Crane D44 Housing worth it?

[Rawbrown]

Detroit has a 33 spline D44 locker. yes you can get them without the shafts. ARB makes a 35 spline detroit locker as well as a 33 spline.
My question about going to 35 spline shafts is That I begin to question pinion strength. Engineered week points. I Don't have any definative evidence to back it but its still something I can question.
as for a 760 size inner front shaft. nobody can make it... almost. I have allready done an exhaustive search to find it to no avail. Only on a chance visit to CTM and spending an hour with Jack did he show me some prototype parts. 33 spline Dodge stubs from 300M and he was in the process of building a 33 spline inner shaft. Probably a 2 piece inner shaft. double splined shaft with a pressed on Yoke. But sure enough I did get to hold the 33 spline stub in my hand.

 

[BrettM]

I don't see the need for going to 33 spline, once you get the stub up to 30 spline and eliminate the hub weakness, isn't the CTM the next to go?

 

[Rawbrown]

have you seen a broken CTM yet? Jack claims that there has been non. He was showing me some revisions he did changing a radius which was a calculated 30% strength increase or something like that. He hasn't even been Chryo treating them. when one comes back broken then he will go back to chryo treating to increase strength.

 

[BrettM]

hasn't goatman broke a couple?

 

[Kittrell]

hasn't goatman broke a couple?

Thats what I thought, back in '03?

 

[jester1084]

Jester - I run Currie front and rear.

You've seen how they perform.

'nuff said?

That's a good point. And you're running 33's right? Of course then I'll have to watch out for those trees with the ultra strong gravatational pull, haha. But I see what you're saying. And with lockers I won't be getting hung up on them stupid tree branches :gee:. Good thing about those is that they are a little cheaper too. Also, chances are I'd get the Clayton brackets and weld them on myself. Shop around for prices on everthing else and it might be more manageable. And maybe the Super44 kit so when I get 35's I'll have that extra beef.

Only thing I'd really prefer over the currie housing is I like the Crane Inner C's

Mike

 

[Rev Den]

Yes...33's.

Rev

 

[What Rd]

I love my Crane diff covers - absolutely no fear of ever harming the internals through one of those!
But when it comes to a chunk, I couldn't see putting that much money into a fancy new housing. I picked up a 76 Ford RS D44 that I plan to work on one of these days, but still haven't decided what combination to run. I don't want to upgrade from my D30 and then start having hub failures or 19 spline stub shaft failures. I like the idea of unit bearing hubs and have been thinking about the Currie units from the F450 (don't care about lockouts - I have an ARB up front now and will repeat that in any new setup and my rig doesn't see much road time anymore)(plus having the frontend spin on the road never bothered me anyway).
The biggest drawbacks to running 35 spline shafts seem to be the width and weight of the 60 knuckles. That's where the Spidertrax knuckles start looking reeeally attractive. But my XJ is no lightweight comp rig and I wonder how those knuckles, spherical bearings instead of balljoints, and highsteer arms would hold up to the weight of my rig running 36s.
Has anyone nailed down the mods necessary tun run a D44 with the Warn D30 hub conversion with its 30 spline stubs (I could slide some drive flanges in there to avoid the lockout being a weak link)?

 

[Kittrell]

Has anyone nailed down the mods necessary tun run a D44 with the Warn D30 hub conversion with its 30 spline stubs (I could slide some drive flanges in there to avoid the lockout being a weak link)?

With standard 44 inner and outer knuckles? I don't see how you could pull that one off, to many conflicting parts.

 

[XJ_ranger]

With standard 44 inner and outer knuckles? I don't see how you could pull that one off, to many conflicting parts.

I seem to recall something like the CJ D30 knuckles can be adapted to run the 30 spline outers... but they arent the 1.31" 30 spline, its something weird like 1.2" 30 spline IIRC...

 

[cracker]

hasn't goatman broke a couple?

He broke one and Garry broke the other one that I know of. I don't think I have heard of any others since that. Goat broke his on Two Step (Bald Mountain)

To be honest, I think EVERYTHING in the 44 will go before a CTM u-joint would. The weakest link is the stubs and the 30 spline outers go too! Garry has killed plenty of those as well and he was running Warns that were cryo'd by Jack at CTM.

One of the BEST benefits to running the 30 spline outer set-up is the rotors. If you are running 5 x 5.5, you have to run the horrible Ford rotors that swell up when a hub/drive flange blows up. It really is a hassle. The Warn rotors with the 30 spline set up correct this problem and have a really thick iron hub on there. Warn really did a good job on those rotors/hubs.

I have to carry 6 spare Warn Premium hubs and drive flanges, 2 alloy spare stubs, a Ford iron hub/rotor, spare inner and outer shafts with u-joints , spare spindle and a complete set of hub bearings and seal. It is so much to carry around I might as well get a 60/9" since the weight penalty would be the same :shocked:

FWIW, running a 44 front in the West (rocks) is a complete waste of time on 33s but maybe not in the East. Clearance penalties add up too much in the rocks (ask Opie ). A 44 on 35s is a nice set up if you want to have some piece of mind but I think I would rather had polished the 30 up with WJ stuff, super 30, and the whole 9 yards than build a 44 for 35s.

 

[BrettM]

He broke one and Garry broke the other one that I know of. I don't think I have heard of any others since that. Goat broke his on Two Step (Bald Mountain)

To be honest, I think EVERYTHING in the 44 will go before a CTM u-joint would. The weakest link is the stubs and the 30 spline outers go too! Garry has killed plenty of those as well and he was running Warns that were cryo'd by Jack at CTM.

One of the BEST benefits to running the 30 spline outer set-up is the rotors. If you are running 5 x 5.5, you have to run the horrible Ford rotors that swell up when a hub/drive flange blows up. It really is a hassle. The Warn rotors with the 30 spline set up correct this problem and have a really thick iron hub on there. Warn really did a good job on those rotors/hubs.

I have to carry 6 spare Warn Premium hubs and drive flanges, 2 alloy spare stubs, a Ford iron hub/rotor, spare inner and outer shafts with u-joints , spare spindle and a complete set of hub bearings and seal. It is so much to carry around I might as well get a 60/9" since the weight penalty would be the same :shocked:

FWIW, running a 44 front in the West (rocks) is a complete waste of time on 33s but maybe not in the East. Clearance penalties add up too much in the rocks (ask Opie ). A 44 on 35s is a nice set up if you want to have some piece of mind but I think I would rather had polished the 30 up with WJ stuff, super 30, and the whole 9 yards than build a 44 for 35s.

once again, the answer is 60, 60, 60

just gotta decide which 60 parts these days, I definitely like the Spidertrax w/ aluminum Hi9

 

[Paul S]

once again, the answer is 60, 60, 60

just gotta decide which 60 parts these days, I definitely like the Spidertrax w/ aluminum Hi9

In the end, it always goes back to the 60. I spoke to Jack quite a bit about trying the options that Ryan mentioned, every 10 minutes Jack would say 'just buy a 60'.

I'm thinking about the aluminum Hi9, I just don't know if it would add up to any real weight savings. I think the real savings come with the Dodge unit bearing spindle/hub elimination kit.

Paul

 

[cracker]

In the end, it always goes back to the 60. I spoke to Jack quite a bit about trying the options that Ryan mentioned, every 10 minutes Jack would say 'just buy a 60'.

I'm thinking about the aluminum Hi9, I just don't know if it would add up to any real weight savings. I think the real savings come with the Dodge unit bearing spindle/hub elimination kit.

Paul

Brett, I am looking at the Spidertrax housing with the Deadenbear King Pin inner C and potentially (due to $$$) a junk yard outer knuckle king pin set up. I am though looking at the nodular iron Hi9 myself

Paul, if I am going to do it, I am going 35 spline outers with a hub or not (F-450 machined).

 

[BrettM]

you could also get a Currie or Diamond center (and I'm sure there are more), the cool thing about the Spidertrax is the knuckles/outers.

i've heard some people skeptical about the "ball-joints" but they don't bother me. I know the Redbull team was going through regular D60 ball-joints every comp, and Spidertrax ran their buggy with their "ball-joints" (front and rear steer) for a season without needing maintinence.

:dunno:

 

[Mike L]

FWIW, running a 44 front in the West (rocks) is a complete waste of time on 33s but maybe not in the East. Clearance penalties add up too much in the rocks (ask Opie ). A 44 on 35s is a nice set up if you want to have some piece of mind but I think I would rather had polished the 30 up with WJ stuff, super 30, and the whole 9 yards than build a 44 for 35s.

This is the exact reason i haven't built a 44. If I was going to build a new front axle it would be a 609 or a HP60. Just depends on what I want to spend or the deal I can make..............

-Mike

 

[cracker]

you could also get a Currie or Diamond center (and I'm sure there are more), the cool thing about the Spidertrax is the knuckles/outers.

i've heard some people skeptical about the "ball-joints" but they don't bother me. I know the Redbull team was going through regular D60 ball-joints every comp, and Spidertrax ran their buggy with their "ball-joints" (front and rear steer) for a season without needing maintinence.

:dunno:

The currie housing does not cut it unfortunately. Not enough beef. Paul already bent his (on a bomb crater) and 3/16" tubes don't excite me. Even if you 'take it up a notch' to 1/4" wall, the center section is still weak and the same weak link. Diamond is awesome but Spidertrax has the magic price

 

[cracker]

This is the exact reason i haven't built a 44. If I was going to build a new front axle it would be a 609 or a HP60. Just depends on what I want to spend or the deal I can make..............

-Mike

Amen brother!

Opie you out there? You concur after wheeling the South West?

 

[Paul S]

you could also get a Currie or Diamond center (and I'm sure there are more), the cool thing about the Spidertrax is the knuckles/outers.

i've heard some people skeptical about the "ball-joints" but they don't bother me. I know the Redbull team was going through regular D60 ball-joints every comp, and Spidertrax ran their buggy with their "ball-joints" (front and rear steer) for a season without needing maintinence.

:dunno:

For me the cool thing about the Spider housing (aside form price) is the fact that they use 1/4" tubes. Diamond is pretty set on 3/8" - 1/2" tubes.
Even though I bent my Currie housing, I still don't want to go thicker. Anyway, it's awfully easy to straighten a 9" housing.

I heard most of the Comp. guys are replacing ball joints every other Comp., & replacing unit bearings once to twice a year. Frankly though, I don't believe it, & even if it's true & I'm not willing to put-up with the weight & width of kingpins.

I'm set on 33 spline stubs, this week...

P

 

[cracker]

Anyway, it's awfully easy to straighten a 9" housing.

And too easy to bend in the first place :shocked: