'06 Rubicon - need more clearance

Tillamook Burn

Tillamook Burn

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Aug 15, 2017
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Oregon, United States
My baby and the best person I know is my '06 Rubicon. :) A while back I put a short-arm suspension lift (3.5") on it (SMH....short-sighted I know) and 35's. Stock, it's a great ride but I wanted to tackle some double diamonds out in Tillamook (Oregon). Problem is the housing on the Dana 44 front end. It's still too low. Here's what I'm looking for help on: Do I push it up to 5" long arm, drop the gears way down, and hope for the best? OR, do I go all out, put a mono arm shock on the back, replace the engine with a Hemi V8, etc.

Look, I'm a girl. Don't hold that against me. I don't do the work on my rig myself. But I have friends and some pretty great mechanics. And the advice I'm getting ranges from "get a JK" (no) to "put in a CV and bigger suspension." WTH? LOL..... I'm here for advice from guys who know. The caveat is I don't want to trailer it to where I'm rock crawling. Don't care if it handles like crap on the pavement, but I DO care about getting into a tight spot (between a BA rock and a hard place) and worrying about not being able to get thru without destroying the gear housing in front.

Any real suggestions are welcome - I don't drive my Rubicon to try and look cool. I like to get out and dirty and kill a 2- or 3-diamond rated trail! Thanks!
 
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There is nothing wrong with a short arm lift. If you talk to those with long arms they will often talk about getting hung up while on the rocks.
You can run 10" of lift but that won't give you more diff clearance, only tires do that. You should be able to do some pretty difficult trails on 35's on a TJ. @Jerry Bransford does some wild stuff in his based on pictures he shows in his Rubi on 35's.

A gear swap would be great but that isn't really holding you back. You have lockers, 35's, lift, etc and should be able to do nearly anything you want. With all due respect, sounds like you do not have much experience off roading, thinking more and bigger instead of picking the right line and learning from someone with off road knowledge.
 
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+1, the Tillamook Burn and the Siuslaw is my back yard.

Ran with a guy that had an SE, Trutracs and 31" tires that did just fine 99.9% of the time.

Where are you going up there that you need 35's and a ton of lift? Brown's Camp? What trails?
 
Thanks for your reply, Rob. With all due respect, while I'm not a pro, I hold my own pretty well out there. I can do the waterfall in Tillamook in my sleep, I've nav'd most of the Archer's Firebreaks out there. Honestly, I got in a bind (or close) on the end of Little Rubicon (couldn't crawl down that cliff) and took off my driver's side step bar getting around Saddle Up. Tillamook burn trails. Met a guy with 40's on a long arm Lift ('05 TJ) who said he wouldn't have taken the last (Saddle Up) trail - the rains out here the last 2 years have eroded the heck out of what used to be a tough, but fun, Jeep-rated trail. Make no mistake, I'm always up for suggestions - but I know how to drive out there and I have no fear. I'd like to take on bigger, badder challenges - crawling over a boulder field and finding myself on the end of the trail that's suddenly become ATV-wide and flanked by 4' boulders I have a tough time straddling in order to get out. If you live out this way, I'll happily meet you at Brown's Camp! Like I said, I'm always up for suggestions and a good romp in the rocks!
 
StG58 said:
+1, the Tillamook Burn and the Siuslaw is my back yard.

Ran with a guy that had an SE, Trutracs and 31" tires that did just fine 99.9% of the time.

Where are you going up there that you need 35's and a ton of lift? Brown's Camp? What trails?
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Hey! I couldn't get down Little Rubi at the cliff. Also, for some reason had a time getting my right front tire over the big tree stump toward the end of Saddle Up. Have video of it (I got there, it just wasn't pretty). Am I just wussing out, trying not to bash the crap out of the gear housing?
 
All good. If you can't do what you want on 35's, are thinking 37+, and total hard core wheeling, start thinking about a possible stretch, Dana 60's frt and rear, one ton steering conversion, possibly a dual stick Atlas case, full tuck, etc. Simply bolting on a long arm set up isn't going to get you where you want. The good part is you can easily sell off the stock Rubi diffs/lockers/case and recoup some dough.
 
Thanks. A tuck would be sweet......but you may have a good point about picking my line more carefully - or spotting the trail a little better. So far I've been able to get out of a couple of spots without doing much damage to anything but the body and add-ons. *smile* You're right - I have enough lift for the most part. I just want to avoid irreparable damage to the housing.
 
Seems like you want to be on 35's. So be it. But like others have asked and always ask on post like these...where, when, and how often do you plan to wheel? Are you breaking parts?

I believe in making your Jeep a reflection of what you desire it to be, whatever that is.

You might be overthinking this a little bit. But if you want to address the concern on your front end, cost will be your only limiting factor.

Tillamook Burn said:
I just want to avoid irreparable damage to the housing.
Click to expand...

Below are just two options*

You could start "small" by sleeving it (*requires drilling holes in your factory axle tubes to rosette weld the sleeves in place) which will boost your strenth up 30%, Off Road Evolution offers sleeves for your axle. You could gusset it, as well as truss it as well. But at the end of the day it still has smaller inner C's and small Dana 30 diamter tubes. Sleeving, trussing, and or gussets are usually a suggested route as you may not need anything more than this. I guess a good question to ask yourself before throwing money at your Jeep is, are you actually breaking parts?

Stock inner C compared to the PR44 inner C:
IMG_5215.JPG



The only other way to approach the front clearance issue is to look into the Dynatrac Pro Rock Dana 44 axle housing. I say, "housing," because all your Dana 44 parts on your TJ right now will bolt onto and into the new beefier Prorock 44 housing. This is the only other way to gain ground clearance other than larger tires. The new PR44 hosuing can be had for less than $2k. I believe Quadratec has it at $1960.00 before shipping.

The ProRock 44 has the most ground clearance of any Dana 44. The ProRock 44 has more ground clearance than a Dana 30. It is high pinion, which will help to keep the pinion yoke, u-joint, and driveshaft out of the terrain/rocks. The ProRock axle tubes are 3inch OD/.3125inch ID versus the Dana 30/rubi 44's 2.50inch OD/0.25inch ID. That is a differnce of 213% in strength with the ProRock44. The PR 44 also has an option for .500 inch ID tubes. Increasing the strength to 282% over stock. Some will simply say overkill. Which I am inclined to agree. You may just need 30% increase in strength by going sleeves and having them welded in. However may be wise to look at cost comparison in sleeves, gussets, and trussing versus a ($1960.00) Dynatrac ProRock housing that bolts in using your exsiting parts.

Stock tubes on Rubi and Dana 30(far left) vs PR44 .3125 inch and .500 inch ID's(middle and far right)
IMG_5216.JPG



Adding strength (sleeving,truss, and gussets) to your axle is a perfect fit(even arguably overkill) for mild offroading. If you are breaking parts then IMO, swapping the axle address weaknesses that you may have today and allows future growth in what you use your Jeep for. But like one memeber suggested if you are planning on more than 35's or 36's, you will want to look at a stretch and one tons.

Edit: Found that the ProRock 44 only accepts the new (next) generation Dana 44 (8.8 inch) ring gear and pinion(matches Dana 60 size). Knowing that, it may also require new inner shafts. Which is even more added strength but also added cost.
 
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You know who would be an excellent source to talk to on this? Local TJ guru @David Kishpaugh. He's a local legend of sorts, and builds some of the best rigs I've ever seen. He's out in the Tillamook area all the time showing off his rigs. And of course, as I mentioned, he's local too (I'm also in Oregon).

He could probably give some of the best advice since he knows that terrain very well.

The only problem I see is that even if you add more suspension lift, that's not going to give you more axle clearance by any means. The only way you're going to achieve that is with bigger tires. You could lift it 20", but as long as the tire size hasn't changed, you won't be gaining any axle clearance, right?
 
Chris said:
You could lift it 20", but as long as the tire size hasn't changed, you won't be gaining any axle clearance, right?
Click to expand...

The Dynatrac ProRock 44 has more clearance than a stock Rubi Dana 44 and even a Dana 30. However it is just one advantage to swapping in an aftermarket axle housing.
 
Fouledplugs said:
The Dynatrac ProRock 44 has more clearance than a stock Rubi Dana 44 and even a Dana 30. However it is just one advantage to swapping in an aftermarket axle housing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking as well, an aftermarket axle housing. That will have many benefits and improve clearance.
 
Jeepwest mid arm. 14" front and rear travel. Combined with hiline fenders, 37" tires are a perfect fit provided your axles can handle them. These are set to operate on 2" over stock rear bump stop extension and 1.5" front. The Ford is on 39.5" boggers....

I also build "geometry correction" brackets for the rear and keep the 16" short arms combined with 26" front mid arms.

The ride and handling is comparable to a Camaro and the off road performance is that of a buggy.

Long arms are worthless unless the geometry is correct.


Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
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