Locker in a Dana 30?
- Thread starter Rage Pirate
- Start date
It’s up to you, but this one is a good first choice, not a true locker, but it gets the job done.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVQPMGC/?tag=wranglerorg-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IVQPMGC/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I have a locker in mine…33” tires. I don’t beat on my rig and use the go pedal conservatively but I m happy with the results.
If hard useage and big tires are in your future might be better looking for a 44. More knowledgeable folks will weigh in I m guessing. Good Luck
If hard useage and big tires are in your future might be better looking for a 44. More knowledgeable folks will weigh in I m guessing. Good Luck
Because it’s not selectable, which around here is what most mean when you say locker, this is a “lunch box” style.
The OP didn’t provide much info so…not sure what they mean either.
What locker are you running in your Dana 30? Did you upgrade your axles when you put in the locker?
Thats about as true locker as you can get as auto locking diffs go. Locked is locked. Sort of a Detroit lite for an open carrier
Dana 30 will work fine.
I have a Grizzly locker in my Dana 30 (true full size locker, not lunch box). When in 2HI, you don’t really feel it’s presence. In 4HI or 4L it is doing it’s job.
I do have chromoly shafts. With my 31s it is completely rock solid.
I have a Grizzly locker in my Dana 30 (true full size locker, not lunch box). When in 2HI, you don’t really feel it’s presence. In 4HI or 4L it is doing it’s job.
I do have chromoly shafts. With my 31s it is completely rock solid.
That is a locker. It’s an auto locker. It does the same function a selectable does.
Yes, if you want traction when you raise a tire or lose traction on one tire due to slick surface like mud or ice. Don’t settle for less if that’s what you want.
An LSD is not a locker. They can work well on snow and ice, but for maximum traction a locker can’t be beat.
Check out Everyday Off-road on YouTube. He has a Dana 30 with a locker and RCV shafts, seems to do pretty good on 35,s (I think maybe even 37’s now).
By his own admission he doesn’t beat on it to hard though.
By his own admission he doesn’t beat on it to hard though.
As others have said, if you ever lift a front wheel, you’ll be glad to have a locker. Auto (like a powertrax no-slip) is the simple and budget option. Selectable is best (stronger carrier and more versatile). Stouter (cro-moly) shafts are recommended with locked 30s. With 30 spline cro-moly shafts in a Dana 30 (27 is stock), there isn’t much benefit to the 44 which is both heavier and has less clearance due to the larger center section. Both are thought by many here to be good upto 35” tires.
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At a minimum I would upgrade the axle U joints and install full circle retaining clips.
When I installed the selectable locker in the Dana 30 for my XJ; I went with alloy axles with full circle clips and never had a problem even after 15 years of use.
When I installed the selectable locker in the Dana 30 for my XJ; I went with alloy axles with full circle clips and never had a problem even after 15 years of use.
We don't know. You knowing what you do with your Jeep, would you benefit from having a locker in your Dana 30?
Absolutely, especially since you're surrounded by dry desert. It'll make a HUGE improvement in rocky uneven terrain, they're night and day improvement over an open axle. They're a good choice for the front axle when the rear is a Dana 35 which in stock form is not strong enough for a locker. But if you have a Dana 44 axle in the rear you'd be better off installing your first locker into the rear. For the rear avoid "lunchbox" lockers as they are weaker than a full carrier locker like an E-Locker or Detroit Locker, and lunchbox lockers are very poorly behaved when in the rear axle for a daily driver. Full carrier lockers can be very well behaved, especially if they are a selectable like an Eaton E-Locker or ARB Air Locker. A Detroit Locker is an automatic and much less expensive, I loved mine. But it takes a day or two to learn how it likes to be driven so it is well behaved which is basically nothing more than using neutral throttle when making turns... neither accelerating nor using engine braking through turns which locks it up hard making it crow-hop through turns.
In the front a lunchbox locker is very well behaved when you're in 2wd. It doesn't lock up hard until you shift into 4x4. Though some lunchbox lockers click and ratchet while you're making turns. They'll make some people close by think you have an axle problem. But that clicking and ratcheting is not a big deal if you don't mind it. There is one lunchbox locker called the No-Slip. Made by Powertrax, the No-Slip is silent through turns, in fact its presence can't even be detected while you're in 2wd. I had one in my previous TJ and loved it.
The only thing that is recommended for the front Dana 30 if you want to run 33's or 35's is to upgrade the axle shafts to chromoly steel. Installing a locker can double the load an axle shaft sees in some conditions and the "ears" on a front axle shaft that hold the u-joints are not strong enough for 33's or 35's once a locker is installed. Upgrading the front shafts to 4340 chromoly like from www.revolutiongear.com will beef it up so 33's and 35's will be no problem even for your tough local desert terrain. I broke a front axle shaft with my No-Slip locker on 35's with the OE factory shafts but I had no more problems after upgrading to chromoly axle shafts.
Installing a locker into the front or rear will make a very dramatic and significant night and day improvement in your TJ's offroading ability. Just avoid installing a locker into a stock Dana 35 rear axle which, again, is not strong enough for a locker.
The No-Slip is a true locker by any definition of a locker. That it's not a selectable means nothing, it's still a locker. Not even the venerable automatic Detroit Locker is a selectable yet no one would ever say it's not a locker.
I ran a No-Slip locker in my front axle in my previous TJ, it was a solid performer offroad.
