upgrade dana 30 axle shafts?

Kevin86 · #1 04-09-2006, 09:30 PM

Last weekend while wheeling, i broke my right front axle u joint, which in turn ate up my inner and outer shafts on the right side. I would like to upgrade shafts, but i don't know if aftermarket shafts (warn, superior, or alloy usa) are significantly better then the far cheaper stock replacements. Any insight?

Rio_Grande · #2 04-10-2006, 02:33 AM

Any alloy shaft will be tougher than stock. Mosier makes a good product.

thorjeep · #3 04-10-2006, 01:01 PM

I am considering some chromoly shafts, PM me we might get a discount w/ 2 sets.

elusive · #4 04-10-2006, 09:05 PM

actually, no one out here can keep moser shafts together. I don't know why, but the warn and alloy usa ones are holding up better then moser or superior.
none of the alloy shafts will withstand u-joint failure. Well, sometimes you get lucky, but it's bad either way.
if you are running the 260 series u-joints, then the aftermarket shafts are a huge upgrade because you'll get larger u-joints as well.

Kevin86 · #5 04-10-2006, 11:36 PM

Yeah i do have the stock 260 sized u joints. So it sounds like i will go w/ some alloy usa units. Do they come w/ the larger tj sized u joints? i cant find anything that says they do, in their quadratrac product definition. Also is their anything wrong w/ running alloys on one side this weekend? I am trying to just get the jeep fixed in time for the first big bog of the year, this Friday.

jeepsr4ever · #6 04-11-2006, 12:29 AM

I run 40" MTR's on my ZJ with a rubicon dana 44 fornt end with superior alloys. The Alloy shafts come with FULL circle clips and most of them have at least a 5 year warrantee. Now this doesnt cover things like locker damage or spindle damage but its good to have. I only know of one that has ever done this..

And that was from the first batch...just like some of the Yukon shafts sometimes you get a grab bag so a warrantee is nice to have.

Jim_Lou · #7 04-11-2006, 08:25 AM

Spending upgrade money on D30 parts doesn't make sense to me. Some pretty smart engineers design those things. Do you think they'd build a (pick a number) 500 ft/lb ring and pinion and drive 300 ft/lb axels with it?

Every component is expected to handle about the same maximum torque. When a given part breaks it's because that part just happened to catch the abuse that day, or be a little weaker because of manufacturing variations. Next time it could just as easily be something else.

The D30 isn't a bad axel, but it was designed to carry a certain amount of weight and transmit a certain amount of torque. If some part breaks more than once you are probably transmitting too much torque or carrying too much weight. If you replace that part with a stronger one, something else will be real close to breaking.

ecamp55 · #8 04-11-2006, 08:35 AM

If you break a stock axle/u-joint and carry a spare, it's a cheap and reasonably quick trail fix. If you upgrade the axles and then break a ring and pinion instead of the axle/u-joint it's neither a cheap nor quick fix. That's why I upgraded my internals but left the stock axles/u-joints in my 30.

WILL · #9 04-11-2006, 05:14 PM

[ QUOTE ]
i cant find anything that says they do, in their quadratrac product definition.

[/ QUOTE ]

You might try quadratec instead. Quadratrac refers to several jeep trasfer cases.

peteyg · #10 04-11-2006, 07:53 PM

I have Warn inners, Superior outers, and CTMs in my Dana 30. I used to have a full Detroit but it broke. I replaced it with an open carrier and a lock-right.

I have wheeled the :censored::censored::censored::censored: out of my Dana 30, and I can tell you that between the axles, the CTMs, the Detroit, and the gears, it was the Detroit that broke. The axles, u-joints and gears were fine.

The Superior outers have alread wallowed out a little. I was very disappointed with that.

I think a bigger issue, at least for TJs, is the weak crappy control arm mounts they use on both the front and rear axles. I'm at a point where I need to replace ALL of that crap. What a pita.