With chromoly axles, does the weak point then become the ring and pinion?

[Alex M.]

If you upgrade to chromoly or alloy axle shafts does that mean the next most likely thing to blow on the trail will be the ring and pinion?

If so that seems a little concerning, as a broken axle would be much easier to fix than blown gears.

 

[jodomcfrodo]

What you break depends on a lot of things. Can't ever say for sure what will go first because it depends on the situation. You certainly could break the ring and pinion with or without chromoly axles shafts. You could also blow the driveshaft. Axles shafts can break no matter what. All depends on the situation. But if you're legitimately concerned about blowing up ring and pinions, I would argue you don't have strong enough axles for what you're doing in the first place. Concern about breaking the ring and pinion shouldn't really come into play when considering whether or not to buy chromoly axle shafts. There are three cases where I could see ring and pinions breaking on the trail:

1) They were already going out anyway due to a lack of maintenance. Usually ends with bearings being unhappy.
2) Absolute abuse where the person driving was probably expecting something to break. Lot of the time ends up with broken pinions or sheered teeth.
3) Axles simply not strong enough.

That is just my opinion on the matter. I'm sure others might have differing opinions.

 

[Rob5589]

@jodomcfrodo basically nailed it. If hardened axles cause r&p breakage, time to move up in axle size.

 

[Bababooey]

Ring and pinion and factory rubi lockers will become a weak spot if the axles are no longer the fuse. Good example would be rubi axles running 35's.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

It's a non-issue so long as you're not also trying to run huge tires significantly larger than the 35's the axles handle without problem. Personally, I've had no axle or gear breakages since converting to alloy shafts on occasionally very tough rock crawling trails.

 

[Mike_H]

It's a non-issue so long as you're not also trying to run huge tires significantly larger than the 35's the axles handle without problem. Personally, I've had no axle or gear breakages since converting to alloy shafts on occasionally very tough rock crawling trails.

How about u-joints? I would guess those to be the fuse, after axle shafts.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

How about u-joints? I would guess those to be the fuse, after axle shafts.

Once the unhardened OE carbon steel axle shafts get replaced with hardened alloy shafts that hold onto the u-joints far more securely, broken u-joints more or less go away. Again, it's a non-issue. Replacing the OE carbon steel shafts with good quality alloy axle shafts like from Revolution Gear removes the parts that account for 99% of breakages. I haven't had any axle breakages since converting to front alloys in 2003 and rear alloys in maybe 2005 or clise.

 

[Mike_H]

Once the unhardened OE carbon steel shafts get replaced with hardened alloy shafts that hold onto the u-joints far more securely, broken u-joints more or less go away. Again, it's a non-issue. Replacing the OE carbon steel shafts with good quality alloy shafts like from Revolution Gear removes the parts that account for 99% of breakages. I haven't had any axle breakages since converting to front alloys in 2003 and rear alloys in maybe 2005 or clise.

I was thinking drive shaft ujoints vs steering. What your saying makes sense too, and agrees with the limited amout of trail failures I've seen.

 

[Chris]

Ring and pinion and factory rubi lockers will become a weak spot if the axles are no longer the fuse. Good example would be rubi axles running 35's.

I run 35s on my Rubicon with factory lockers, RCV shafts, and Revolution 5.38 gears. Are you saying that I’m going to potentially have issues with that setup?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Ring and pinion and factory rubi lockers will become a weak spot if the axles are no longer the fuse. Good example would be rubi axles running 35's.

Been running alloy shafts on my Rubicon on some often very tough rock crawling trails for ten plus years. No broken lockers. Can it happen? Of course, anything can happen. But mine are quite handily handling trails not many will attempt. 5.38 gearing, 35's 4:1 tcase and an automatic that can easily put out 2-3X more low-end torque than is available with a manual transmission

 

[Bababooey]

Been running alloy shafts on my Rubicon on some often very tough rock crawling trails for ten plus years. No broken lockers. Can it happen? Of course, anything can happen. But mine are quite handily handling trails not many will attempt. 5.38 gearing, 35's 4:1 tcase and an automatic that can easily put out 2-3X more low-end torque than is available with a manual transmission

Not saying every Jeep set up like that is doomed for failure, but 35” tires are right at the limit. Back in the day, I ran 33” tires on my YJs stock Dana 35 without failure, but me not having a failure doesn’t qualify the Dana 35 as having been up to the task. I’d be comfortable wheeling your exact setup, but I’d be aware that there are weak points that may or may not cause trouble in the future.