Maybe the 30 spline Dana 30 axles are worthwhile?
- Thread starter whitrzac
- Start date
4340 chromoly 27 spline shafts up front with 35's hold up to nearly anything the majority here does, me included. They're what I installed into my previous TJ after breaking a front shaft doing something stupid on Sledgehammer in JV.
They were USA standard chromoly shafts.
Trying to figure out the warranty situation, they don't have any way of contacting them directly...
I have taken a little different approach. I keep spare stocks shafts with me when I wheel. I broke a driver side stock shaft at the u-joint ears. I was able to change the shaft out on the trail in about 30 minutes. I’d rather have a failure at the u-joint than in the pumpkin. Stock shafts can be had for close to nothing with all the XJs in yards. That’s just how I handle it for way less than chromoly shafts or a super 30 kit which is pretty pricy and moves the weak point to the R&P which isn’t a fun failure on the trail. Just my $0.02
Broke a few 27 spline chromoly shafts in my Dana HP30. East coast wheeling will do that when you catch traction all of a sudden on a muddy rocky area. Went to 30 spline and then my fuse moved to the ring & pinion. Better to replace shafts than R&P in my opinion.
Went to a RockJock 44 and I've been quite happy.
Went to a RockJock 44 and I've been quite happy.
Vtx531
TJ Addict
Yeah, mud puddle... right. 
OP, if the warranty claim doesn't pan out, are you going to change to a 30 spline setup?
OP, if the warranty claim doesn't pan out, are you going to change to a 30 spline setup?
Sometimes people don't understand the concept of fusible links. It's a lot easier to repair a u joint or axle on a trail than it is to replace a set of gears!
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I don't understand. I don't want a weak link. If I break, I want to be wholly surprised when I get out of the rig to figure out what broke. If you build in a weak link, the rig's capability is out of balance.Sometimes people don't understand the concept of fusible links. It's a lot easier to repair a u joint or axle on a trail, than it is to replace a set of gears!
I had alloy front axles with full circle clips and an ARB installed in a 98 XJ 4.0L (only used on REALLY difficult obstacles) and had no problems with them in 15+ years.
IF you broke a Chromoly axle shaft you need to change your driving style.
I'm seriously curious. How is the vehicles mechanical system any different than it's electrical system? I get the idea that you want to build for success, but doing so is expensive. If you can't spend the money to have a system that is equally strong, the alternatives are fusible links and carry parts, or just don't wheel.
What would happen to us in JV is the Warn small hubs would break. Break a couple and then it would take out the inner and blow up the locker. Pretty consistently. Switched to the 30 spline stuff and all that went away.
Trail time makes the difference I guess. When Warn came out with their fuse for the big hubs, we had several run them. We'd all be scooting down the trail and goober with the fuses would break one. Stop, scoop out the broken bits, see if the hub survived, swap in a new fuse and do it again. We had one that broke 3 on the same trail, at least 3 hours of repair time, no one else broke with similarly set up rigs without fuses.
Essentially you are telling me to put a fuse on my winch that blows when I need more than 4000 lbs. of recovery force and I don't ever want that. If my winch smokes because I was working it too hard, so be it. I'd far rather run it at the limit than spend half a day replacing fuses and having to reset several times because the winch can't do what I need it to.
This is where the wisdom of seeing what breaks consistently helps weed out the weak links. I don't push my Jeep hard enough to have consistent failures. The ones I do see on the trail happen, largely, due to stupid stuff or a lack of maintenance.