What lockers should I go with?
- Thread starter TJ4play
- Start date
You have a Dana 30 front and a Dana 44 rear. The rear Dana 44 is definitely a good thing! That will hold up to your 35s well.
The Dana 30 is fine with 35s as long as you do a few small things. The biggest thing you can do is large u-joint chromoly shafts. The u-joints and shafts are the number one failure points. Also, ball joints tend to become an annual affair. Not a big deal, just keep an eye on them. Keep an eye on the unit bearings too.
A stock Dana 44 does well on 35s. A recommended upgrade is chromoly shafts, though it isn't absolutely necessary and can easily be done at any time.
OMFG That was really funnyI believe any lockers with your stock axles and 37's will give you quite the bang in a situation where you actually needed the lockers.
lol
Locking differentials are preferable in both the front and the rear. You can do just one or the other, but both is preferable to one.
The previous statement was in regards to chromoly shafts. Essentially, when you add large tires or a locking differential, you vastly increase the stresses that the axle shafts take. And those are usually the weak points in the axle. So it makes sense to replace those shafts with similar shafts of a much stronger metal.
Locking differentials don't necessarily improve reliability, but massively improve off-road capabilities. Going from factory open differentials to locked differentials is as dramatic an improvement in capabilities as going from 2WD to 4WD.
You should also try and verify what gear ratio you have. If you want to regear to get more power and torque, this is the best time to do so.
I have selectable Eaton ELockers and really like them (I won't tell you what diffs I have lol).
ARB gets my vote.
As to gearing--there should be a metal tag on the left side of the diff cover. Give it a good clean and you should be able to read what gearing is stamped onto it. Or, jack the rear up and turn a tire one full revolution while counting the number of times the driveshaft spins. Number of revolutions on the driveshaft will give you a ball park idea of what gearing is in the diff. Either way, you'll want to regear to help turn those 35s.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/so-you-want-to-run-35-tires-on-your-tj.2428/
As to gearing--there should be a metal tag on the left side of the diff cover. Give it a good clean and you should be able to read what gearing is stamped onto it. Or, jack the rear up and turn a tire one full revolution while counting the number of times the driveshaft spins. Number of revolutions on the driveshaft will give you a ball park idea of what gearing is in the diff. Either way, you'll want to regear to help turn those 35s.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/so-you-want-to-run-35-tires-on-your-tj.2428/
As above, there's a steel tag bolted to the differential cover at its 9 o'clock position. Embossed into it will be your axle ratio. It will either say 3 07 or 3 73 (which means of course 3.07 or 3.73) as is circled below indicating there's a 3.73 ratio inside. Depending on which axle you look at, it will say 3 08 or 3 74 in the front since the front and rear axle ratios are .01 apart due to the different ring gear diameters in the front/rear axles.
You can...it just depends on how extreme you're going to be off road. Both of my jeeps only have a locker in the front and it was a night and day difference in the performance. For the type of wheeling I do just a front locker is adequate. With a 3k budget I would get front & rear selectable lockers and re-gear. Thats probably a little over 3k in parts/work. If your jeep has already been re-geared I would use that money towards upgrading the front axles.
Eaton E-lockers. Air lockers are a pain in the ass.
I've got 373 in back with '35 tires, should I re gear with those tires? Seems to really struggle to get over 65mph
Definitely. To what ratio depends on what your transmission type and model year is. For a 2003 or newer with an automatic definitely go to 5.38. For a 5-speed, 4.88 or 5.13. For a 6-speed 4.88 would be fine.
If you had asked me three years ago I would have said Eaton E- lockers as they had been easy to install and had worked great for the last five or six years. But in the last three years I broke the Dana 44 Eaton up front and just a few months ago I broke the Dana 60 Eaton out back. Both repairable however the parts both times were backordered without a known date of return. I had owned ARB’s in my truck but wanted to try the ELockers. I replaced the front locker with an ARB and it has been great for the last few years. Just a few months back my rear broke were it would stay locked. So again parts backordered. I replaced it with an ARB as well. You will find a bunch of ARB servicing dealers in the states carry the parts in stock for a seal or rebuild on one of them unlike my luck with the Eatons were it’s pretty much just offered direct from the factory. So my vote will go to ARB for now anyway
FWIW, when my e-locker was damaged (in shipping), they sent me a replacement collar overnight-air and I had the new part, free of charge (even for shipping) in less than 2 days.
My buddy with an ARB bumper waited months for a simple bushing to repair his carrier and I know of at least 2 others waiting on parts for their ARBs (both have been told by ARB that all parts now are going to new/full units and none are available for purchase or warranty replacement). Perhaps others will chime in but it seems that ARB is just as susceptible to logistics issues and parts availability as the rest of them...
