Upgrading Dana 30

[LBarboza]

Hey all,

First post on the forum! I figured just like other forums I'm a part of I'd make this so I can keep track of all my progress. So I finally got the front axle out and it's ready to be upgraded! Yes I'm keeping the D30, I don't plan on doing any serious off road just yet, but it will have 33 or 35s.

So the first order of business is to swap out the old shafts with Yukon chrome moly that I have ordered yesterday. With those I didn't realize I needed to get rid of the two piece axle on the passenger side so I'll be doing the vacuum trick that was posted here.

I also plan on sleeving it now that I can, and replacing seals, wheel hubs, joints, and then repaint it all. I want to switch gears to 4.56 but that will happen at a later date. My dream car is one step closer to bring a rolling chassis! I'll post pictures if the progress.

 

[HRDROKN]

I wheeled my first CJ7 with the stock D30, 4.10 gears and a tall 33x12.50 Swamper TSL (think they were closer to 34" tall) with a Powerlok LSD till the day I sold it. That era D30 had manual locking hubs and that proved to be the weak link and I was good with that.... 5 bolts and I was up and running. I also believe that the LSD had a bit to do with the axle surviving as it's a bit softer and forgiving on the axle shafts. Running a NP435 manual I had plenty of torque going to her and wheeled all the big trails.... just slow.