Dana 30 questions

[06TJ35's]

So my front Dana 30 control arm mounts and upper passenger control arm are POS. Welded on before when they broke with pos welds-.-
It’s time to replace. A welding shop quoted me $300 for just the lower control arms not the upper With me buying the Rusty or Artic industries control arm mounts.
So I was thinking of buying another Dana 30 and just baically swap parts. Some guy is selling one for $80(see picture)
I got spicer ball joints close to like a year ago
I basically want to save money

Questions I have is
how hard will it be swapping the parts?
Could I throw off the alignment?
Would I be able to do in a weekend Saturday Sunday?
Should I just fix my Dana 30?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

FIrst, don't install any of Rusty's junk... ever. I'd just swap axles, that's an easy job. It won't change your alignment either, at least not the axle itself so long as you don't adjust the tie rod or control arm lengths. You could make that swap in a morning, it only took me a couple hours to swap my previous TJ's rear Dana 35 to a Dana 44. Have a hydraulic floor jack and a friend to help, you won't have any issues.

And make sure it has the same ratio as your present Dana 30 does. You can't swap the gears between axles... at least not easily. Odds are good it will still have the tag that indicates its ratio bolted onto the diff cover at its 9 o'clock position.

This tag is indicating 3.73 gears inside. The photo says Driver's side but on your front axle it will likely be located on the passenger side.

 

[06TJ35's]

FIrst, don't install any of Rusty's junk... ever. I'd just swap axles, that's an easy job.

And make sure it has the same ratio as your present Dana 30 does. You can't swap the gears between axles... at least not easily.

View attachment 42778

Got it don’t trust Rusty’s Junk.
Question about the gears. I have a locker and I’m not sure if the Dana 30 I’m buying has one. I was thinking of putting my gears and axles into the one I’m buying. Would this not be easy?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Got it don’t trust Rusty’s Junk.
Question about the gears. I have a locker and I’m not sure if the Dana 30 I’m buying has one. I was thinking of putting my gears and axles into the one I’m buying. Would this not be easy?

What kind of locker is in your existing Dana 30, a lunchbox or a full carrier style locker. Used gears are never easy to transfer and get set up properly into a different axle. Some installers even refuse to install used gears, they're significantly trickier to set up because they have already been work hardened together.

Moving a lunchbox locker to the new axle would be trivial. Moving a full-case locker wouldn't be difficult but you'd have to set the back lash up by shimming the locker left/right as required.

 

[Rob5589]

The housing will bolt in in a few hours. But, unless the gear ratio matches, you will need a gear set up to be done. It is doubtful that the "new" housing will have a locker for 80 bucks.

 

[ac_]

I disagree about the front end alignment. I am not saying that it will throw off the alignment, but I am not saying it wont. If it has adjustable camber bolts, and it is not put back in the exact same spot, it can need an alignment, and if anything is a little off, say the hole where the panhard rod bolts to the axle is a little bigger, any of this can cause needing an alignment. You could get lucky and everything is exactly the same, but I would probably count on at least checking the alignment, and that is something you can do yourself.


Here is a how-to written by Jerry himself:
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/how-to-align-your-jeep-wrangler-tj.85/

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I disagree about the front end alignment. I am not saying that it will throw off the alignment, but I am not saying it wont. If it has adjustable camber bolts, and it is not put back in the exact same spot, it can need an alignment

I think you meant adjustable caster bolts which his '06 does not have. They were dropped in mid-99. And they didn't have enough caster adjustment range even when they were there to be a significant factor.

 

[ac_]

I think you meant adjustable caster bolts which his '06 does not have. They were dropped in mid-99. And they didn't have enough caster adjustment range even when they were there to be a significant factor.

Argh ya I got blessed with them, but Black Magic Brake is going to take care of that for me with some magic washers.