Risk of Dana 35 / 30 axles with upgraded chromoly axles on 35s on green / blue trails?

pepeborja

pepeborja

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Dec 28, 2021
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Location
Churchville, PA
I own a mall crawler 99 Tj with 27k miles, 4.0 MT and fitted with 315s Duratracs on upgraded chromoly axles, 4:88s and truetrac LSD front and rear with a proper lift and SYE. Jeepers Den in Orlando FL “glamed” it for me at my request since I just wanted a mall crawling toy and they did a great job at it.

This Jeep has never seen dirt in its life and I feel sort of bad exposing it to get a pinstripe… my Jeep is near pristine shape but I feel I would like to take it on green trails or blue trails to experience the Jeep for its off road capabilities and to let the TJ have at it too besides beer runs or trips to Home Depot or the range.

Without going into the “build or swap” axles threads I read elsewhere (Jeep build is done), I have a very simple question to help me decide on the wisdom of taking this Jeep off roading.

Can my TJ handle Green and Blue trails of a park like Rausch park in PA? In a scale of 1 to 10, what is the risk my Jeep’s upgraded axles w/truetrac LSDs will not survive these trails? Is it too risky to take my TJ on these trails?

I love my mall crawling TJ and want to learn how to use my TJ off road but not at the risk of taking a Jeep that is not mechanically capable of doing greens or blues at Rausch. I want to be safe and take instruction but if my TJ is not cut for it then best to let him be and I can look for a new rig that is capable as I am not interested in upgrading the TJ

Thanks
 
With nothing but 31's and Truetrac LSDs I wouldn't give too much thought or worry about anything including your Dana 30 and 35 axle shafts. I did some fairly tough trails on my first TJ with Truetracs, 33" tires, and stock shafts and never had a problem.
 
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pepeborja said:
I own a mall crawler 99 Tj with 27k miles, 4.0 MT and fitted with 315s Duratracs on upgraded chromoly axles, 4:88s and truetrac LSD front and rear with a proper lift and SYE. Jeepers Den in Orlando FL “glamed” it for me at my request since I just wanted a mall crawling toy and they did a great job at it.

This Jeep has never seen dirt in its life and I feel sort of bad exposing it to get a pinstripe… my Jeep is near pristine shape but I feel I would like to take it on green trails or blue trails to experience the Jeep for its off road capabilities and to let the TJ have at it too besides beer runs or trips to Home Depot or the range.

Without going into the “build or swap” axles threads I read elsewhere (Jeep build is done), I have a very simple question to help me decide on the wisdom of taking this Jeep off roading.

Can my TJ handle Green and Blue trails of a park like Rausch park in PA? In a scale of 1 to 10, what is the risk my Jeep’s upgraded axles w/truetrac LSDs will not survive these trails? Is it too risky to take my TJ on these trails?

I love my mall crawling TJ and want to learn how to use my TJ off road but not at the risk of taking a Jeep that is not mechanically capable of doing greens or blues at Rausch. I want to be safe and take instruction but if my TJ is not cut for it then best to let him be and I can look for a new rig that is capable as I am not interested in upgrading the TJ

Thanks
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Send it
 
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Should be fine. Things like this just work out. Trust us.

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pepeborja said:
I love my mall crawling TJ and want to learn how to use my TJ off road but not at the risk of taking a Jeep that is not mechanically capable of doing greens or blues at Rausch.

Thanks
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Being a little scared, and not sending it, will preserve the vehicle and teach you how wheel better by picking the proper line.
No shame in asking for a spotter or even a strap.
IMO, your Jeep should be plenty capable.
 
35’s and 27 spline shafts, I would try my best to not push that very hard.

For the record, your rear shafts are not chromoly or at least shouldn’t be, they should be 1541H. 1541H is around 10% stronger than stock according to the last time I read Revolution’s description but the 27 spline is still a hindrance on 35’s.
 
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machoheadgames said:
35’s and 27 spline shafts, I would try my best to not push that very hard.
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This happened to a friend of mine, I was right behind her and heard her 27 spline shaft snap with 35's and she was taking it slowly and carefully. We finally got her fixed and on the road the next day which was fortunately a Sunday so she was able to drive home and get to work the next day.

She's only smiling below because it was Sunday morning after it was all fixed and ready to go. She was not smiling at all on Saturday, she thought she was going to be stuck there until Monday. Fortunately someone in our group had keys to a local shop after hours Saturday and was able to retrieve a used but serviceable shaft.

Marianne640x480.jpg
 
Thanks for the “encouragement”. I will sign up for the Off Road 101 class in March and will send it. Although Technically speaking I am on 34.3 tires, not quite 35s.

If the Jeep can’t handle the 101 school’s bunny terrain then we will know for sure. The only way to find out is to send it.

Thanks!
 
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pepeborja said:
Thanks for the “encouragement”. I will sign up for the Off Road 101 class in March and will send it. Although Technically speaking I am on 34.3 tires, not quite 35s.

If the Jeep can’t handle the 101 school’s bunny terrain then we will know for sure. The only way to find out is to send it.

Thanks!
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that's a great class, you'll learn a ton, I'd sign up for the 201 too, 100% worth the money. The bunny trails have more than enough opportunity to snap an undersized axle shaft if you get too aggressive however so I'd keep that in mind. One of the problems with true tracs is that they won't be all that useful when you get on some twisty trails & start lifting tires, that might cause you to start doing things that could stress the shafts if you don't have a lot of experience in picking proper lines. That comes with time.
 
pepeborja said:
... Although Technically speaking I am on 34.3 tires, not quite 35s.
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34.3 is as much a 35" tire as any other tire advertised as a 35". I don't know of any 35" tire whose measured diameter is fully 35". When we talk about 35" tires breaking axle shafts we're talking sizes like yours.
 
35s are also going to put a lot of stain on those ball joints. Broken axle is usually an easy trail fix. Ball joints can create an interesting wake of destruction when they bust.
 
Bababooey said:
35s are also going to put a lot of stain on those ball joints. Broken axle is usually an easy trail fix. Ball joints can create an interesting wake of destruction when they bust.
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The TJ's Dana 30 and TJ Rubicon's Dana 44 same size ball joints hold up fine to 35's. Those two axles use the same exact Spicer ball joints. It's when tires get bigger than 35" that they don't.
 
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