Axle build

TxCrushinJKUR

TxCrushinJKUR

Member
So I know I'm gonna get ripped for this and it's fine and if I break I'll listen to the "Told ya so's"...but I decided on tires and am bumping up from my 37's (Nitto Trail Grappler) to 40s (Cooper STT Pro). For a while I'll still be rocking my 2012 Rubi unlimited Dana 44s with front and rear full tube Artec truss, Yukon chromoly axle shafts, gusset c's, and Yukon 5.13 gears. :stick hiting:

I don't get to wheel very often due to work and family but my next trip is to Hot Spring AR.When I do wheel I don't beat the hell out of it due to it's still my daily. Eventually plan to LS swap it and only want to do the axles once so figured I can start a slow axle build and get that put in maybe summer 2020.

I really know nothing on axles type other than a 44 is weaker with smaller tubes than a 60. I want these axles to work with the LS swap down the line (4 years maybe...if I can wait long enough) and am wondering...is it either better or cheaper to straight up buy new axles or is it best to build an axle from something like a junkyard purchase such as F250 of GM1500?

Thanks for the advice:rock:
 
A.J.

A.J.

Active Member
Cheap is not a word I would use either way. If you can do all the work yourself the junkyard swap can be cheaper but if you are going to pay someone to do it I don’t think it’s much of a savings. Your going to be in it $15-20k depending on what you choose with wheels and supporting modifications. Best advice I can give you is do lots of research. Take your time and plan for the future.


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TxCrushinJKUR

TxCrushinJKUR

Member
A.J. said:
Cheap is not a word I would use either way. If you can do all the work yourself the junkyard swap can be cheaper but if you are going to pay someone to do it I don’t think it’s much of a savings. Your going to be in it $15-20k depending on what you choose with wheels and supporting modifications. Best advice I can give you is do lots of research. Take your time and plan for the future.


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Click to expand...

That’s why I used the word cheaper lol bc our hobby is never really “cheap” haha. Thanks for the advice


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wjtstudios

wjtstudios

Hooked
As A.J. Said, unless you have the ability, it’s best to order a set that is designed for you jeep Especially if you are going to be dropping in an LS. If you’re investing that much into your Jeep, look into Dynatrac or Fusion. Better yet call Bubba at Exudus and he’ll help guide you.

Good luck!


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jorgelrod

jorgelrod

Hooked
TxCrushinJKUR said:
So I know I'm gonna get ripped for this and it's fine and if I break I'll listen to the "Told ya so's"...but I decided on tires and am bumping up from my 37's (Nitto Trail Grappler) to 40s (Cooper STT Pro). For a while I'll still be rocking my 2012 Rubi unlimited Dana 44s with front and rear full tube Artec truss, Yukon chromoly axle shafts, gusset c's, and Yukon 5.13 gears. :stick hiting:

I don't get to wheel very often due to work and family but my next trip is to Hot Spring AR.When I do wheel I don't beat the hell out of it due to it's still my daily. Eventually plan to LS swap it and only want to do the axles once so figured I can start a slow axle build and get that put in maybe summer 2020.

I really know nothing on axles type other than a 44 is weaker with smaller tubes than a 60. I want these axles to work with the LS swap down the line (4 years maybe...if I can wait long enough) and am wondering...is it either better or cheaper to straight up buy new axles or is it best to build an axle from something like a junkyard purchase such as F250 of GM1500?

Thanks for the advice:rock:
Click to expand...

From most of the people's experience here, this is a recipe for disaster, bear with me as I'm not coming out with both barrels just to blast you over 40's on D44. While I do understand the whole daily driver deal, I daily drive mine, my approach is basically the other way around. As I see it, this is my daily drive so even I am going easy on the trail or I might succumb to peer pressure ( it happens) I want to feel like I am comfortable in my chances of driving back home, specially since I am in Florida and most of our club runs are on ORV parks further north necessitating 4-5 hour drives from home. With this in mind I got my PR44 and have wheeled my rig on 35's quite a lot and I plan on going 37's progressively, getting all of my underlying parts ready for that jump. lift, brakes, etc. Again I want to be able to drive back home instead of having to pay a repair shop in the middle of nowhere for a patch job to get me home.

5.13 is the lowest you can go on D44s and not be absurdly weak on your Ring and pinion, still 40's are a lot of tire, there's a lot of weight, resistance on the ground, etc. The biggest issue is not breaking an axle tube, as eddie would probably tell you at the speed you rock crawl, breaking an axle tube is on the lower end of the spectrum of things to break unless you drive with the King of the Hammers approach to rock crawling. Your biggest change of breakage comes in the form of blowing the teeth on you ring and pinion leaving you on the trail without a way to probably get yourself out of the trail on your own power and setting you up for a painful trail repair to get you moving.

Then we come to an LS swap, those things have so much torque and power you could probably blow a ring gear by trying to come of the line like a bat out of hell with 40's and a Dana 44.

My two cents would be to stick to 37's, if you really want to play in the 40's playground, save your $ for axles and then tires. It might look cool with 40's but everyone you wheel with will probably be running a pool on how long it takes you to break something on those Dana 44's
 
fiend

fiend

Caught the Bug
I have priced out a junkyard build (Ford Dana 60 front, GM 14 bolt rear). If you do all the work yourself it’s about $8-10k. So you save about $5k or so over an axle set from one of the vendors. It’s a lot of work and requires special tools. And you get no warranty or customer service. Don’t forget you’re going to need new wheels and new drive shafts in addition to the axles. Possibly a new master cylinder too.


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TxCrushinJKUR

TxCrushinJKUR

Member
jorgelrod said:
From most of the people's experience here, this is a recipe for disaster, bear with me as I'm not coming out with both barrels just to blast you over 40's on D44. While I do understand the whole daily driver deal, I daily drive mine, my approach is basically the other way around. As I see it, this is my daily drive so even I am going easy on the trail or I might succumb to peer pressure ( it happens) I want to feel like I am comfortable in my chances of driving back home, specially since I am in Florida and most of our club runs are on ORV parks further north necessitating 4-5 hour drives from home. With this in mind I got my PR44 and have wheeled my rig on 35's quite a lot and I plan on going 37's progressively, getting all of my underlying parts ready for that jump. lift, brakes, etc. Again I want to be able to drive back home instead of having to pay a repair shop in the middle of nowhere for a patch job to get me home.

5.13 is the lowest you can go on D44s and not be absurdly weak on your Ring and pinion, still 40's are a lot of tire, there's a lot of weight, resistance on the ground, etc. The biggest issue is not breaking an axle tube, as eddie would probably tell you at the speed you rock crawl, breaking an axle tube is on the lower end of the spectrum of things to break unless you drive with the King of the Hammers approach to rock crawling. Your biggest change of breakage comes in the form of blowing the teeth on you ring and pinion leaving you on the trail without a way to probably get yourself out of the trail on your own power and setting you up for a painful trail repair to get you moving.

Then we come to an LS swap, those things have so much torque and power you could probably blow a ring gear by trying to come of the line like a bat out of hell with 40's and a Dana 44.

My two cents would be to stick to 37's, if you really want to play in the 40's playground, save your $ for axles and then tires. It might look cool with 40's but everyone you wheel with will probably be running a pool on how long it takes you to break something on those Dana 44's
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice...I never plan to put an LS with 44s...I don't know much but I know that's crazy talk for anyone haha. I've already purchased the 40s and just waiting for arrival so I'm a tad stuck (Having a bit of buyers remorse now) but guessing I'll prolly go back down to 37s next tire purchase or even before if I can sell the 40s for enough (If I can't get new axles by next summer). I know some who did the set up I have and wheeled extremely harder than I and never broke anything but I'm guessing they all just were extremely lucky.

Thanks again for helping a noob out
 
TxCrushinJKUR

TxCrushinJKUR

Member
Thanks, I was curious because when I mentioned to another member of my club who's been wheeling since I was probably in diapers made it seem like I would not want to daily drive my Jeep
 
Spazbyt

Spazbyt

Hooked
TxCrushinJKUR said:
Thanks, I was curious because when I mentioned to another member of my club who's been wheeling since I was probably in diapers made it seem like I would not want to daily drive my Jeep
Click to expand...

I never understood that. People daily drive F-350s with out batting an eye but as soon as you do an axle swap on a Jeep it turns into some rough riding gas guzzler that cant accelerate or stop.
 
TheGrendel

TheGrendel

Active Member
Spazbyt said:
I never understood that. People daily drive F-350s with out batting an eye but as soon as you do an axle swap on a Jeep it turns into some rough riding gas guzzler that cant accelerate or stop.
Click to expand...

i'd say part of the difference is that f-350 has an engine designed to move its bulk around. most 1ton JKs do not have a hemi/ls swap.
 
Spazbyt

Spazbyt

Hooked
TheGrendel said:
i'd say part of the difference is that f-350 has an engine designed to move its bulk around. most 1ton JKs do not have a hemi/ls swap.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, no replacement for displacement and this may be anecdotal but my father had a F350 with a V-8 that barely made 250hp and maybe 300ft lbs. Granted this was back in the early 2000s.
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
Spazbyt said:
Yes I agree, no replacement for displacement and this may be anecdotal but my father had a F350 with a V-8 that barely made 250hp and maybe 300ft lbs. Granted this was back in the early 2000s.
Click to expand...
Yeah the new F350's come with nearly double the HP and over 3x the torque. How'd we get along before...haha.

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