Best Dana 30

[AKBroncoII]

All 4 cylinder jeeps will have 4.10's. Look for a 93 and up cherokee with a 4 cylinder for the best axle. Yes, they are all disk braked. Some CJ axles will be drum braked.

 

[4x4junkie]

Also, the front of the XJ is a bit heavier than everyone thinks. My ZJ front carries more weight than the front of my 2.3 Ranger... 4.0 liter inline six weighs in around 550 pounds. Whats the 2.3? 350-400?

Most of the difference is in the vehicle's weight distribution.

Both the XJ and a 4cyl Ranger 4x4 are each around 3500lbs total, but the XJ is close to 50%-50% weight on both axles whereas the Ranger is closer to 55%-45% (55 being on the front axle). This would mean the D30 carries more load under a Ranger than under the XJ.

 

[Roger]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a 4 liter XJ at only 3500. My ZJ weighs in pretty close to 4000 on a D30 and and I know plenty of folks beating on 30s...

And the last time we weighed the Ranger, it was 3350 with driver. But that was a couple years ago and we've done some work since then.

 

[4x4junkie]

http://autos.yahoo.com/1998_jeep_cherokee_classic_4_door_4wd-specs/
3354lbs. Like Evan said, they are unibodies which lack a real frame. There ain't really a whole lot of metal under them.

Here's a Ranger as similar to Plum's I could get that site to cooperate on (site still wouldn't come up with specs for a 4WD, so add another 200-300lbs to this for an axle & t-case)
http://autos.yahoo.com/1997_ford_truck_ranger_regular_cab_2wd_xlt_lwb-specs/

 

[Maverick]

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

 

[4x4junkie]

I don't doubt at all in this particular case the chances of it holding up are quite good (I did mention this a few posts back too). Plum's truck is still pretty light, being a 4cyl, and he wants to run 31s.

 

[Hahnsb2]

From what I've seen, the real weight of XJs, especially with bumpers and plenty of other off-road crap are quite a bit heavier than stock and the D30s seem to hold up for them pretty well. I think the D30 is perfectly acceptable to go from a 2wd to 4x4/SAS (as long as it's HP/non-cad/big joints)..

 

[PlumCrazy]

From what I've seen, the real weight of XJs, especially with bumpers and plenty of other off-road crap are quite a bit heavier than stock and the D30s seem to hold up for them pretty well. I think the D30 is perfectly acceptable to go from a 2wd to 4x4/SAS (as long as it's HP/non-cad/big joints)..

My thoughts exactly

-plumcrazy

 

[johndeereagtech]

Plum,

What are you doing for tranny/tcase? I've got a 2WD ranger as well I was thinking of D30 swap too.

 

[PlumCrazy]

I am just going to use a stock 5 speed 4x4 tranny out of a 2.3 Ranger (which are harder to come by than I thought), and I want find a manual t-case.

-plumcrazy

 

[johndeereagtech]

Plum,

Have you got any info on costs from boneyard or craigslist on good Dana30 without the gay disconnect and ranger 4wd 5speed with tcase.

 

[86ford]

I am just going to use a stock 5 speed 4x4 tranny out of a 2.3 Ranger (which are harder to come by than I thought), and I want find a manual t-case.

-plumcrazy

Keep your eyes on the u-pull-it yards. You will find one.

86

 

[wohlf 16]

If hes from close to where i used to live in canal winchester hes got a pick-n-pull less than 20 minutes from his house. By the way plum im doing an sas on my 99. When i get it done we will have to meet up some time. I lived in the apartments on brice rd. for a couple years and i moved back out to the country. Good ole Utica.

 

[martin]

The weak point of the cad is the alloy shift fork. this problem can be solved by using a steel shift fork from the dodge trucks. You can either leave the cad connected or use a cable mechanism to shift it manually. Cable shifters are easy to make or you can buy a commercial unit.

 

[PlumCrazy]

If hes from close to where i used to live in canal winchester hes got a pick-n-pull less than 20 minutes from his house. By the way plum im doing an sas on my 99. When i get it done we will have to meet up some time. I lived in the apartments on brice rd. for a couple years and i moved back out to the country. Good ole Utica.

I live about a half mile from those brice road apartments on one the three farms left around here. It is about 10- 15 min to U-part-it and 20 min to Pick-n-Pull.

At U-part-it they have reasonable prices. For a complete Dana 30 (brakes, tierods, shafts, the whole deal) is around 170 with core. I havent priced a tranny or t-case yet, but I am assuminmg around 150 for tranny 100 for tcase.

-plumcrazy