RCV axle shafts or chromoly for PR44

nmwranglerx

nmwranglerx

Caught the Bug
What are the benefits of RCV over chromoly besides strength? I will be ordering a PR44 soon to replace my front D30 and I have to decide on axle shafts. I have 5.13 gears and will go with ARB locker. I'm running 37s and most trails I run are of rock crawling variety. I'm thinking that running RCVs makes the pinion/ gears weak point. It would be cheaper/easier to replace a broken axle shaft over gears, is this logical thinking? I see most people that buy PR44 are going with RCVs though. Not sure what to do.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
To be clear, both are made out of chromoly, RCV's just have CV joints instead of u-joints. CV joints are super strong and are very hard to break and that's why I personally don't like them. I personally would prefer a break at the joint instead on the shaft deep inside the tube or worse, suffer a broken ring and pinion. I have run RCV's in the past and they are nice. By design, they will not bind up on sharp turns when in 4WD but, that's the only real other benefit to them. Otherwise, they are about $400 more expensive than standard chromoly shafts with full circle clips and the later will get the job done just fine. If you think you have other mods that you can buy with $400, I might recommend saving your money and forwarding it to that instead.
 
JKTHOMPSON

JKTHOMPSON

New member
wayoflife said:
To be clear, both are made out of chromoly, RCV's just have CV joints instead of u-joints. CV joints are super strong and are very hard to break and that's why I personally don't like them. I personally would prefer a break at the joint instead on the shaft deep inside the tube or worse, suffer a broken ring and pinion. I have run RCV's in the past and they are nice. By design, they will not bind up on sharp turns when in 4WD but, that's the only real other benefit to them. Otherwise, they are about $400 more expensive than standard chromoly shafts with full circle clips and the later will get the job done just fine. If you think you have other mods that you can buy with $400, I might recommend saving your money and forwarding it to that instead.
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Agreed. I ran RCVs in the past and on my new Jeep I have standard chromoly shafts. I am just as happy with them vs rcv.
 
nmwranglerx

nmwranglerx

Caught the Bug
Thanks for feedback Eddie. I'm leaning towards non RCV shafts for those reasons you mentioned. My next question is are 35 spline non-RCV chromoly shafts readily available or do they have to be custom made to fit PR44? I'll probably call Dynatrac tomorrow but someone here might be running this set up already and could chime in.
 
Rottenbelly

Rottenbelly

New member
nmwranglerx said:
Thanks for feedback Eddie. I'm leaning towards non RCV shafts for those reasons you mentioned. My next question is are 35 spline non-RCV chromoly shafts readily available or do they have to be custom made to fit PR44? I'll probably call Dynatrac tomorrow but someone here might be running this set up already and could chime in.
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I am running the 35 spline RCV'S in my PR44.
I am unaware of anyone that carries the 35 spline u joint axles.

I worry a little about my gears on the harder trails when I pushing it but so far they have held up.
I also run the 35 spline rears and have a extra set and rear driveshaft incase they break. That is if the 5.38s dont go first.
 
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Northridge4x4

Northridge4x4

-
Main issue with Axles for the "Pro-Rock" housing is availability we choose to do RCV because they make them for us for only a little more than we have found somebody will make U-joint shafts for. We have not been able to find a MFG that will make U-joint style Chromoly shafts for the pro rock for the same price as they do the stock length JK axles. Mainly because of Volume. So when we went over all the numbers the RCV's turned out to be only about $150 More.

David
 
4x4Jesus

4x4Jesus

Caught the Bug
Northridge4x4 said:
Main issue with Axles for the "Pro-Rock" housing is availability we choose to do RCV because they make them for us for only a little more than we have found somebody will make U-joint shafts for. We have not been able to find a MFG that will make U-joint style Chromoly shafts for the pro rock for the same price as they do the stock length JK axles. Mainly because of Volume. So when we went over all the numbers the RCV's turned out to be only about $150 More.

David
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So you guys are saying that the PR44 axles are a different length than a stock 44 axle shafts ?? Does that mean a fully built PR44 is different than just ordering the housing?
 
JAGS

JAGS

Hooked
Northridge4x4 said:
Main issue with Axles for the "Pro-Rock" housing is availability we choose to do RCV because they make them for us for only a little more than we have found somebody will make U-joint shafts for. We have not been able to find a MFG that will make U-joint style Chromoly shafts for the pro rock for the same price as they do the stock length JK axles. Mainly because of Volume. So when we went over all the numbers the RCV's turned out to be only about $150 More.

David
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4x4Jesus said:
So you guys are saying that the PR44 axles are a different length than a stock 44 axle shafts ?? Does that mean a fully built PR44 is different than just ordering the housing?
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I'm curious as well? Know/have heard of several people using stock Rubi D44 internals on the PR44 housing. :thinking:
 
nmwranglerx

nmwranglerx

Caught the Bug
Northridge4x4 said:
Main issue with Axles for the "Pro-Rock" housing is availability we choose to do RCV because they make them for us for only a little more than we have found somebody will make U-joint shafts for. We have not been able to find a MFG that will make U-joint style Chromoly shafts for the pro rock for the same price as they do the stock length JK axles. Mainly because of Volume. So when we went over all the numbers the RCV's turned out to be only about $150 More.

David
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Good info. Sound reasoning from a business perspective. Thanks for chiming in. Ultimately, when it comes time to buy, I'll be buying from you guys. Can't beat price or service. I might just buy without shafts depending on what I find out about availability.
 
JAGS

JAGS

Hooked
OverlanderJK said:
There are two PR44 housings and they are different yes.
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SDG said:
Because they make a wider PR 44 to match with the width of a 60 in the rear correct?
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nmwranglerx said:
I believe it's about accommodating the rubi factory locker vs. aftermarket like an ARB.
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LoPo said:
this^^^^^^
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Good stuff. All makes sense now...I think.

Use of stock rubi shafts would mean the narrower PR44. Could then use wheel spacer to get same stance F/R. OR, go with the wider PR44 and would have longer axle shafts....but then couldn't use stocks as spares...right?
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
No. The PR44 width is the same unless custom ordered longer. It has to do with the internals. There is one for the factory internals and one for aftermarket to run the arb. You can still run an arb in the housing that uses factory internals it is just the smaller arb.
 
LoPo

LoPo

Caught the Bug
JAGS said:
Good stuff. All makes sense now...I think.

Use of stock rubi shafts would mean the narrower PR44. Could then use wheel spacer to get same stance F/R. OR, go with the wider PR44 and would have longer axle shafts....but then couldn't use stocks as spares...right?
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No, the axle width is the same regardless. 65.5". The difference has to do with the internal differences of the OEM eLocker vs. ARB and the like.
 
4x4Jesus

4x4Jesus

Caught the Bug
Okay starting to make sense. I know that with the factory locker I could only run 32 spline shafts, but is the aftermarket 35 spline ARB still going to fit in the same housing? would just need to change shafts? Do they make two different 35 spline ARB lockers?
 
JAGS

JAGS

Hooked
OverlanderJK said:
No. The PR44 width is the same unless custom ordered longer. It has to do with the internals. There is one for the factory internals and one for aftermarket to run the arb. You can still run an arb in the housing that uses factory internals it is just the smaller arb.
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So the post by N4x4 is a little confusing as it makes it sound as though all PR44s require custom "longer" axle shafts. Not that I'm in the market right now, but was just trying to understand the post.
 
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