Rubicon D44 Front axle shafts

[iaccocca]

Hey there web-wheelers (you know who you are), oh, and those with real life wheeling experience can chime in too...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the front outers on a Rubicon Dana 44 are the same as regular dana 30s (proved it this weekend, don't cha know.)

Broke half is still in the Jeep.

I'm trying to convince the wife that a set of Chromoly axles would be a better investment than just replacing the factory junk.
My 1st thought was to pick up a set of Alloy USAs. That over the thought of 10 Factory. I can get both sets for about the same ball park pricewise. A little research showed that the Alloy USA axles are made in India. I'm pretty sure 10 Factory are imports, but with a much better warranty... send in a picture of a broken axles and an axle is shipped out to you.
Yukon, Superior, and RCV's all seem to be out of my price range.

Application:
2005 TJ/LJ Rubicon on 33's (35's in the not too distant future.)

Thoughts?

[Lurch]

Spend the money and do it right!

[mattawajeep]

I have no opinion on the brand of chromoly axles, as I was looking pretty strongly at superior, but that was a couple years back.

However, I will say that you're probably better off with upgraded shafts, the stock ones will break, especially if you're going to 35's and keeping the locker.

That's another reason I couldn't afford a front locker for the jeep when I did the re-gear. General consensus of web wheelers and actual wheelers seems to be that it's pretty much required to have upgraded shafts with a front locker, 35's, and a Dana 30 / Rubi 44.

[TJDave]

Being an expert web wheeler these days....I have done a lot of looking at front axle upgrades lately.

Northridge 4x4 is having a sale right now on 10 Factory axles! Their "in cart" price is a lot less than the Alloy USA axles.

From what I have read, Alloy USA used to be pretty good stuff until their main axle guy left. He started his own company....... 10-Factory.

[TJDave]

Some advanced web wheeling info I ran across!

The Rubicon's OE shafts are carbon steel 30 spline shafts. There is a major boost in strength available by upgrading to Superior Axle's Evolution Series 30 spline axle shafts which are made from a hardened alloy with rolled (not cut) splines.

Don't bother upgrading the front axle u-joints, they are plenty strong as is unless you are doing some just plain crazy stuff. The reason the OE u-joints fail if pushed too hard is not due to weakness in the u-joints themselves. The root cause of front u-joint failure is actually usually because of the ears that hold the u-joints failing on the unhardened carbon steel axle shafts the factory installs.

The "ears" on the inner/outer axle shafts that hold the u-joints are unhardened. As such, when you put much stress on the front tires (especially when the steering is turned very far to one side), those ears stretch or fail which then spits out the u-joint. That allows the now free u-joint to smash into one or more of the four ears that used to hold it, breaking the u-joint. Replacing the front 30 spline axle shafts with hardened alloy 30 spline axle shafts like Superior Axle's Evolution Series will prevent that from happening by their ability to hold onto the u-joints under stress much more reliably.

After breaking my passenger-side axle shaft ears and u-joint while doing Sledgehammer years ago, I replaced my front axle shafts with Warn's hardened alloy axle shafts (no longer sold) and even doing tougher trails after that, I had no more front axle shaft or u-joint failures. That was with Spicer's OE size 5-760x u-joints up front.

So don't bother upgrading your front u-joints, upgrade your axleshafts. Then if you get into some crazy-tough stuff later on (REALLY stupid-crazy hard) and start breaking u-joints by themselves, you can go to CTM's uber-strong u-joint. But at $160 each, they aren't for the faint of heart.

[79chevy39.5's]

i would go with 10 factory...warranty always wins in my book

will you use stock ujoints like in the post above? at only 320 ctms seem pretty easy choice to me if your already in it a grand or more (never looked at aftermarket jeep shafts) then you have zero worries and can upgrade tires too

[Lud]

The main axle guy left Superior Axle many years ago and Formed Alloy USA.

Alloy USA got bought by OMIX-ADA. When I bought my front and rear chromoly axle shafts from Alloy USA they came with a 10 year warranty. OMIX honored the warranty when my rear axle shaft broke which was cool.

The main axle guy left the company he created (Alloy USA) and started 10 Factory.

And so it goes.

[Duckman]

I interviewed with Randy's last year, and had allot of discussion around their QA program for overseas stuff. As long as the warranty is there I wouldn't worry as much about the quality, should be up to their spec. Only issue I have is I prefer to buy USA, even if it costs me a few extra bucs....

[Chrispy]

have you looked at Dutchman axles.com they have import and domestic shafts. inner shafts for my d44 395.00 a set for domestic cant remember what import was.
like Tim said do it right. I have learned the hard way and after listing and DOING IT RIGHT I have less and less problems.
you could always see if you get a shaft very cheep and then save up for the better shafts. that what im doing. I broke a stock shaft and put a stock shaft back in so I could keep running.

[iaccocca]

Well my web-wheelin' found this...

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?3345-Front-Axle-Shafts-C-Clips-vs-Full-Circle-Clips

I'm of the mind that 10-Factory axles (which use full circle clips) is doing it right... at least right enuff. By the time you figure the price of Superior Evos or Dutchman's I think I'm into RCV territory pricewise. And, eventually you are talking about having more axle shaft than differential / locker. Maybe Toby can chime in here, didn't he upgrade to RCVs only to sacrifice the diff (of course that was on a D30.)

Some parts are on order and I think I will pull the trigger on the shafts in the morning. The price is right and the warranty is excellent.

[OldGreen]

Toby put the RCVs in AFTER he grenaded the diff. The diff blew because of the shockload of a factory D30 shaft blowing. Very common on a JK.

I voted before I saw that you were going to 35s soon.

10-Factory is my revised vote as long as "Racing Ron" is the guy we are talking about.

Having typed that, you will then run the risk of breaking your ring and pinion if you decide to do a full lock turn in a parking lot with your front locker on.

[iaccocca]

Having typed that, you will then run the risk of breaking your ring and pinion if you decide to do a full lock turn in a parking lot with your front locker on

I hope my wife never figures out how to log on here.

[iaccocca]

Time to get the milk and cookies out for Brown Santa. (Is it odd that he makes me sit on his lap?)

[TJDave]

I love Brown Santa.


and cookies.



My finger has hovered over the BUY button many times. I just can't bring myself to press it, until I am working again.
Won't be long now. Where did you get them?

[iaccocca]

I called Northridge 4X4... not the 1st time they have separated me from my money.

[tobyw]

Having gone through more than my fair share of front axle shafts on various rigs, I'm still not of a mind that upgrading to chromos really offers any serious advantage IF you have access to factory replacements at a reasonable cost. That is simply because, in my experience, most front axle shaft failures are at the u-joint ears, which are NOT covered by warranty. That is why I went with RCV's on the JK; factory spares were not available anywhere and RCV was the only one that offered an unconditional warranty. As I've said before, that may have changed between now and then, but the marginal gain in strength of treated chromo shafts at the u-joint ear is not the holy grail savior. To address the issue on stock shafts, simply tack weld the u-joint cap to the ear, or take it one step further and weld on some appropriately sized washers/flat stock to tie it all together. Old school tech that works. Oh, and try not to perform 4k rpm neutral drops with the wheels cranked in deep snow/mud

[iaccocca]

Good info Toby [I imagine Toby has broken more axle shafts than I have owned.]
One reason that made pulling the trigger on 10-Factory shafts easier was that their warranty is great, at least when working with Northridge. U-joint failure or no, take a picture of broken shaft, email it to them and a shaft is shipped out to you from the factory. I've seen lots of 'endorsements' saying as much, not just talking to the salesman. I contacted Alloy USA and got back a lot of legalese about their 10 year warranty. Failure of the u-joint is covered for 5 years, if you keep it lubed. Am I supposed to be lubing axle shaft u-joints?
Another reason is that the chromys use full circle clips as opposed to the factory c-clips. That alone may preserve the u-joints.
As far as price, the 10-Factorys on sale are costing just a bit more than factory axles [thats a stretch] for both sides would cost me (granted for this repair I only really need to replace the short side.)

And the failure on this shaft... it went out with a whimper not a bang. I mean, I was getting ready to do something stupid, but never got the chance.

[tobyw]

Sounds like you made the right choice. I'm glad some of these guys are stepping up and backing their product against failure where/how it really happens. Again, that was NOT the case even a few years ago, as you found with Alloy USA...

[White trash]

Having gone through more than my fair share of front axle shafts on various rigs, I'm still not of a mind that upgrading to chromos really offers any serious advantage IF you have access to factory replacements at a reasonable cost. That is simply because, in my experience, most front axle shaft failures are at the u-joint ears, which are NOT covered by warranty. That is why I went with RCV's on the JK; factory spares were not available anywhere and RCV was the only one that offered an unconditional warranty. As I've said before, that may have changed between now and then, but the marginal gain in strength of treated chromo shafts at the u-joint ear is not the holy grail savior. To address the issue on stock shafts, simply tack weld the u-joint cap to the ear, or take it one step further and weld on some appropriately sized washers/flat stock to tie it all together. Old school tech that works. Oh, and try not to perform 4k rpm neutral drops with the wheels cranked in deep snow/mud

Gospel.

Dana 44 shafts and ring/pinion is a nice match of strength. CroMo shafts won't stop the breakage since the vast majority of failures is the ears due to stress over time causing fatigue so they deform or a u joint breaks and the ears hit each other. A few minutes with a file, a mill or even careful work with a skinny wheel to clearance stock shafts for external snap rings would end most breakage. CroMo parts just take longer to die but they still do it eventually.

[iaccocca]

Well, just got back from the North Pole (what the uninitiated might call, Will Call at UPS.)



Thanks for everybody's input. For those voing for stock axles, there is something you should know... these come with a sticker.

[TJDave]

Awesome! And they came with the joints already installed? Excellent.

I'll be getting me some when working again. Oh, wait. I start Monday!

[iaccocca]

Awesome! And they came with the joints already installed? Excellent.

I'll be getting me some when working again. Oh, wait. I start Monday!

Yep. The salesman told me they did not come installed. I had already planned on bribing the 6-states guys to get 'em done today, but they came installed. The salesman didn't mention the sticker, either.

[TJDave]

It will look great on your tool vault.

[mattawajeep]

Thanks for everybody's input. For those voing for stock axles, there is something you should know... these come with a sticker.

I hear if you get enough stickers you can hold a wheel on...



Looks good, I'll probably do something similar when my front axle breaks.

[iaccocca]

...and the short side outer 10 Factory splines will not go into my unit bearing. Waiting to see how they will handle this. Not pissed, yet.