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I would recommend it if you plan on wheeling your Jeep hard. If you're just a casual wheeler, you're probably going to be fine with what you got.

ronner

Just talked to RSE today and confirmed that the "outer" solution they provide does tie into the pumpkin.
Further, they said that from a strength perspective, they recommend doing the "outer" solution over sleeves, if you can do only one. However, it takes much more welding skill and work to do the outers.

Agreed that many people do nothing and are fine.
Others sleeve and are fine (except for poor blazer).
others run a Dynatrac (I would love to do that as well, but hard for me to justify for my needs).

As you say, on a forum such as this there are many unknowns. Whether I, or any other contributor to this thread, knows what we are talking about is unknown. However that does apply both ways, but did that really even need to be said? I hope everyone here reading stuff in any forum takes it with a grain of salt and uses their own common sense to sift through all the BS to get to the kernels of fact. It should also be obvious that anyone with any financial gain based on information from this thread should also be suspect. The "engineers" you asked about this, who are "in this industry" may be somewhat biased, especialy if their company is competing with companies that sell the "outer" shell solutions and theirs does not. And of course that applies to RSE's information above as well.

That said, I generally agree with your comments. Only difference is that there is at least one outer solution that does attach to the pumpkin.
R

wayoflife

for a guy who's been on here for over a year, has only 36 posts and almost half of which is in regards to RSE, i kind of figured you would have talked to them. in fact, it would seem that this thread and promoting RSE are about the only things you seem to be interested in.

for the record, i used to argue against the need for any sleeves of any type and much to the chagrin of my sponsors. god forbid i would actually try and discourage people from spending their hard earned money. if it weren't for the fact that i have personally witnessed multiple breaks over the last couple of years, i would still be telling people to save their money. of course, based on what i have seen, i have since changed my tune, eaten my words and now recommend ANY solution over nothing. clearly, you seem to think that RSE is the best thing since sliced bread and honestly, if you really have a JK and actually wheel it, i hope you get a set for your front axle. certainly, it's your money and i wouldn't dream of standing in your way of spending it however you want - this goes for everyone on this forum.

oh, BTW - regarding welding onto a cast housing, i think it would only be fair to let everyone here know that it takes a LOT more skill and a clear understanding of procedures and materials that need to be used in order to insure that the welds are properly fusing the two metals. being an "engineer" of who knows what, maybe this is something you can do but, it sure isn't something that just any welder can do.

wayoflife

that looks about right but again, i think it should be pointed out that connecting to the pumpkin is a POSSIBILE option and NOT the norm. welding onto a cast housing takes a LOT of skill and a clear understanding of procedures and materials that need to be used in order to insure that the welds are properly fusing the two metals.

wayoflife

Also, this is not correct. In order to install inner sleeves, you need to pull your axle shafts so the answer to that question should be - Yes, things do need to be removed. As far as outer sleeves go, I do believe the manufacturer of them actually recommends that the inner axle seals be replaced due to the extreme heat caused from welding and it's very real potential for damaging them. In order to replace the seals, you will need to open up your diff and remove the carrier - not such a big deal if you're planning to install a locker and/or regearing at the same time but, it's a lot more labor you need to assume for if you're not. When you do the numbers, I think it would make more sense to just start thinking about a new axle but hey, that's just me.