Buckeye1982

I was considering going to a Dana 44 front since it seems like after reading around a lot could be a good choice. Was curious anyone had any recommendations where to buy from and possible prices for something like that? Also what are the items I need to do such a change? Sorry don't know much

JKMARINE

You can buy one from here on the forum, local off road shops, or order one. Usually range from $2,500-$3,000. They are a straight up replacement. Just make sure you have the same gears in the rear. If you plan on running the e lockers, you'll need the wiring harness and probably want the rear axle with the e locker too. I did this and I'm not going to use the e locker. Switching to air as soon as I can get the funds. Hope this helped.

nthinuf

Check all of the forums, your local Craigslist, Ebay, etc. There are a few reports of used front rubi44's for under 1k, but $1500-$2000 is more likely. A new axle would be around $2800. It will need to be regeared to match the rear, and will need all of the same housing upgrades you would use for your current d30. (C Gussets, Inner Sleeves, Outer Sleeves, Truss, CA Skids, etc. Whatever your budget will allow). Also, if you plan on buying a bare housing and building it from scratch, a new factory e-locker is roughly $1200 by itself. Look into upgrading to a 35spline ARB with 35spline shafts instead .

Unless you can find a great deal on a used rubi axle, you would actually be better off looking into a PR44.


Both of those will be direct bolt in swaps to replace your d30. Also, you can re-use the ends of your 30 on either of these 44's if needed. (brakes, outer shafts, etc). The inner shafts, gears, ujoints, etc, can not be re-used.

remark

Yeah good idea on the upgrade. It is somewhere in my future wish list too.

Look at the difference in gear sizes between the 44 and the 30. It is scary how much smaller the 30 is.

This is a picture of my stock 3.73 44 and 30 gears.