Best aftermarket axle companies?

Fouledplugs said:
Dynatrac, Currie, and Crane are three of the top brands that build complete aftermarket housings.
Dynatracs Pro Rock housings have great ground clearance and are 100% made in the USA. Their Pro Rock 60 has more ground clearance than a Dana/Spicer OEM Dana 44.
Currie Rock Jock centers re cast in China or overseas, if that matters to you. their rotated high pinion housings are great for low CG builds. I'm looking at getting one of their Rock Jock 70's for a rear axle in my YJ.
Crane builds all their stuff in the USA, pretty sure they have all their casting work done by Branik Motorsports. All they support housing wise is 14 bolts.

If you didn't have a tight budget and ground clearance was an issue, Spidertrax Axles have 5+- inches of ground clearance at 15 degrees of pinion angle, which is comparable to a Dana 35. They are the lightest axles that can be had to support the most demanding horsepower and tire size.

But finding an axle that supports 37's on a budget? Good luck. Lead times are crazy right now too.

You will want something a little wider in the WMS measurement.
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Good info, thanks. I'm not so much on a budget as I need to find a stopping point. I don't drive really aggressively and want to remain a daily driver. If I go tons then I'd want to triangulate and, well, you know. I'll build a buggy if I need to for the really crazy stuff. It'll go through the Rubicon right now and that's close to my house.
 
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B00mb00m said:
Gosh there are a lot of options and they're all expensive!! I've been window shopping for 2 years and there's not one that stands out IMO, at least from $/capability. The thing that i'm interested in for the next level axles above 44s is high gear ratio > 5.38 and high pinion front and rear. This is to allow the 42RLE + 37s to be bareable without an engine swap. The two options there seem to fabricated axles or DSTRAC Dana 70 capable center sections. With a fab housing gearworks third member you can go to 6.20 ratio!

Fusion - use new Dana 60 centers and make their own kingpin knuckles they also make their own third member now. I'm actually interested in their fabricate axles most to get axle ratio over 6 would be RAD for making my Overdrive act like an actual gear on teh highway. Fusion finally started a 44 housing option also. I've ordered their aluminum steering for my jk44 and they were good to work with.
Carbon - uses rockjock housing. If i was going 5.38 ratio the currie housing is what I'd run. You can get high or low pinion rear too.
G2 - their crate JK axle is probably the best bang for buck (on the rear at least) the front is still cost of a kidney.
ECGS - I got my JK44s from them. They were a little sloppy in their attention to details but gave a HELL of a warranty and no questions asked got me a new gearset installed when my pinion bearing got smoked. They now make a rear fabricated housing for semis reasonable price.
Dynatrac - seems top notch but everything is proprietary, not even sure who's C/knuckle they use if thats standard or not.
Currie - def a big fan of currie. They use 99-04 ford parts for 60s and they make a JK rubi housing. As the proprietor of the rockjock housing got to give them credit and at least get a quote from them.
DSTRAC - new to USA brand with presence on social media. THey are from brazil and make almost everything in house supposedly. Good prices compared to the big US suppliers. Haven't heard anything negative. They use Dana 70 gearsets so you can go at least lik 5.83 or something on ratio.

I think thats all the big players??
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Thanks, the DSTRAC axles are portals I think. Not sure if they make a regular. I've looked at the G2, Carbon, and Dynatrac I think but it seems like just a few hundred more gets you Currie. I'll look at some of these others.
 
aww man go bigger............https://www.torqaxle.com/products/super-14-3rd-member/
 
Orobertsimons said:
Thanks, the DSTRAC axles are portals I think. Not sure if they make a regular. I've looked at the G2, Carbon, and Dynatrac I think but it seems like just a few hundred more gets you Currie. I'll look at some of these others.
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Dstrac makes the entire axle assembly, the portal is kind of a bolt on instead of traditional knuckle. According to their website and Instagram content they make highpinion non portal axles.
 
If you have the skill set and tools another option would be to build a set of axles, I would suggest a front Dana 60 from a Ford super duty and a rear corporate GM14 bolt with some Branik Motorsports bits and pieces, and a selectable locker from whichever manufacturer you decide. I built mine under my CJ buggy along these guidelines and have under $10 k in both of them. I'm not sure what someone would charge to assemble them.
 
i've looked at so many builder sites it's hard to remember them all..........something WEST sells portal hubs and if you dig around their site they sell rear Dana 44 and Dana 60 crate axles as well.
 
someguysjeep said:
i've looked at so many builder sites it's hard to remember them all..........something WEST sells portal hubs and if you dig around their site they sell rear Dana 44 and Dana 60 crate axles as well.
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74weld is who you’re thinking of perhaps?
 
B00mb00m said:
Gosh there are a lot of options and they're all expensive!! I've been window shopping for 2 years and there's not one that stands out IMO, at least from $/capability. The thing that i'm interested in for the next level axles above 44s is high gear ratio > 5.38 and high pinion front and rear. This is to allow the 42RLE + 37s to be bareable without an engine swap. The two options there seem to fabricated axles or DSTRAC Dana 70 capable center sections. With a fab housing gearworks third member you can go to 6.20 ratio!

Fusion - use new Dana 60 centers and make their own kingpin knuckles they also make their own third member now. I'm actually interested in their fabricate axles most to get axle ratio over 6 would be RAD for making my Overdrive act like an actual gear on teh highway. Fusion finally started a 44 housing option also. I've ordered their aluminum steering for my jk44 and they were good to work with.
Carbon - uses rockjock housing. If i was going 5.38 ratio the currie housing is what I'd run. You can get high or low pinion rear too.
G2 - their crate JK axle is probably the best bang for buck (on the rear at least) the front is still cost of a kidney.
ECGS - I got my JK44s from them. They were a little sloppy in their attention to details but gave a HELL of a warranty and no questions asked got me a new gearset installed when my pinion bearing got smoked. They now make a rear fabricated housing for semis reasonable price.
Dynatrac - seems top notch but everything is proprietary, not even sure who's C/knuckle they use if thats standard or not.
Currie - def a big fan of currie. They use 99-04 ford parts for 60s and they make a JK rubi housing. As the proprietor of the rockjock housing got to give them credit and at least get a quote from them.
DSTRAC - new to USA brand with presence on social media. THey are from brazil and make almost everything in house supposedly. Good prices compared to the big US suppliers. Haven't heard anything negative. They use Dana 70 gearsets so you can go at least lik 5.83 or something on ratio.

I think thats all the big players??
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Thanks, I'm leaning towards the Currie but $12,000 is a lot to put into a $10,000 Jeep!
 
Orobertsimons said:
Thanks, I'm leaning towards the Currie but $12,000 is a lot to put into a $10,000 Jeep!
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Really depends on what you have planned for your Jeep and how long you plan to keep it.

Lots of folks take junk yard Jeeps and fully restore/restomod them, dumping more money in parts, labor and time than they paid for the Jeep.
 
I have a Currie 44 front, 60 rear on 37's. No complaints. I'd like to eventually do a 60 front, but that runs $12K+ by the time you replace everything else. So not sure that's going to happen unless I break the front.
 
someguysjeep said:
not if your doin it right.
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Can you explain a little further?

My thinking was buying an $800 TJ, for example, replacing/restoring the frame and axles to start…paint job…interior, exterior, and underneath the tub. It’s gonna run your more than $800 to bring it back to dealer lot quality, fit, and finish.
 
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Fouledplugs said:
Honestly, the fabricated 9/10 inch housings are the best solution that exist in between for 36's, 37', and 39's which saves ground clearance in comparison to a Dana 60 or 14 bolt.

And they have proven to be as strong and solidified their place on the same rocks and trails as 60's and 14's.
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After much back and forth the fabricated axle will be my future 60 axle build. Just ordered a trail gear rock assault 9 housing to build my future front axle with. They dropped their prices surprisingly. Got 3” x 3/8” tubes for $800 shipped from Jegs.

It looks like the perfect 37s axle, it’s not as common as a Dana, looks racery, and can be bought in bits and built at home.
 
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B00mb00m said:
After much back and forth the fabricated axle will be my future 60 axle build. Just ordered a trail gear rock assault 9 housing to build my future front axle with. They dropped their prices surprisingly. Got 3” x 3/8” tubes for $800 shipped from Jegs.

It looks like the perfect 37s axle, it’s not as common as a Dana, looks racery, and can be bought in bits and built at home.
Click to expand...

i've looked at them a few times myself, that's the about price the 1/4" tubes was going for last yr, nice. i just saw a Currie HP 9" pig on FB to and thought of them again recently.
 
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B00mb00m said:
After much back and forth the fabricated axle will be my future 60 axle build. Just ordered a trail gear rock assault 9 housing to build my future front axle with. They dropped their prices surprisingly. Got 3” x 3/8” tubes for $800 shipped from Jegs.

It looks like the perfect 37s axle, it’s not as common as a Dana, looks racery, and can be bought in bits and built at home.
Click to expand...

That’s a great price, I just checked and their website has them for $900 before shipping.

Those are just a few points that drove me to my Spidertrax axles.
 
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