Matthewd5

I'm lucky to have a great local 4x4 shop with very decent labor rates

So they will be doing the majority of the work

Matthew

Don-T

Better front axle instead of wasting money on it, gears, and lockers. Then get 35" tires. After that go use it to find out if you need anything else.

Matthewd5

So within my budget I think I can regear the back, add a rear locker and squeeze in a new front drive shaft...

Or should I wait till front one dies naturally?

I want to get this done and be relatively safe for a while so I can go wheel it on harder trails and be able to sign up for harder trails at the Jeep jamborees next year!

There were two I couldn't goto this year specifically because you needed lockers

Matthew

Matthewd5

Are you saying to skip the new front axle setup and just have a stronger axle installed?

Matthew

nthinuf

Unless you mangle a driveshaft on a rock or something, it won't be an immediate failure. Just make a habit of crawling underneath and watching for grease spitting out of the joints. Once it starts spitting, the joint will 'eventually' dry out (could be sooner or later, depending...), start making noise, and then at some point, finally fail. You can repack grease into the joint to make it last longer. Or there are apparently some newer kits to replace the joints, which I wouldn't actually recommend since the exact same thing will just happen to a new rzeppa.

And if you haven't done so already, another consideration is to take it somewhere close, flex/stuff/droop it on all corners, and actually crawl underneath and check clearances for everything. Exhaust, tranny, crossmember skid, brakelines, disconnected uptravel fender clearance, etc. Anywhere the shafts or tires might contact, or any corner the brakelines are even a little bit too tight. --Do this 'before' you get out on a trail in the boonies--

Don-T

Yes, sorry. If you have the money to buy it, get a whole new aftermarket Dana 44 instead of wasting money on the Dana 30 you have now.

Matthewd5

Thank you, great advice!

I've never heard of the flexing trick...

I've got a set of medium height ramps, sort of thing you use for changing the oil

Would those do?

Matthew

Matthewd5

In that thread on upgrading a Dana 30 upgrading/reinforcing vs new Dana 44 was really interesting

Matthew

nthinuf

Try it, but it's probably not big enough to get you the flex you need to really check everything. Some have access to RTI ramps, or forklifts, or lifts at a shop, or tree stumps, or loading ramps behind a store, stuff like that. I use a big ole boulder down at a local park.

I have never been under one of the newer 3.6's, so not sure if any of the routing is different - But, flexed auto's have a bad habit of scraping the front shaft on the crossmember skid and even banging it into the corner of the tranny pan. 6spds can jam it up into the exhaust system. Disconnected with not enough bumpstop, you can rip a fender off, or when stuffed and turning the wheel, have the tires contact other components. After lifting mine, I ordered and installed extended brake lines from the same JKF vendor I bought the lift from, then proceeded to go out and rip one of the new 'extended' rear lines off the frame.

Anyway, just a heads-up to go along with the discussion on the need to replace driveshafts. Better to know this kind of stuff ahead of time so you can take precautions if needed.

Matthewd5

Thank you, that is great info, I actually have three fairly large boulders in my front yard, I'll give it a try, probably when my wife's not home!