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

[Bababooey]

I’ve busted a ball joint on a Rubi 44 on 35’s and was not hard on it. That was with a stock 4.0 too. Obviously there’s lots of variables and no hard set rule to follow, but 35s will strain ball joints and bearings more obviously. When/if they break is always the unknown at the end of the day.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I’ve busted a ball joint on a Rubi 44 on 35’s and was not hard on it. That was with a stock 4.0 too. Obviously there’s lots of variables and no hard set rule to follow, but 35s will strain ball joints and bearings more obviously. When/if they break is always the unknown at the end of the day.

Anything can break. However, the upper safe limit for the TJ's Spicer ball joints has long been widely accepted to be 35's. I've broken lots of stuff including axle shafts, a steering box, driveshafts, yokes, control arm mounts, , control arms, u-joints, etc. over my years of rock crawling since probably 1998-99 but I never broke a ball joint. Close to 300k miles on factory size Dana ball joints 90% with 35's and never a ball joint problem with my previous Dana 30 and present Dana 44 front axles.

 

[TRE3TOP]

I wheel blacks with 35” tires and a Dana 30. You’ll be fine on greens and blues.

 

[Serbonze]

I feel like I've seen conflicting posts of running 35s on a locked Dana 30 with 27 spline axles. Is that only an issue with stock shafts, and negated by replacing them with the Chromoly shafts, or is the consensus that you want 30 spline if you are locking the Dana 30?

 

[Duredel]

I feel like I've seen conflicting posts of running 35s on a locked Dana 30 with 27 spline axles. Is that only an issue with stock shafts, and negated by replacing them with the Chromoly shafts, or is the consensus that you want 30 spline if you are locking the Dana 30?

Depends heavily on the type of wheeling you do. If you're rock crawling chromolys are a necessity. If you're just going down fire roads you'll be fine. In between? Use your best judgement.

I don't think the 30 spline upgrade is that popular, and I don't think it's even available anymore.

 

[RINC]

Anything can break. However, the upper safe limit for the TJ's Spicer ball joints has long been widely accepted to be 35's. I've broken lots of stuff including axle shafts, a steering box, driveshafts, yokes, control arm mounts, , control arms, u-joints, etc. over my years of rock crawling since probably 1998-99 but I never broke a ball joint. Close to 300k miles on factory size Dana ball joints 90% with 35's and never a ball joint problem with my previous Dana 30 and present Dana 44 front axles.

I take this with a grain of salt. Like snow driving advise from So Cal peeps.

 

[pagrey]

I take this with a grain of salt. Like snow driving advise from So Cal peeps.

Wise, like stretchy pants dude and spanky.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I take this with a grain of salt. Like snow driving advise from So Cal peeps.
View attachment 313153View attachment 313154

Lots of snow in some parts of SoCal...

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Lots of snow in some parts of SoCal...

Exactly, though some of us SoCal boys have paid our dues from having lived in heavy snow areas like North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Utah.

 

[RINC]

Exactly, though some of us SoCal boys have paid our dues from having lived in heavy snow areas like North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Utah.

My post was a tongue in cheek jab at y'all.

 

[Old_Crow]

Lots of snow in some parts of SoCal...

No kidding. I left Mt Laguna a day early because the second snowstorm in a week threatened to strand me there. So, I ended up taking the Jeep up the back side of Big Bear yesterday and playing in the snow. Go figure.