You can argue about weight all you want, the D30 will be just fine. A good friend of mine has a 4.0/5 speed/Atlas t-cased YJ that's been wheeled all over Moab multiple times, Dusy-Ershim, blah blah blah. He's still running an un-trussed D30 with a Warn hub kit, 4.88 gears, and 35" tires. He has a thick walled front bumper that doubles as an air tank, and a Warn 8274 mounted on top of it (an easy extra 200 lbs. hanging over ther front axle). He bought a D44 from me nearly a year ago because everybody keeps telling him his shits going to break. He still hasnt picked it up yet. Will it break? Sure, everything does. But it still has provided him with years of mostly (a few broken axle joints) trouble-free wheeling.
Here's a pic of his pile winching somebody out when he was running 35X14.50 Boggers