Dana 30 inner C's

[proracedriver616]

So I cut the welds and removed the inner C's on an extra dana 30 housing im sleeving and trussing but had to hit one really hard on top and bottom of the C to get it off. I held it next to an "unabused" inner C I think i slightly bent the top of the C in a little because the top and bottom ball joint seats squished together by about 1/4". Im not quite sure how i should go about fixing this, one option i have is to weld the C back on after i sleeve the outside of the axle tube and then use a port-a-power to spread the C back out a little, and the other is this...
http://www.partsmike.com/store/store.php?crn=221&rn=1374&action=show_detail
Its for a 44 but my question is will dana 30 outer knuckles bolt onto this, does anybody know? The tube diamater wont be an issue because i will be welding 3" od DOM over the axle tubes. thanks for the help

seth

 

[craiglghuey]

I have a Dana 30 too and I need an axle shaft. Can someone help me find one?

 

[stewie]

nice hyjacking the thread craig.

 

[craiglghuey]

hahaha yep I just want help

 

[Goatman]

I have a Dana 30 too and I need an axle shaft. Can someone help me find one?

Find one?

Call any of a dozen drivetrain stores and buy one. Nice hijack, BTW.

 

[Goatman]

So I cut the welds and removed the inner C's on an extra dana 30 housing im sleeving and trussing but had to hit one really hard on top and bottom of the C to get it off. I held it next to an "unabused" inner C I think i slightly bent the top of the C in a little because the top and bottom ball joint seats squished together by about 1/4". Im not quite sure how i should go about fixing this, one option i have is to weld the C back on after i sleeve the outside of the axle tube and then use a port-a-power to spread the C back out a little, and the other is this...
http://www.partsmike.com/store/store.php?crn=221&rn=1374&action=show_detail
Its for a 44 but my question is will dana 30 outer knuckles bolt onto this, does anybody know? The tube diamater wont be an issue because i will be welding 3" od DOM over the axle tubes. thanks for the help

seth

That's a strictly D44 knuckle, it shouldn't fit a D30 knuckle. Plenty of D44's are built with D30 outers, but they all use the D30 inner C.

You'll have to bend that inner C back.

 

[proracedriver616]

That's a strictly D44 knuckle, it shouldn't fit a D30 knuckle. Plenty of D44's are built with D30 outers, but they all use the D30 inner C.

You'll have to bend that inner C back.

okay ha ha, thanks for the info man, i guess ill get it close then bolt the outer knuckles on and use a level to get them exact.

 

[Seiler]

Dang, that sucks Seth. Was it the drivers side?

Scott

 

[kastein]

Straighten it out with a BFH or hell, get a new one somewhere. They aren't too rare, so you should be able to find one pretty cheap I'd say. $169 for a new C is ok I guess, but you can get a whole new d30 with everything on it for that around here.

Also, next time you have to pull an inner C, I read in Joe Attardo's buildup thread that if you run a bead around the edge/inside/whatever of the tube after cutting the welds, when it cools down it'll shrink away from the C so you can pound it off with a lot less force. Pretty neat trick if you ask me - only downside is that you now have a bead on the tube, but if it's coming off a piece of junk who cares.

 

[proracedriver616]

Dang, that sucks Seth. Was it the drivers side?

Scott

yeah it was the drivers side, but its only about 1/4" closer from the ball joint to ball joint flat spots, so it wont be too hard to heat up and beat it back a little. I spent a lot more time heating the pass. side C up and it came off a lot easier so iguess i should have heated up the first one more. Oh well, live and learn. Other than that everything is going good...I have both C's off and the factory welds ground down, i welded and ground the little spots where the cutoff wheel cut into the housing getting the C's off, and i ordered coil spring brackets from ballistic fab. now i just have to find somewhere that sells 3" od .250 DOM tubing and i can start putting it back together. Ill post up some pics as soon as i make a little more progress.

seth

 

[Seiler]

yeah it was the drivers side, but its only about 1/4" closer from the ball joint to ball joint flat spots, so it wont be too hard to heat up and beat it back a little. I spent a lot more time heating the pass. side C up and it came off a lot easier so iguess i should have heated up the first one more. Oh well, live and learn. Other than that everything is going good...I have both C's off and the factory welds ground down, i welded and ground the little spots where the cutoff wheel cut into the housing getting the C's off, and i ordered coil spring brackets from ballistic fab. now i just have to find somewhere that sells 3" od .250 DOM tubing and i can start putting it back together. Ill post up some pics as soon as i make a little more progress.

seth

Cool. Look forward to seeing them if you get around to it. Good luck.

Scott

 

[proracedriver616]

I got my ballistic fab. coil brackets today and went to work on them. They come in 5 or 6 pieces each and you have to weld them together.

I am going to move my axle forward 2" so first i filled in the existing axle cutouts.

next i marked and cut the new cutouts 2" further forward

This created the problem of not being able to get to the bottom of the bracket to hold a nut in place for the spring retainer plate so i drilled the hole bigger and welded a nut in place

then ground it all smooth and painted it

heres a comparison of the factory ballistic cutout vs. where i moved it

Both done!

seth

 

[Seiler]

Cool! Keep it up.

Scott

 

[dgrigorenko]

nice! i've been eyeballing those for a while

 

[proracedriver616]

nice! i've been eyeballing those for a while

After buying them and seeing them in real life I would recommend them to anyone, they are well worth the money. There are different options for axle tube size and lower control arm mount type. What i didnt show was the pass. side mount has part of the perch notched out and comes with 1/4" thick trackbar mounts, but i filled that notch in since im gonna run my trackbar above the axle. And the kit came with beefy lower control arm mounts that you can see in the last picture.

If anyone knows a good local place near colorado springs (or somewhere online) where i can buy about 3 feet of 3" od .250 wall DOM it would be awesome if you shared that info. I want to buy/order some next week and start welding everything back together.

seth

 

[proracedriver616]

I have made a tiny bit of progress lately and since everyone enjoys pics here you go....


i got around to heating up and spreading the inner c back out to where its supposed to be

this is about as close as im gonna get it, they are both within 1/16 of each other

I also got outer knucles and brakes this last weekend and cleaned them up all pretty yesterday, for everything being completely covered in rust it turned out good

Thats it for now, i still havent bought any DOM to sleeve the axle tubes yet, but i did get a diff cover coming.....more to come

seth

 

[RenoXJ]

Lookin really good !

 

[XJEEPER]

Having been there and done that, I wouldn't build a D30 without the addition of WJ brakes. The added stopping power plus hi-steer are huge benefits that can be had for not much money if you're willing to scrounge parts.

 

[proracedriver616]

i looked around a bit and didnt find any wj 30's around on craigslist or the forums but i did find all those parts pictured with almost new pads and rotors for $50 so i went with that, i have an 8.8 with discs in the rear so the brake deal isnt a huge problem for me, and im drilling out the knuckles to 3/4" and using heims on top so the steering is a push.

 

[cal]

Why would anyone build up a dana 30? Sleeving it? That sounds mighty heavy.

:gee: