NEW 2013 JK OEM Dana 44 Front Axle Shafts

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
For those of you who haven't seen or heard about it, Jeep has been shipping their new 2013 Jeep JK Wrangler Rubicons with brand new beefier Dana 44 front axle shafts. As you can see in the photos below, the new 2013 shaft (shown in black) has a larger web, is thicker around the U-Joint cap and if you were to handle it, you'd see that it also has a bit more steering angle too. Unforunately, they are still missing full circle clips but, it is nice to see any improvments being made. Check it out.

2013-axle-02.jpg

2013-axle-03.jpg

2013-axle-01.jpg

A super BIG THANKS needs to go out to Mel over at Off Road Evolution for sending us these pics. Nobody knows JK's better than them :thumb:
 

JKAnimal

Caught the Bug
Thanks Mel and EVO!

:clap2:

That's a nice addition to an already great product! Of course you'll have to pull it off as soon as you lift your JK pas a certain point. Did Mel say anything about how much more lift the Jeep shaft can take before having to swap it out?
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks Mel and EVO!

:clap2:

That's a nice addition to an already great product! Of course you'll have to pull it off as soon as you lift your JK pas a certain point. Did Mel say anything about how much more lift the Jeep shaft can take before having to swap it out?

i think you might be confusing "drive" shafts with "axle" shafts. these are the later, "axle" shafts and the amount of lift you have will have no bearing on them. tire size and/or power will have an effect and the bigger you go, the more chances you will have to break them. depending on how big you go and how hard you wheel, these will do fine for a while. with the yokes being thicker around the u-joint caps, i would hope there would be less stretching which ultimately leads to u-joint failure - the most common form of front axle shaft breaks.
 

JKAnimal

Caught the Bug
i think you might be confusing "drive" shafts with "axle" shafts. these are the later, "axle" shafts and the amount of lift you have will have no bearing on them. tire size and/or power will have an effect and the bigger you go, the more chances you will have to break them. depending on how big you go and how hard you wheel, these will do fine for a while. with the yokes being thicker around the u-joint caps, i would hope there would be less stretching which ultimately leads to u-joint failure - the most common form of front axle shaft breaks.

DOH :doh: Yup your right. lol the noob comes out! I also missed the words "steering angle" :blush:

So these are the knuckles at the ends of the axles. Yeah I can see how the larger Knuckle could take more abuse. I guess the steering angle will allow a slightly better turning radius?

Does a full circle clip give you more holding strength on the U-joint?
 
H

Heath

Guest
I was doing some work on my '13 Rubi today and noticed the front axle shaft, and thought; dang I don't remember JK shafts being so damn beefy.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I was doing some work on my '13 Rubi today and noticed the front axle shaft, and thought; dang I don't remember JK shafts being so damn beefy.

LOL!! it is nice that Jeep has been making improvements. Now, if they would only use full circle clips instead of c-clips, we'd be somewhere. I'm actually thinking about doing some modifications to make this possible.
 

Prime8

New member
LOL!! it is nice that Jeep has been making improvements. Now, if they would only use full circle clips instead of c-clips, we'd be somewhere. I'm actually thinking about doing some modifications to make this possible.

Eddie, did you ever figure this mod out?
 
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