superduty axle swap

NecessaryEvil

NecessaryEvil

Caught the Bug
I thought about building axles a few times. I could probably pick up a 14 bolt around here for around 500-600 with disk brakes. About the same for a front dana 60 05+. Looking at 1000-1200 in junk yard axles, and price varies around the US. Another 1800-2000 in air lockers. About 500 each axle in brackets (Artec), another 1000.00. Then another 800.00 in gear sets and install kits, generously ball parking it. So your looking at around 5k if A. You can do all the welding yourself. B. you can successfully install the new diffs with gear sets without paying someone. C. Your junkyard axles don't need anything else like new brake components, axle shafts/u jojnts, or new locking hubs. By all means if your VERY mechanically incline with fab skills, it may be worth it. I figure realistically it would cost around 7k with all the odds and ends plus having someone installing the gears properly. In the end, I travel to Arizona with my JK. I have no interest in putting my jk on a trailer, I rather drive. That being said, I would save my pennies for the 11,990 Dynatrac axles (for hight quality reliability). That's just me.


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Rb1boxer_3

Rb1boxer_3

New member
NecessaryEvil said:
First off, if your worried about fuel tank clearance, I would run a 14 bolt in the rear. Second, it's all going to add up, why not save a few thousand more and get Dynatrac pro rock 60/60


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To me it's hard saving then spending all that money at once. With junk yard axles I at least get to buy pieces month by month Or whatever. But yea I figured cost since I'm doing everything myself around 6500 my rear axle was free and my front axle I found for 200 from an 05+. If you get a shop to do everything for you , might as well get prorocks it's cheaper and faster.

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jkwebbie

jkwebbie

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independentrider said:
I have done my research on the swap. my concern is the rear diff clearance to the fuel tank. If you have done this swap please chime in. 2016 jku with 2003 f350 axles.

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You'll need 05+ axles because they have the hook ups for the ABS and all that shit. But I've seen a few guys do a TJ gas tank swap for about $200-300 that Ives you the room. Only "bad thing" about the TJ swap is you lose the little cubby in the back of the Jeep.

Kruebicon said:
You can do it without any issues, you can also cheat your coil mounts 1 " to drivers side and add a 1" wheel spacer to the passenger side if you have any clearance issues then adjust or tighten trac bar to recenter, you can make it fit no matter what. Its still going to be a substantial investment axles, regearing,lockers, brackets,tone rings, and a welder unless you can do it all you're all your self,its a hefty investment,for a couple thousand more,you could get dynatrac and bolt it in,not to mention the warranty,just my 2 cents


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$7000 vs $12000? That's more than a couple thousand. And I don't see why everyone talks about the warranty, its only for 1 year lol

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NecessaryEvil

NecessaryEvil

Caught the Bug
jkwebbie said:
You'll need 05+ axles because they have the hook ups for the ABS and all that shit. But I've seen a few guys do a TJ gas tank swap for about $200-300 that Ives you the room. Only "bad thing" about the TJ swap is you lose the little cubby in the back of the Jeep.



$7000 vs $12000? That's more than a couple thousand. And I don't see why everyone talks about the warranty, its only for 1 year lol

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They do not have the "hook ups" for you to just throw them under and plug and play. You have to match the tone rings front and back. The rear sterling axle, you have to put tone rings on the ends and brackets to hold the sensors. Plus the front Dana 60 will have to match the rear, and in some cases require you to buy new 700 dollar unit bearings with the correct tone rings.

If someone can save 7000.00 dollars for junk yard axles they can save 5000.00 more for plug and play Dynatrac axles if they want. Just saying.


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Grubbicon

Grubbicon

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daddyusmaximus said:
For some guys, there's a lot of pride in building something up. To be able to drive there, wheel hard, and drive home is a big deal. "Trailer queen" has a bad stigma to it.
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Building a buggy from nothing can cost some serious cash, however you can buy a very nice used buggy for the price of a new rubicon. I definitely question myself for taking the JK to the point I have but when im able to have a few buddys riding with me it is nice and something that cant happen in a buggy.


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jkwebbie

jkwebbie

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NecessaryEvil said:
They do not have the "hook ups" for you to just throw them under and plug and play. You have to match the tone rings front and back. The rear sterling axle, you have to put tone rings on the ends and brackets to hold the sensors. Plus the front Dana 60 will have to match the rear, and in some cases require you to buy new 700 dollar unit bearings with the correct tone rings.

If someone can save 7000.00 dollars for junk yard axles they can save 5000.00 more for plug and play Dynatrac axles if they want. Just saying.


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I was referring to the 05+ axles having an actual sensor on the axles for the ABS and traction control, which you can wire the 12+ JK sensors to them. And those tone rings and bracket you're talking about is only $40 from Artec. The only reason you would have to buy new unit bearings for the Dana 60 is if you are using a 14 bolt rear instead of the matching Sterling 10.5/10.25 because the bolt patterns would be different, but you can always run a spacer on the rear for that, which I've seen most people do.

And someone could save $5000 more for Dynatracs, but that's also $5000 I could use for other things, like 300m RCVs or 2 Rigid light bars lol.

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jkwebbie

jkwebbie

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Journeyman said:
At what point do you guys just sell your jeeps and jump to a buggy? Seams like some of you guys are trailering your JK's anyways. A purpose built buggy would probably be cheaper in the long run and do a lot better without the issues of the jk platform that you guys are dealing with.


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Buggies can be upwards of $150k for a built from scratch buggy. Like Scott said earlier, you can find used buggies for wayyy less than that, or even build one if you have the tools and know how. But if you already have a Jeep, why not just build it since you already have a platform to go off of.

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NecessaryEvil

NecessaryEvil

Caught the Bug
jkwebbie said:
I was referring to the 05+ axles having an actual sensor on the axles for the ABS and traction control, which you can wire the 12+ JK sensors to them. And those tone rings and bracket you're talking about is only $40 from Artec. The only reason you would have to buy new unit bearings for the Dana 60 is if you are using a 14 bolt rear instead of the matching Sterling 10.5/10.25 because the bolt patterns would be different, but you can always run a spacer on the rear for that, which I've seen most people do.

And someone could save $5000 more for Dynatracs, but that's also $5000 I could use for other things, like 300m RCVs or 2 Rigid light bars lol.

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Like I said, in some cases you would have to by new unit bearings. In the end, to each their own. If he does do it, please share the build.


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Journeyman

Journeyman

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jkwebbie said:
Buggies can be upwards of $150k for a built from scratch buggy. Like Scott said earlier, you can find used buggies for wayyy less than that, or even build one if you have the tools and know how. But if you already have a Jeep, why not just build it since you already have a platform to go off of.

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That's why I didn't say build one. I would buy a used one that someone else dumped the dough into and now selling at a fraction of their cost.
I guess it's just a matter of area of use. I'm on the west coast and I always drive to the Offroad area of my choice. The beauty of my jk for me at least is that I can drive it 600 miles to the trailhead (comfortably) then air down disconnect and bug out to a camp spot 100 miles from asphalt and a conquer anything we come across. So for that reason I want my jk to be comfortable and reliable. I absolutely will not be installing junkyard axles where I have to make sacrifices on my rig like hammering fuel tanks or losing storage space or crazy wide axle widths etc etc. But that's as everyone seems to be saying lately is just my humble opinion and what works for me.


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jkwebbie

jkwebbie

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Journeyman said:
That's why I didn't say build one. I would buy a used one that someone else dumped the dough into and now selling at a fraction of their cost.
I guess it's just a matter of area of use. I'm on the west coast and I always drive to the Offroad area of my choice. The beauty of my jk for me at least is that I can drive it 600 miles to the trailhead (comfortably) then air down disconnect and bug out to a camp spot 100 miles from asphalt and a conquer anything we come across. So for that reason I want my jk to be comfortable and reliable. I absolutely will not be installing junkyard axles where I have to make sacrifices on my rig like hammering fuel tanks or losing storage space or crazy wide axle widths etc etc. But that's as everyone seems to be saying lately is just my humble opinion and what works for me.


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Yea I hear man. Honestly, I don't see why anyone on the West coast would need a buggy since the trails you guys have are in the middle of no where. So it makes sense for you guys to have a JK instead of a buggy. East coast is a lot different. We have parks, which makes more sense to build/have a buggy since its a lot easier to get a truck and trailer to them. And even though most of the parks/areas we wheel at are in the middle of no where, there's still civilization close by.

But as regards to the axles, they're just as wide as a set or Dynatracs. Also with the TJ tank I am talking about swapping in, its actually the bigger than the tank on my 2 door, but does give me more room underneath. And to me, that little cubby whole in the back is with loosing, since there's only a few tie downs and small hand tools in it, so mine barely gets used lol.

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Journeyman

Journeyman

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jkwebbie said:
Yea I hear man. Honestly, I don't see why anyone on the West coast would need a buggy since the trails you guys have are in the middle of no where. So it makes sense for you guys to have a JK instead of a buggy. East coast is a lot different. We have parks, which makes more sense to build/have a buggy since its a lot easier to get a truck and trailer to them. And even though most of the parks/areas we wheel at are in the middle of no where, there's still civilization close by.

But as regards to the axles, they're just as wide as a set or Dynatracs. Also with the TJ tank I am talking about swapping in, its actually the bigger than the tank on my 2 door, but does give me more room underneath. And to me, that little cubby whole in the back is with loosing, since there's only a few tie downs and small hand tools in it, so mine barely gets used lol.

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I would think the junkyard 1 tons would be wider than a set of dynatrac's


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