Dana 28 Knuckles to Dana 30 axle

[rangerchase]

hello. I have just completed a SAS on my 87 ranger. I do not want to have the front shafts splined directly to the hubs since I am planning on using a square driveshaft and dont want it spinning all the time. I am wondering if my old dana 28 knuckles will work with the dana 30 axle. I also have a set of dana 35 TTB knuckles at my disposal. That way I can have selectable hubs and eliminate any on road vibrations from the front shaft. Has anyone done any conversions like this? I realize if the knuckles work that I would have to change the outer stub shaft on the axle, thats not a problem. Also, any related Dana 28, 30, and Dana 35 axle info would be awesome. Pictures available if you wanna see. Thanks

 

[martin]

The ball joints on a d30 are pressed into the axle, the ball joints on a d28, d35 are pressed into the knuckle.

 

[alaskan155]

what i was thinking, with the spindle, always wonder if you could bolt(might have to drill new holes in)/ to the Dana 3o knuckle, just have to figure out something for the backing plates for the brakes, and use the 28 hardware(spindle bearings etc) if you have the small u-joints or the d35 if you have the large u-jounts.

havent took measurements our even looked into it, but that would be the route i would look at,

if you do it, right a tech article.

P.s. Ive seen dana 44 knuckles added, but you got to add dana 44 outer C to the housing so the knuckle will bolt up.

 

[rangerchase]

yeah, a bit of a brain fart on the ball joints... mustve been tired lol. cause as soon as I got to my garage I felt pretty stupid. I could see drilling the knuckle to accept the dana 28 spindle. Spent the rest of the day trying to figure out my track rod mount. Looks like Im going to have to clearance and modify the engine cross member

 

[4x4junkie]

Warn sells a locking hub conversion for that axle, but it's big-$$$. No other options that I am aware of.

 

[martin]

Here's an idea. Take out the unit bearing from the d30 and bolt the d28 spindle in its place. Dont know how you could work the shaft though.

 

[rangerchase]

im going to take a closer look at it in the next week or so, I am not sure if there is enough meat on the dana 30 knuckle to drill extra holes into. i dont want to put alot of work into it because im sure the dana 30 wont last long so ill have to be looking for a permanent axle soon. maybe if i machined some areas into the area around the unit bearing mounting area and welded some studs in place since the knuckle is pretty thin in that area... not sure if swapping outer axle ends would work, but it would be neat if they did.

 

[rangerchase]

Not sure how to post pics, seeing if this works.

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