Gonna beef up my d30 a little

MTG

MTG

Caught the Bug
Chevy Dave said:
Lol that's why I was asking about a lunchbox locker instead of an ARB.
If you guys really think it isn't worth locking the front then I can be talked out of it. Money saved at that point.
I just wanna be able to wheel my dd
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I rarely lock up my front. Often it's simply because I forget :cheesy:, but nevertheless I find that I only need it on really tough obstacles. If you have a winch there is no shame in having to use it, or even getting a tug from a fellow jeeper on the trail. I'd do that before dropping a bunch of loot. My :twocents:
 
Sudz

Sudz

New member
Chevy Dave said:
A locker, diff cover, gussets, and eventually chromos will still keep my investment into the 30 low enough that I think the benefits on the trail will outweigh the dollars "wasted" on a turd 30.
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done & done. my HP turdy is holding up fine and i also drive in the snow. mine = 4.88s, aussie, RCVs

i had cromo front shafts with full circle clips, but i kept 'egging out the yokes'. fortunately i always caught them before they broke.

west coast wheeling? ;)
 
Chevy Dave

Chevy Dave

New member
You both make good points and I agree I'd rather have a rear locker. Nobody makes a rear lunchbox locker for a JK and it would be a while before I could afford an auto locker. Plus I hate setting up ring and pinion. I am that one unlucky guy that can never seem to get backlash right :( and I can't afford to pay a shop and I don't trust shops anyway.
Locking the front is simply the quickest and cheapest way to get locked.
You guys have a lot more experience than me. If it's gonna be a waste of time and money I won't do it
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Chevy Dave said:
You both make good points and I agree I'd rather have a rear locker. Nobody makes a rear lunchbox locker for a JK and it would be a while before I could afford an auto locker. Plus I hate setting up ring and pinion. I am that one unlucky guy that can never seem to get backlash right :( and I can't afford to pay a shop and I don't trust shops anyway.
Locking the front is simply the quickest and cheapest way to get locked.
You guys have a lot more experience than me. If it's gonna be a waste of time and money I won't do it
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I ran my old 2009 JK X without lockers for a long time and had no problems running trails like the Rubicon in it. For me, I would just save your money and upgrade as needed as there still a lot of fun you can have as is. :yup:
 
Chevy Dave

Chevy Dave

New member
wayoflife said:
I ran my old 2009 JK X without lockers for a long time and had no problems running trails like the Rubicon in it. For me, I would just save your money and upgrade as needed as there still a lot of fun you can have as is. :yup:
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Hmm ok. So you think open diffs are fine for most moderate midwest wheeling? I guess I have just always had a locker either in the front or the rear of my wheeling rigs. Granted this is my first Jeep.....
Now I really don't know what to do
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
I have no lockers and have run a lot of trails out west over the past year. Have only strapped twice and that was this past trip in Utah.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
As OverlanderJK said, he wheels with open diffs and comes out with me all the time. Lockers are great to have but far from necessary to have a good time.
 
cozdude

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
i know wheeling out west is different than here on the east coast but i will still throw my :twocents: in to the mix.

For a while i have wheeled my sport with open diffs and had little to no trouble at all. eventually i regeared my axles and i threw an ARB locker in the rear. even with the locker in the rear i do my best to not engage it. leaving it open makes it a little harder and makes you work for it a little more. but if you cant get over/threw the object you always can lock and make it easier.

that being said i would lock the rear before the front but you will do just fine not locking the axle at all and wheeling on open diffs.
 
Chevy Dave

Chevy Dave

New member
OverlanderJK said:
I have no lockers and have run a lot of trails out west over the past year. Have only strapped twice and that was this past trip in Utah.
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What size tires do you run?

I remember when my zr2 was open front and rear on 33s. With 15" of front suspension travel I had a real hard time keeping up with the group any time it rained or got slippery on the trails. Idk if that's because it's a pickup with a 126" wheelbase but after adding the rear spartan locker it was a whole different animal. I honestly wish I had locked the front first as I usually end up needed some sort of extra pull over an obstacle and I end up spinning both rears and the front doesn't help me at all.
But, as far as my JK goes, if the general consensus is that lunchbox locking the front is a bad idea then I will re-evaluate my plans for this rig
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
Chevy Dave said:
What size tires do you run?

I remember when my zr2 was open front and rear on 33s. With 15" of front suspension travel I had a real hard time keeping up with the group any time it rained or got slippery on the trails. Idk if that's because it's a pickup with a 126" wheelbase but after adding the rear spartan locker it was a whole different animal. I honestly wish I had locked the front first as I usually end up needed some sort of extra pull over an obstacle and I end up spinning both rears and the front doesn't help me at all.
But, as far as my JK goes, if the general consensus is that lunchbox locking the front is a bad idea then I will re-evaluate my plans for this rig
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I run 35's right now.

Your S10 and JK are not even in the same ballpark. Trucks handle way different then jeeps.
 
Chevy Dave

Chevy Dave

New member
OverlanderJK said:
I run 35's right now.

Your S10 and JK are not even in the same ballpark. Trucks handle way different then jeeps.
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Yeah I have kinda noticed that from the little bit I have had the Jeep out already. Honestly feels like with bb, discos, and 33s my JK is easily as capable as my very well built dana 44 sfa zr2
 
B

BlackDiamondBound

New member
haha this turned into an entertaining thread. wheeling is all relative as wayalife pointed out. its all about how much stress a component can take before it breaks. Stress is created by numerous factors like how you drive, hp/torque, vehicle weight, terrain. anything can break no matter how built up it is, its just a matter of how long it can take that stress before breaking.

The goal is (at least for me) to build a vehicle that can handle the stress you put on it, without breaking on the trail or having to rebuild something every year. To achieve this the axles under my jeep can probably handle 39s, but i stick with 35s making it a lot harder for shit to break. As I said above anything will break over time, so with that being said 8 years of stress has caused me to bend d60 axle flanges on only 35s.

From what it sounds like your going to do a built up d30 will handle 35s in your light weight wrangler. i would stick with 4.88s and down. above that the ring and pinon is a weak point.
 
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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Here's a comparison shot that I've taken...

main.php


It's not just the size but rather, how small the pinion gets when you get to higher gear ratios. I personally would never run a 5.13 in a D30 as the pinion gets to be really really small. Same is true of a 5.38 in a D44.
 
Chevy Dave

Chevy Dave

New member
I have 3.21s and 33s and will be sticking with that setup until she is paid off.
I think I will do the c gussets and keep thinking about the front locker
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
wayoflife said:
Here's a comparison shot that I've taken...

main.php


It's not just the size but rather, how small the pinion gets when you get to higher gear ratios. I personally would never run a 5.13 in a D30 as the pinion gets to be really really small. Same is true of a 5.38 in a D44.
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Don't jinx me since that will be in my jeep soon. :cheesy:
 
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