Sorry in advance, this has been brewing for some time…
Many look at the axle under their rig as a rigid assembly but it isn't, especially when the material is as thin as the stock tube and housing casting. The housing is cast and the material generally not as “plastic" as the tube material. I believe the common stock axle tube failure near the track bar mount is from material fatigue (flexing) from the track-bar mount and from material hardening from the welding of both the upper arm mount and track bar mount.
In the case of aftermarket housings they have a few things going for them that a "beefed" stock housing can never achieve: First, vastly stronger materials that are not pushed to plastic distortion nearly as much (given similar loads). Secondly, Even if they are pushed near the material's yield limit the material they are made of is better at handling it and returning to the memory position.
It is my opinion that the PR44 is strong enough for 95% of JKs running 37s. The issue I have with the PR44 is it still leaves us with inadequate ball-joints and a small unit bearing that is not capable of handling the moment loads of the larger tire. Dynatrac has one of these weaknesses covered with their vastly superior ball joints but we are still left with poor unit bearings.
If you do not want to replace the unit bearing often, or you are a fan of going fast and/or the skinny pedal, I think the 60 is for you. If you are okay with keeping it slow and are easy on the gas the PR44 makes more sense. An additional consideration that weighs heavy with me is turning radius. For most set-ups a 60 will not turn as sharply due to all the beef at the knuckles.
If we assume you can get a stock housing sleeved and trussed without bending it on install (which is a big assumption.) You still have an axle made of inferior material that is now less capable of returning to shape after going plastic.
FWIW: I purchased a JK for my wife with a sleeved axle and it was either bent at the sleeve install or shortly thereafter. So the "cheap insurance" forced me into looking for a not so cheap replacement housing. I got lucky and got some major love from another WAL member and am getting out of this error fairly cheap. I doubt all will be so lucky.
Again, I apologize for getting so wordy, but I’m tired of people chastising WAL members for trying to save people time and money by promoting a more effective solution to a problem.
Okay…. I’m off my soap box now :blush: