Axels, Axel Shafts and Driveshafts

[Benito]

Howdy to all of you, I have been looking around the forums for research and there seems to be a bit of ambiguity in the topic of axels, and axel shafts and a little less on the topic of driveshafts. Maybe there is a sticky concerning these things, but I haven't found it.

I don't plan on doing any changes to my jeep yet but I like to be informed about things.

My questions are concerning Dana 44's that come on the Rubicon. What is the largest tire the axel itself can handle? I read that due to the axel shaft the max that should be used is a 35" tire.

Is it possible to fit a 37" tire or bigger on a Dana 44 as long as you get better axel shafts? I read that you would need to change the gearing as well and saw the nifty charts concerning the gearing, so that should answer questions about gearing. Now the next question is "does the housing limit the size of gearing?"

And my final question is how much lift can the stock drive shafts support on both 2doors and 4doors?

 

[dchew]

A lot of your questions are answered here:
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...stions-Every-Newbie-has-about-the-JK-Wrangler

It all depends on how hard you drive. Some say you can get a way with doing nothing on 37" tires. Others will add c's, sleeves, trusses and RCV shafts for 35" tires. Most, however, would say C-gussets and axle shafts are recommended for 37" tires. Beyond that you get different opinions. Here is the order of most important to least important that most people will agree with:

1. C-gussets
2. New axle shafts
3. Sleeves
4. Truss

If you just spend a few weeks lurking here and reading some of the old and not-so-old threads, you will get a good idea of which modifications go with what tire sizes.

Dave

 

[wayoflife]

My questions are concerning Dana 44's that come on the Rubicon. What is the largest tire the axel itself can handle? I read that due to the axel shaft the max that should be used is a 35" tire. Is it possible to fit a 37" tire or bigger on a Dana 44 as long as you get better axel shafts? I read that you would need to change the gearing as well and saw the nifty charts concerning the gearing, so that should answer questions about gearing.

What you can run will be more incumbent on how you use your Jeep more than anything. If you just drive your Jeep on the streets, you can run 40's on a Dana 30. While you can run 37's on a factory front 44, I would recommend that you run c-gussets and chromoly shafts at bare minimum. Sleeve are nice but totally unnecessary. A truss isn't something I would recommend at all. As far as gears go, I personally wouldn't run anything higher than a 5.13 in a Dana 44.

Now the next question is "does the housing limit the size of gearing?"

To a degree, yes. If you were to run a 5.38 in a Dana 44, your pinion would be very very small and that would become a very real weak point.

And my final question is how much lift can the stock drive shafts support on both 2doors and 4doors?

As mentioned above, a lot of your questions can be answered in the link provided. A lot of this will depend on the year of your Jeep, whether it has a manual or auto transmission and if it is a 2-door or 4-door. What do you have?

 

[Benito]

thanks for the response('s/es/s?) i just found that very helpful Q&A thread and was about to post that i was able to thin out some of the ambiguity concerning these topics.

As mentioned above, a lot of your questions can be answered in the link provided. A lot of this will depend on the year of your Jeep, whether it has a manual or auto transmission and if it is a 2-door or 4-door. What do you have?

i have a 6 speed manual tranny, 2013 JK Unlimited Rubihara

 

[wayoflife]

i have a 6 speed manual tranny, 2013 JK Unlimited Rubihara

Being that you have a 2013, it won't make a difference if you have a 6-speed or not. That you have an Unlimited will allow you to run the factory rear shaft for quite a while even with a 4" lift. You will have to address your front shaft though with anything more than 2.5" of lift.

 

[JAGS]

Stupid question....perhaps??? Are axel shafts and/or drives shafts determined by gear ratio or completely non related.

 

[wayoflife]

Stupid question....perhaps??? Are axel shafts and/or drives shafts determined by gear ratio or completely non related.

Not dumb but non related.

 

[wayoflife]

Just to add to that, gear ratio is directly related to tire size. Depending on what axle you have, a ratio that is too high will leave you with a pinion that is very small and that will be a weak point. For the most part, new drive shafts are more related to lift height than anything and chomoly axle shafts with full circle clips is something everyone could benefit from.

 

[JAGS]

Not dumb but non related.

Thx. Ur too kind. Lol.

 

[JAGS]

Just to add to that, gear ratio is directly related to tire size. Depending on what axle you have, a ratio that is too high will leave you with a pinion that is very small and that will be a weak point. For the most part, new drive shafts are more related to lift height than anything and chomoly axle shafts with full circle clips is something everyone could benefit from.

Got that for the most part. Wasn't sure if you go from 4.10 to 4.88 if that automatically means you need to change axel shafts. Or maybe a better example would be if someone upgraded a second time from 4.88 to 5.13 would previously upgraded shafts still work.

I guess it more a axel shaft question than driveshaft. Like you said DS is more from lift.

 

[wayoflife]

Got that for the most part. Wasn't sure if you go from 4.10 to 4.88 if that automatically means you need to change axel shafts. Or maybe a better example would be if someone upgraded a second time from 4.88 to 5.13 would previously upgraded shafts still work.

It won't make a difference. You can only run an upgraded chromo shaft that is made for the type of axle you have on your Jeep. Gears make no difference as they are installed on your existing carrier or locker. The only time it would make a difference is if you were to upgrade your locker to an ARB. In that situation, you would need to run 35 spline shafts to go with the new locker.

 

[JAGS]

You have the best/easiest to follow explanations.

Well, will prob stay with rubi E locker. Though have heard and read and experienced first hand all the horror stories with that.

But I don't think I can pocket the upgrade to new lockers cuz then you you are also talking housing (pr 44 +). Thats round 2 or maybe 3.

Round 1 is finally getting closer. Pricing shoes next week and then will make final decisions. Thanks again for the education!

 

[MurderedJK]

What you can run will be more incumbent on how you use your Jeep more than anything. If you just drive your Jeep on the streets, you can run 40's on a Dana 30. While you can run 37's on a factory front 44, I would recommend that you run c-gussets and chromoly shafts at bare minimum. Sleeve are nice but totally unnecessary. A truss isn't something I would recommend at all. As far as gears go, I personally wouldn't run anything higher than a 5.13 in a Dana 44.



To a degree, yes. If you were to run a 5.38 in a Dana 44, your pinion would be very very small and that would become a very real weak point.



As mentioned above, a lot of your questions can be answered in the link provided. A lot of this will depend on the year of your Jeep, whether it has a manual or auto transmission and if it is a 2-door or 4-door. What do you have?

I read numerous times on this forum about the strength of the D44 axle shafts (I'm assuming about the 32spine rubi shafts). My question is how strong are the 30 spine D44 shafts which come on the non-rubi's?

 

[JK's JK]

What you can run will be more incumbent on how you use your Jeep more than anything. If you just drive your Jeep on the streets, you can run 40's on a Dana 30. While you can run 37's on a factory front 44, I would recommend that you run c-gussets and chromoly shafts at bare minimum. Sleeve are nice but totally unnecessary. A truss isn't something I would recommend at all. As far as gears go, I personally wouldn't run anything higher than a 5.13 in a Dana 44.



To a degree, yes. If you were to run a 5.38 in a Dana 44, your pinion would be very very small and that would become a very real weak point.



As mentioned above, a lot of your questions can be answered in the link provided. A lot of this will depend on the year of your Jeep, whether it has a manual or auto transmission and if it is a 2-door or 4-door. What do you have?

What do you mean by nice?