Axle Upgrade
- Thread starter Calvin.8
- Start date
The ring and pinion is stronger. The drive shaft is higher. The rest is the same axle as your existing low pinion Dana 30.
The thing to research and confirm is what Chris described earlier. I would look into it myself, but it isn't worth my efforts to make this kind of swap.
Would I be able to buy axle shafts, gearing, and lockers for my current axle, then eventually make the switch over to the HP30 using those same components?
The shafts and locker, yes. The ring and pinion would need to be set up from scratch.
Well then I probably wouldnt regear in my current setup before the axle swap. But then if I got a different gear ratio to put in the axle swap, I wouldnt be able to use the lockers for the different gearing correct? Or does it not work that way?
As long as the locker is on the right side of the carrier break, it can be reused after a regear to a different ratio.
I am probably only going to end up with 3.5-4 of suspension lift with a tummy tuck. Would the better driveshaft angle be necessary? I would personally like to leave my jeep as stock as possible unless it is that much better.
Plenty of people successfully do similar with the LP30. The HP30 is only better if you would benefit from what it has to offer.
Well I think I'll probabaly just end up staying with my stock axles then. Later on if I decide I need it then it doesn't sound like that expensive of an upgrade. But for now it sounds simpler not to completely swap an entire axle. I am still pretty new to all this so staying as stock as possible seems like the safe way to be until I know exactly what I want my jeep to be doing.
Some excellent questions being asked in this thread.
If one were to pull a Cherokee XJ high pinion axle from a junkyard, and attempt to swap it into a TJ Jeep with a Dana 30 low pinion, will the spring buckets and track bar mounts interchange with the TJ? What about the steering and knuckles?
Anything particular that needs to be changed in order to do the swap?
Any year model ranges of XJ's that will interchange or not?
One clear advantage that I see that
no one has mentioned in swapping to a HP30, is that you could build up your HP30 axles on your bench as funds and time allowed, while still driving on your stock LP30 TJ axle. $60 is very reasonable for a front axle core, in fact, I would buy a whole Cherokee off of craigslist just for the front axle, and part out the rest of the Cherokee for a profit.
If one were to pull a Cherokee XJ high pinion axle from a junkyard, and attempt to swap it into a TJ Jeep with a Dana 30 low pinion, will the spring buckets and track bar mounts interchange with the TJ? What about the steering and knuckles?
Anything particular that needs to be changed in order to do the swap?
Any year model ranges of XJ's that will interchange or not?
One clear advantage that I see that
no one has mentioned in swapping to a HP30, is that you could build up your HP30 axles on your bench as funds and time allowed, while still driving on your stock LP30 TJ axle. $60 is very reasonable for a front axle core, in fact, I would buy a whole Cherokee off of craigslist just for the front axle, and part out the rest of the Cherokee for a profit.
Love the idea of just slowly building it up while still driving on my stock setup. But as you asked earlier I have no idea what else is required for the axle swap.
Picked up my HP30 at a JY for $80. Had locker and gears installed and it sat in my garage until I had everything else ready. 4” lift with 35’s and absolutely no issue with setting caster. Some say it’s stronger, I don’t know. It does get the front drive shaft up out of the way. I read on another forum that Mr Blaine had swapped out rubicon 44’s for hp30’s just for that reason alone.
It bolts right up, front driveshaft may need to be shortened slightly. The HP Dana 30's strength benefit comes from its pinion and ring gears pushing against each other on their stronger drive side gear faces instead of the weaker coast sides as happens with the LP Dana 30. That said, it's not a big thing. My previous TJ's Dana 30 LP gears hung together fine doing some occasionally very tough trails.
Well it sounds like it may be worth the added strength then, given that people are finding them for $60.