cryo treat a dana 28 ttb?

[go-fast]

has anyone tried to strengthen a dana 28 with cryogenic treatment?i like the idea of weight savings from the 28 and was wondering if any one had personal experience.i know everyone likes the 35,but by keeping un sprung weight off the front end is very attractive for me.if you have dana 28 breakage history to share with me it will help me make decisions about what parts i should focus on.i have access to cryo so if this is un-charted territory i guess i could be a guinea pig.

 

[Sunk]

The strength issue with the D28 is not the R&P, although the D35 does have stronger gears. It's the shafts, u-joints and hubs, all of which are stronger on the D35. I really doubt the weight difference between the two would be noticeable.

The D35 also has a much larger aftermarket.

 

[go-fast]

The strength issue with the D28 is not the R&P, although the D35 does have stronger gears. It's the shafts, u-joints and hubs, all of which are stronger on the D35. I really doubt the weight difference between the two would be noticeable.

The D35 also has a much larger aftermarket.

i was mainly considering treating the shafts,i did not consider the ring and pinion that much of a liability.the center section of the 35 looks to be almost double the size of a 28,i figure that dimension difference would add signifigant heft to the unit....if it is made of a ferrous material it can be cryo'ed,resulting in roughly 30% increase in strength,which would make it as strong as a 35 with much less weight.my main question is what is the first piece to fail on the 28?btwy i'm looking for speed in the desert and am not looking to rock crawl,so i am not considering any type of locker for the 28 anyway.

 

[engdept]

If you want speed in a desert with a 4wd vehicle, the Dana 35 is your way to go. A Dana 28 will fail the first time you attempt anything.

The main parts to fail on a Dana 28 is the hubs, the ears of the axle shafts, and the u-joints.

Upgrade to a Dana 35 and do some slight modification to it and it will be stronger than you will need.

 

[TireIron]

you could always look into finding the hybrid 28/35. It uses the 28 center section with the 35 outers, giving you the better shafts and 760 u-joints with the better hubs and if you use the 95-97 knuckles you can even have the dual piston front calipers.

 

[Shran]

I agree with the above about the D35 being stronger.

That said, I've been beating on my D28 for a while... rock crawling and such and haven't broken anything. It has been very durable so far. I do have spare shafts and hubs with me at all times.

 

[Sunk]

I hadn't heard of treating the shafts, so I didn't know that's what you meant. Looking in the Tech Library, I found that the center section on the D35 weighs only one pound more than that of the D28- 45 lbs.

If you still want to run the D28 I would do as suggested and look into running a D28/35 hybrid. They aren't worth much to most guys looking for true D35s so one could probably be had pretty cheap. Then you could treat the shafts on that and be miles ahead of a stock D28.

 

[leumas12]

I may be wrong but im pretty sure cryo treated doesnt do much for strength of parts unless they are already heat treated. Cryo treating heat treated parts relieves the internal stresses caused by the heat treating process and therefore makes them more durable (or internally stable?). So therefore id have to say that the d35 would make the most sense. Besides, i like unsprung weight. It lowers your center of gravity (important on a BII ) and is easier on your axles and driveline than sprung weight. Thats just my 2 cents.

Sam

 

[AllanD]

That and the cause of 99% of all front axle failures is the result of metal fatigue on a part that has been weakened by corrosion pitting.

Rust pitts them and then the cracks propogate from the corrosion pits.

Cryo treeating the parts in this instance, unless you have BRAND NEW never run or installed shafts is "turd polishing" in the truest sense of the word.

I though I was crazy by taking D35 shafts and almost literally boiling them in a phosphate conversion solution before hitting them with a chromate conversion
and subsequently coating them with several layers of paint
(starting with self etching zinc chromate primer)

AD

 

[Ranger44]

I would just go straight D35. The D28 is just plain weak.

A hybrid is even worse upgrade and replacement wise than a D28.

The pinion is different than either a standard D28 or D35.

The aluminum housing is completely different from D28 or D35.

The inner shafts are different from either.

Pretty much, the Hybrid was a waste of money by Ford. In a sense it is a D35 but uses a custom housing, & inner shafts. There's no R&P aftermarket for gearing upgrades.

 

[go-fast]

I hadn't heard of treating the shafts, so I didn't know that's what you meant. Looking in the Tech Library, I found that the center section on the D35 weighs only one pound more than that of the D28- 45 lbs.

If you still want to run the D28 I would do as suggested and look into running a D28/35 hybrid. They aren't worth much to most guys looking for true D35s so one could probably be had pretty cheap. Then you could treat the shafts on that and be miles ahead of a stock D28.

the housing on the 35 is a big chunk of iron though,i figured the more weight i could keep off the front the better.i might just 35 axle swap from an early exploder(they are dime a dozen around here),but if i could achieve the same strength with lighter parts all the better.

 

[Ranger44]

The explorer and Ranger use the same axle.

The housing is cast aluminum on the D35.

 

[go-fast]

I may be wrong but im pretty sure cryo treated doesnt do much for strength of parts unless they are already heat treated. Cryo treating heat treated parts relieves the internal stresses caused by the heat treating process and therefore makes them more durable (or internally stable?). So therefore id have to say that the d35 would make the most sense. Besides, i like unsprung weight. It lowers your center of gravity (important on a BII ) and is easier on your axles and driveline than sprung weight. Thats just my 2 cents.

Sam

cryo does not really "stress relieve" a part,the sub freezing temps actually allow the steel to restructure with better grain alignment.a easy way to look at it is the difference between spagetti in a ball (untreated)and spagetti streched out in alignment(treated).getting all the grains in sync makes a part much stronger than an identical looking part that has not been cryo'ed.

 

[Live 2B OffRoad]

i actually have a complete hybrid 35/28 front end in my shed. i had it in my 93 and went with 35 so if your interested its fo sale

 

[go-fast]

The explorer and Ranger use the same axle.

The housing is cast aluminum on the D35.

never had a d35...did not know that it was alum.this info actually makes me consider a 35.hub to hub what is the weight difference between the two?