Axle upgrade ..

danford.lau

Caught the Bug
Stepped up to 35” tires on my 2015 Rubi . Has 4.1 gears and Dana 44 front and rear .

This weekend, shop is installing

Evo sleeves
Evo c gussets
Synergy ball joints
jE reels 1310 drive shaft

Decided not to gear to 4.56 as I’ve been driving around and wheeling and it’s been fine

Anything else I should get done while this is happening ?

I daily the jeep and wheel twice a month . Hoping this setup will be quite robust for what I do .


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I-Eat-Mud

New member
I don’t think I’d ever do sleeves personally. C gussets and ball joints will probably be your most important axle upgrades on a Dana 44. But everything can break, all depends on how much you beat it. You should be fine with that setup as long as you don’t drive like a complete idiot all the time.


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WJCO

Meme King
I would do the Dynatrac Pro Steers over the Synergy ball joints if it's not too late.
 

zimm

Caught the Bug
I skipped the sleeves after seeing how invasive the install is. They drill big holes all through the tube of the axle in order to plug weld the sleeves to the tubes.

I did the c-gussets. I'm installing pro-steers when they arrive next week along with revolution chromoly axle shafts.

I geared to 4.88 when I was on 35's and loved it (on a 3.6 engine). Now that I'm on 37's, kinda wish I had done 5.13, but it's only a 180rpm difference in the end.
 

fiend

Caught the Bug
I skipped the sleeves after seeing how invasive the install is. They drill big holes all through the tube of the axle in order to plug weld the sleeves to the tubes.

I did the c-gussets. I'm installing pro-steers when they arrive next week along with revolution chromoly axle shafts.

I geared to 4.88 when I was on 35's and loved it (on a 3.6 engine). Now that I'm on 37's, kinda wish I had done 5.13, but it's only a 180rpm difference in the end.

Some sleeves are just hammered in and aren’t welded.
 
J

JKDream

Guest
I’m using a guy who specializes in gearing and axles . He will be spot welding in the sleeves


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Save your money on these.
While a sleeve might help the tubes from snapping like what TrailBud(?) encountered, it won't stop the tube from bending.
Which should be your primary concern anyway. Problem with sleeves, is they stop right where the tube meets the housing.
That's where they bend, almost everytime, rendering them essentially useless.
 

BaddestCross

Active Member
Save your money on these.
While a sleeve might help the tubes from snapping like what TrailBud(?) encountered, it won't stop the tube from bending.
Which should be your primary concern anyway. Problem with sleeves, is they stop right where the tube meets the housing.
That's where they bend, almost everytime, rendering them essentially useless.
This. Also, I'm pretty sure there's some pics floating around here showing a broken tube even with the sleeve in place.

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Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
 

I-Eat-Mud

New member
Save your money on these.
While a sleeve might help the tubes from snapping like what TrailBud(?) encountered, it won't stop the tube from bending.
Which should be your primary concern anyway. Problem with sleeves, is they stop right where the tube meets the housing.
That's where they bend, almost everytime, rendering them essentially useless.

I've seen the tube completely shear from the pumpkin on a dana 30 with sleeves. Worst housing break i've seen before. I've seen some bent and cracked, but sleeves certainly didn't help that break.
 

fiend

Caught the Bug
There seems to be a widespread belief that sleeves do little or nothing to increase axle strength. Assuming that’s true, then money to install them is wasted. It’s not a huge expense, so no big deal, and maybe there’s value simply in the belief of increased strength (placebo effect), even if the belief is unfounded.

I would be more concerned about sleeves making your axle weaker. The kind that involve a bunch of holes being drilled into your axle tubes and then being filled with rosette welds seem to me to carry this risk. You’re introducing new stress risers for one. For another, you’re relying upon the skill of the welder. Also, rosette welds are not particularly strong, given the limited welding area. For these reasons, if I were going to do sleeves, I’d just go with the hammer-in style.
 

WJCO

Meme King
There seems to be a widespread belief that sleeves do little or nothing to increase axle strength. Assuming that’s true, then money to install them is wasted. It’s not a huge expense, so no big deal, and maybe there’s value simply in the belief of increased strength (placebo effect), even if the belief is unfounded.

I've seen two axle housings break even with sleeves. So I agree with your statement. Even if it's not a lot of money and time, why waste it if it isn't of any benefit?
 

fiend

Caught the Bug
I've seen two axle housings break even with sleeves. So I agree with your statement. Even if it's not a lot of money and time, why waste it if it isn't of any benefit?

I agree. I’m not advocating in favor of sleeves. I’m just saying, if someone really wants them and believes they benefit, I think the hammer in style are better because they may carry less risk of actually weakening the axle (as compared to just doing nothing to strengthen or weaken).
 
J

JKDream

Guest
Assuming the sleeves actually strengthened the axle tube, I’d still rather bend the tube than break the housing. At least I can drive it home.


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Debatable, when mine bent, the tube was pulling out of the diff because the plug welds broke.
Not sure how sleeves would prevent that, nor let me drive home.
I've only ever seen one photo of a tube snap on these axles, while I'm sure it's happened more than I'm aware of, I don't think that's the primary concern.

I agree. I’m not advocating in favor of sleeves. I’m just saying, if someone really wants them and believes they benefit, I think the hammer in style are better because they may carry less risk of actually weakening the axle (as compared to just doing nothing to strengthen or weaken).

Wouldn't this be pointless as well though?
Assuming the tube actually snapped, I don't think that interference fit is strong enough to hold anything together.

To the OP: It's your Jeep and call at the end of the day. I can only provide my experiences trying to build one of these axles.
There's a reason I have a Dynatrac axle under mine now, granted I am on larger tires than you.
35's shouldn't have any issue on a stock axle, with gussets unless you like speed and jumps.

One other thing to note, all weld in sleeves remove your ability to run 35 spline axle shafts in the future, if you ever go that route.
 
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