wazooz2424

care to reveal the manufacturer of the shafts you are speaking of?

Loadbreak

Just curious, but which axle shafts are domestic produced ?

Dynatrac

Right now I'm not aware of anyone making domestic JK shafts using the 1350 (Rubi) sized u-joint. Foote Axle (they also provide Superior iwth their Evolution Series shafts) is working on their version now and you should see them before the summer.

As for domestic axle shaft builders in general, Foote, Moser and Yukon's (Randy's) most recent version of their 'Hardcore' axle are the only real players. Yukon (Randy's) purchased Warn's line a few years ago and has been working to get a suitable product. They are FINALLY on the right track and have a good product (although currently very limited in application).

In our 'Competition' axle line we only use Foote axles. As many of you are aware, we offer a 1 year warranty that covers anything short of an collision. I've asked the owner of Dyantrac how many axles D60 'Competition' axle shafts (when we sell them we require use of CTM u-joints)he's had to warranty. He said "hmmm...ya know...I don't we've ever had to replace one". FWIW- CTM has never had a broken D60 (or 44 for that matter) u-joint since they changed their design about 5 years ago.

There are some great options out there now for axles and another one on the horizon. Do it right the first time. Buy the good stuff.

runit3

I guess I should have made my motivations for buying the RCV's more clear. I wanted to get rid of the U-joints because 1) I hate the bind and very narrow PNW trails make turning an issue 2) If I break the shaft, I get another @ no cost 3) I got a good price and northridge had them out to me the same day

I have no intentions of upgrading to a D60 anytime in the near future (5+ years my JK is a lifer), I'm going to gusset and tube sleeve my D44 and pray it holds up to 37's. I'll be switching out my gears soon enough, they have already been purchased-just waiting on money for install. So if by chance my RCV's do detonate I have a spare set of gears, the axles won't cost me anything to replace, and I have to bank on the D44 housing holding up to the shearing of the axle -which I'm willing to do-

I was giving my opinion on the OP's Q about replacing the axle shafts, not the entire housing, which would be the best option if money grew on trees

wayoflife

no, i understood your reasons but i think you missed what i was saying. it's nice and all that if you break a shaft, you get a replacement for free but i'm sayin if you break one, you won't need a replacement as the damage you will sustain to even your axle housing will be significant enough that you may not be able to reuse it (this is to say nothing about your gears and locker). at least, that's what happend to me. my carrier bearings got so trashed that they chewed up everything including the axle housing where the seals go. even if i had replaced everything else with a spare set, i still would of had issues with axle seals not seating properly and that's why i chose to upgrade - i basically had no choice other than to replace my housing and so i decided to get a prorock 60 instead.

my point to the op is that unlike your decision to get shafts with CV joints, he makes sure to get chromoly shaft with u-joints. that way, if something breaks, it'll have a greater chance of breaking at the u-joint and NOT the shaft. but, that's just my opinion.

runit3

But your shaft broke...not the U-Joints Would your suggestion be to just get a complete stocker replacement since it is extremely common for only the U-joint yokes to break? Also, you might be able to get it replaced under warranty

We could debate back and forth about the weakest links from the Yokes all the way to the R&P, essentially it's most economical to keep the weakest point of the D44 set-up @ the yokes.

WOL has way more experience than I do, and I would take his word over mine. I'm just a happy RCV customer

wayoflife

yup, the chromo shaft that i broke had a u-joint and that was my point. i'd like to think that was a fluke but, even if it weren't, the odds of breaking a u-joint are greater than a CV joint for sure. me, i'd prefer to try my odds again with a u-joint. as far as factory shafts go, i wouldn't want to use them because they use c-clips and these are prone to getting knocked off over time. of course, this ultimately leads to broken u-joints and shafts.

please don't misunderstand me as i'm not wanting to debate anything. just trying to share what i've seen and experienced is all. if you're happy with what you got, more power to ya

CTNEDGE

Im not sure, the most favoritist vendor on the forum sold them to me. He would know. I want to say superior but I don't want to slam them if I'm wrong. They do offer free life time replacement if you break one and I have recieved one set to replace the original carnage but now they are back ordered and I can't even get one if I did want to rebuild that pos 30 after carnage episode 2.

Dynatrac

I'm guessing but I'd bet the shaft you broke was an import. From what I've seen, usually an import shaft will break at the shaft where a domestic will destroy a joint (except CTM) or outer. On other rigs where the inner and outer are closer to equal size(unlike a JK) it's usually the outer that breaks. All things being equal, it's usually the shortest shaft that breaks. On rigs with good domestic shafts (like Warn's old shafts or Foote Axle/Superior) I can't remember seeing a broken inner shaft. I'm sure it's happened but I don't remember seeing one.

Dynatrac

JTs Parts and Accessories (AKA Just Differentials.com) has their own line of axles (and gears)known as Nitro. The Nitro line is contracted out from overseas sources.

As for quality, they're on par with other import axles.