Dana 30 do it or dont

[ryurabbit]

Ok, I have wheeled my heep pretty good for a while and have never broken my fron axle housing. I have broken many axle shafts, I actually carry 3 lt and rt axles in the jeep. Yes I have broken that many in 1 trip!!! I dont have allows in the front because I am poor.

Anyway, I was letting my daughter drive, I know big mistake, and she broke the front axle housing.

I am building another 30 for it because its the cheapest route so dont try to change my mind.

With that said, here is question 1:

Is it worth clamshelling or sleeving the axle tubes with 3" tubing and which would you do?

Is the TNT truss without the control arm mounts strong enough by itself?

TIA for all the help guys.

:bunny:

 

[Sponge Bob]

Where did it break at? was it a disco axle? I would truss it or change my driving habbits.

 

[ryurabbit]

Its a non disco housing and it broke all the way around at the trac bar bracket. I was not driving my daughter was.:bunny:

 

[Sponge Bob]

so no story of a hidden sewer cap jumped up a slit the axle???? well you could clam shell as you said but thats a lot of heat applied to a axle tube. take your time if you do it so not to warp it. i would run a truss under the axle if you do not wheel to much.

 

[Jump This]

Cal built as strong a 30 as I have ever seen, talk to him.
Troy helped him build it (Mr.Overkill)
But really, lets talk about the real problem...
Where are you busting your axles? Are you talking about breaking
u-joints then taking out the axle along the way?
Those small u-joints ain't going to cut it.....and you know better.

 

[ryurabbit]

I know too well that I am asking too much from this axle. Running beadlocked 35's on 4 psi locked with stock axles is to much to ask for. I have however done fairly well with this. Im not going bigger and I have another Jeep project with 44/9" fullwidth V8 cherokee on the lifetime achievement and payment plan in the works. I'm just trying to make it more durable considering that the 1st one lasted 8 years this way and with 3 different kids driving it!!!! My daughter has her own jeep and was having a bad day. She broke hers then mine. I figure a trussed 30 is fine for rocks. The other jeep will be the dessert jeep!!!:yap::bunny:

P.s. I dont break u joints, I break the ears of the axle and spit out the joints in one piece with the axle ears still attached!!!! There are pics of this actually from wrecking ball!!!!

Cal built as strong a 30 as I have ever seen, talk to him.
Troy helped him build it (Mr.Overkill)
But really, lets talk about the real problem...
Where are you busting your axles? Are you talking about breaking
u-joints then taking out the axle along the way?
Those small u-joints ain't going to cut it.....and you know better.

 

[cal]

I sleeved my 30 in 3x.250" DOM, and then trussed it.

The sleeve was overkill. Just truss it and go. Weld your truss to the third member with ni-rod, heat and cool it properly, put a good diff cover on and go.

.. And get some alloys.

 

[asp]

Weld your truss to the third member with ni-rod, heat and cool it properly

i thought the 30 pumpkin was cast steel... do you need ni-rod to weld to cast steel? (i thought that was just cast iron)

 

[Jimbo_1321]

I'm pretty sure you're right.
from what I've read anyways, no real world experience yet, but do the slow heating and super slow cooling treatment with regular welding wire/rod and it should be good.
but wait until someone confirms with me

 

[beakie]

I'm sure Cal will chime back in, but when I was talking to him about something like this he metioned the pumpkin was cast iron, the knuckles were cast steel.
nickle rod on the pumpkin
mig on the knuckles
both get proper preheating and slow cooling tho.

 

[asp]

hmmmm. this is the first mention i've heard of the pumpkin being cast iron, but i honestly don't know.

this is a bit of a hijack, but my 30 is a disconnect that's been converted. (don't flame, i got it for 300 bucks with the conversion, 4.56, and a tru trac. i didn't want the disconnect, but the price was right for the gears and tru trac) my question: is the outer disconnect housing cast steel or iron? i've been pondering trussing mine when it comes out for the WJ swap steering and braking and some other stuff...

 

[cal]

I was told the pumpkin was cast iron by a professional welder, and took it on faith. I'd rather go through a little extra work than break it.

What I can tell you, is my dana 30 was done as posted above, and its been rock solid no matter how much web I wheel.

If it turns out to be cast steel - great! I think the pre-post heating is the more important part of the job anyways.

 

[asp]

cool, good to know. thanks cal.

 

[ryurabbit]

So I ordered 3/16 2x4 box steel and im going to truss it. How hot do I need to get the pumpkin to use mig wire on it?? I was also planning on trussing the knuckles as well.:bunny:

 

[cal]

My understanding is "glowing red hot". I don't know if you can mig it or not, let me know.

T&J Perfomance sells a gusset kit for the 30 that has all the goodies. I picked up theirs (just recently).

 

[asp]

i'm pretty sure i've heard of people mig welding their 30 trusses, but don't quote me on that. if it is in fact cast iron, you want it to be 500-1200 deg F but not more than 1400 or you'll change the structure of the metal... at least for cast iron. if it's not cast iron, it will at least make your welds go easier. this is what i've memorized from lincoln's site.... they also recommend using nickel rod... but, obviously the point here is to use a mig. so indeed, try it and let us know how it goes. i too am curious.

 

[ryurabbit]

How much was that truss? I need to get a "buzz" box me thinks. Maybe I should just finish the onboard welder!!!!

 

[Mr.OverKill]

i'm pretty sure i've heard of people mig welding their 30 trusses, but don't quote me on that. if it is in fact cast iron, you want it to be 500-1200 deg F but not more than 1400 or you'll change the structure of the metal... at least for cast iron. if it's not cast iron, it will at least make your welds go easier. this is what i've memorized from lincoln's site.... they also recommend using nickel rod... but, obviously the point here is to use a mig. so indeed, try it and let us know how it goes. i too am curious.

with the heat and slow cool, i welded on the rear D44 with wire and it is a definite cast iron dif, i heat, weld, needle gun peen the weld then heat with a torch again then weld again and repeat...... the heat i go to is approx 450* to 500* and have never had a problem and using the grinder for spark identification the disconnect is cast as well as the dif ( but it is always better to error on the safe side in case i make a mistake, i will go test my dif again this saturday to be sure ) and definitely the knuckles are cast steel

and yes, i am a professional welder

 

[xjtrailrider]

I thought I read somewhere that the D-30 chunk was cast steel and no pre-heat was needed:dunno:

Some one correct me if I'm wrong, I'm getting ready to truss a disco housing as soon as I get the gears set up in it. I plan on doing short welds as not to warp the housing.

As far as axle shafts go, I'm going with Longfields. That should polish the turd to a brilliant shine!

I know, I know! I could build a hell of a waggy 44 for that money but I like the extra clearance of the 30. You won't need to carry extra shafts or knuckles after you put these little beauties on!

Sorry for the partial hi-jack but I did give you a link to some nice shafts:wave:

 

[asp]

one thing you might want to be careful of is where your ground is and where you're welding. particularly, you don't want to be sending current through your bearings...