Real advise on 37's

gmanmp · Feb 20, 2017

So I have researched a lot of info about the negatives of going to 37's. I would like some real world advise from the WOL forum. Most of the articles are against it with the Dana 30; however, I am more interested in the Dana 44 that is stock on Rubi. I do have 4.10's and think I could live with it until a re-gear. Do I really need gussets, shaft and trusses. I don't wheel hard but do wheel and we have some large hills in WV. I have flat fenders and 3.5" lift so not concerned with rubbing. Mainly the axle and if the D44 can support it. I would upgrade my brakes as well.
TIA.

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wayoflife · Feb 20, 2017

If you're not playing too hard, you should be able to make your factory Rubicon front axle last with 37's. Gussets are nice to have but sleeves, trusses or what have you wont really is no stopping it from bending and really, it's not that big of a deal. Not like a bent housing is going to leave you high and dry. You can definitely get by with 4.10 gears and while it's not stellar, it can be tolerable. Trust me, I've done it for over a year. If anything, your driver side shaft will be the first to go and that can be a problem a real problem on the trail. But, even at that, I personally would just wait until you need to replace it with something better. All in all, I personally wouldn't throw more money at your factory axle than you need to and would just play with it until you need or can afford to upgrade it to something like a ProRock 44. That's what I did and the best part is, you can get a ProRock 44 housing that will accept ALL your Rubicon axle components making the upgrade a lot cheaper.

JKDream · Feb 20, 2017

wayoflife said:
If you're not playing too hard, you should be able to make your factory Rubicon front axle last with 37's. Gussets are nice to have but sleeves, trusses or what have you wont really is no stopping it from bending and really, it's not that big of a deal. Not like a bent housing is going to leave you high and dry. You can definitely get by with 4.10 gears and while it's not stellar, it can be tolerable. Trust me, I've done it for over a year. If anything, your driver side shaft will be the first to go and that can be a problem a real problem on the trail. But, even at that, I personally would just wait until you need to replace it with something better. All in all, I personally wouldn't throw more money at your factory axle than you need to and would just play with it until you need or can afford to upgrade it to something like a ProRock 44. That's what I did and the best part is, you can get a ProRock 44 housing that will accept ALL your Rubicon axle components making the upgrade a lot cheaper.

Agreed. I'm running an EVO truss on mine, and while it's worked for the meantime it's still a significantly better option to go to an aftermarket housing.

I should probably add I only went this route as mine was already bent. As Eddie said, it was still drive-able enough to get me home.

The strength is a great benefit, but the added caster is really nice to have with 3+ inches of lift.

Aftermarket housings offer more than just strength. Something to think about.

PapasJP · Feb 21, 2017

I ride with a guy that has a 2012 2 door Ruby and 37's with the 4.10 gears.

He doesn't do what you would call hard core but he beats it.

It is stock front end and the Jeep dealer here has fixed it under warranty as he says it should be fine with 37's.

He has a manual which I think helps him as he is in low range almost all the time with it.

Should he truss or gusset, yes, will he no. It isn't under any warranty now and he still wheels it.

It is a preference that each of us must make.

On my Ruby, I will truss and gusset the front.

JKDream · Feb 21, 2017

PapasJP said:
I ride with a guy that has a 2012 2 door Ruby and 37's with the 4.10 gears.

He doesn't do what you would call hard core but he beats it.

It is stock front end and the Jeep dealer here has fixed it under warranty as he says it should be fine with 37's.

He has a manual which I think helps him as he is in low range almost all the time with it.

Should he truss or gusset, yes, will he no. It isn't under any warranty now and he still wheels it.

It is a preference that each of us must make.

On my Ruby, I will truss and gusset the front.

Honestly I find it hard to believe that a dealer would replace a bent axle housing as you rolled up to their lot on a 37" tire.

wayoflife · Feb 21, 2017

PapasJP said:
I ride with a guy that has a 2012 2 door Ruby and 37's with the 4.10 gears.

He doesn't do what you would call hard core but he beats it.

It is stock front end and the Jeep dealer here has fixed it under warranty as he says it should be fine with 37's.

He has a manual which I think helps him as he is in low range almost all the time with it.

Should he truss or gusset, yes, will he no. It isn't under any warranty now and he still wheels it.

It is a preference that each of us must make.

On my Ruby, I will truss and gusset the front.

Sounds like you've convinced yourself of what you need for your Jeep and how you want to spend your money. Being that both are yours, you should do what you want with both.

WhoDoesThat · Feb 21, 2017

wayoflife said:
If you're not playing too hard, you should be able to make your factory Rubicon front axle last with 37's. Gussets are nice to have but sleeves, trusses or what have you wont really is no stopping it from bending and really, it's not that big of a deal. Not like a bent housing is going to leave you high and dry. You can definitely get by with 4.10 gears and while it's not stellar, it can be tolerable. Trust me, I've done it for over a year. If anything, your driver side shaft will be the first to go and that can be a problem a real problem on the trail. But, even at that, I personally would just wait until you need to replace it with something better. All in all, I personally wouldn't throw more money at your factory axle than you need to and would just play with it until you need or can afford to upgrade it to something like a ProRock 44. That's what I did and the best part is, you can get a ProRock 44 housing that will accept ALL your Rubicon axle components making the upgrade a lot cheaper.

Thanks for this info. I'm planning on getting gussets and 37s once my 35s run out this year, and wanted to make sure I could get by while I save for a PR44 housing. I'm not doing any hardcore trails just yet so I feel like I could make it last a while.

wayoflife · Feb 21, 2017

WhoDoesThat said:
Thanks for this info. I'm planning on getting gussets and 37s once my 35s run out this year, and wanted to make sure I could get by while I save for a PR44 housing. I'm not doing any hardcore trails just yet so I feel like I could make it last a while.

As I said, that's what I did with Rubicat. I pushed her on 37's until it was painfully obvious that she needed a new front axle. That took about 2 years and a busted driver side shaft. I swapped everything into a PR44 and even ran the factory passenger side shaft until I replaced 80,000 miles later with an AlloyUSA shaft. I still have the shaft and carry it as a spare.

Rubicon310 · Feb 21, 2017

Eddie, do you happen to have a "rough idea" on what it would cost to swap everything from a D40 to a PR44? I have the rubicon with lockers. Plus the cost of the PR44.

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wayoflife · Feb 21, 2017

Rubicon310 said:
Eddie, do you happen to have a "rough idea" on what it would cost to swap everything from a D40 to a PR44? I have the rubicon with lockers. Plus the cost of the PR44.

I don't know what they go for now but when I did it, the cost was about $1,800.

WhoDoesThat · Feb 21, 2017

wayoflife said:
As I said, that's what I did with Rubicat. I pushed her on 37's until it was painfully obvious that she needed a new front axle. That took about 2 years and a busted driver side shaft. I swapped everything into a PR44 and even ran the factory passenger side shaft until I replaced 80,000 miles later with an AlloyUSA shaft. I still have the shaft and carry it as a spare.

Good to know. If it took you that long to break something then that's some peace of mind for me. I definitely don't wanna be rushed into buying a new axle.

JKDream · Feb 21, 2017

WhoDoesThat said:
Good to know. If it took you that long to break something then that's some peace of mind for me. I definitely don't wanna be rushed into buying a new axle.

A lot of it depends on where you wheel as well.
Speed will bend things a lot easier than rock crawling will for example.
If you like cruising the desert at speed - then I'd be looking sooner than later.
If you're mostly overlanding/rock crawling then you should get quite a few miles out of the oem housing before anything happens.

PapasJP · Feb 21, 2017

JKDream said:
Honestly I find it hard to believe that a dealer would replace a bent axle housing as you rolled up to their lot on a 37" tire.

So do I but I use the dealer myself and he does.

They install 35's on JK's and 37's on Ruby's on a routine basis and sell them.

WhoDoesThat · Feb 21, 2017

JKDream said:
A lot of it depends on where you wheel as well.
Speed will bend things a lot easier than rock crawling will for example.
If you like cruising the desert at speed - then I'd be looking sooner than later.
If you're mostly overlanding/rock crawling then you should get quite a few miles out of the oem housing before anything happens.

I've only hit the desert a couple times, and even at that I try and go slow over whoops and stuff. I'll occasionally drive fast over washboard depending on if my teeth wanna rattle out. For the most part I'm doing overlanding/crawling.

White Russian · Feb 21, 2017

I just put SPC camber sleeves on my D44 from the previous owner not running gussets on 37's I installed the guessets and ran it for a while. One side was 1.5 degrees out the other was 1.3 out sense i put the gussets in it hasn't moved any more. I would highly recommend Gussets there only a couple hundred bucks plus install. I have sleeves as well for the price I figured why not they can't hurt.

GraniteCrystal · Feb 21, 2017

White Russian said:
I just put SPC camber sleeves on my D44 from the previous owner not running gussets on 37's I installed the guessets and ran it for a while. One side was 1.5 degrees out the other was 1.3 out sense i put the gussets in it hasn't moved any more. I would highly recommend Gussets there only a couple hundred bucks plus install. I have sleeves as well for the price I figured why not they can't hurt.

Gussets should be about $60 plus welding fee from shop. Not a couple hudred bucks.

TonyViv · Feb 21, 2017

GraniteCrystal said:
Gussets should be about $60 plus welding fee from shop. Not a couple hudred bucks.

I know I over paid a bit at the time but my ball joints were being done at the same time...upper and lower gussets cost me about 300$ total, parts and welding..well worth it , to me at least...

tony

SJCJK · Feb 21, 2017

wayoflife said:
the best part is, you can get a ProRock 44 housing that will accept ALL your Rubicon axle components making the upgrade a lot cheaper.

WOW!! I had no idea! Learn something new every day. No wonder so many folks are looking at upgrading Rubi D44 to PR44 - if you can upgrade with existing parts that saves thousands (I think). Thanks for the good info once again.

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austin160 · Feb 21, 2017

Is it just the front stock D44 that has issues when running larger tires? I picked up a set of Rubi axles with gears and lockers for a good price to swap into my Sport to run 37's. When it is paid off, and if the engine gets weak I will swap in an LS and 60's to run 40's.

I may have missed it somewhere, but I thought the front and rear housings were the same diameter. If that's the case, why do you not hear of the rear having more issues?

wayoflife · Feb 21, 2017

austin160 said:
Is it just the front stock D44 that has issues when running larger tires? I picked up a set of Rubi axles with gears and lockers for a good price to swap into my Sport to run 37's. When it is paid off, and if the engine gets weak I will swap in an LS and 60's to run 40's.

I may have missed it somewhere, but I thought the front and rear housings were the same diameter. If that's the case, why do you not hear of the rear having more issues?

The Rubicon front axle is a Dana 44 in name only and mainly because of the differential and axle shafts used. The axle tubes are only 2.5" in diameter just like a Dana 30 and the end forgings are exactly the same as a Dana 30 too. The rear axle is a true Dana 44 in that it has 3" diameter tubes. That being said, you're kidding yourself if you think that'll hold up to 40's let alone being pushed by an LS.

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