hp dana 44/standard dana 44 and deep gears for 37's???

[Big Red]

5.38s are available for a 9 inch. I just built one that went into a CJ5. Since that's the deepest gears available for the hp44, that would be my pick.

Dan

From where? I only see 5.13, 5.29's and 5.43 in that range. Will 9" 5.43 gears work and damage things while running 5.38's in my hp 44? Would you guys run this much gearing even with 35's? I just wheel this jeep, drive it to and from the trail and have an overdrive auto tranny (AW4). Does the hp 44 get to weak (r&p) with this low of a gear?
Troy

 

[BrettM]

From where? I only see 5.13, 5.29's and 5.43 in that range. Will 9" 5.43 gears work and damage things while running 5.38's in my hp 44? Would you guys run this much gearing even with 35's? I just wheel this jeep, drive it to and from the trail and have an overdrive auto tranny (AW4). Does the hp 44 get to weak (r&p) with this low of a gear?
Troy

5.43 and 5.38 are totally fine together. I think that's what Sean runs also. If you only drive to and from the trail I would go with 5.38/5.43s with 35s. If you need to frequently drive 75mph, get the 5.13s. I hope you run wheels with deep backspacing, being too wide is a hinderance on Sierra trails.

 

[Mike L]

Does the hp 44 get to weak (r&p) with this low of a gear?
Troy

Man, How many times are you going to ask that question? It has been answered more than a few times that 5.38's will be oki-doki in the hp44. You still never answered the question: Why do you want to run 37"s? Is it to be cool? I'm assuming that it is because you already got them. You could sell them alone on Pirate and fetch some good money. If you really want to run 37"s I suggest you get alloy shafts for the rear as 31-spline stock shafts won't hold up for long.

Maybe GOATMAN will list all the stuff he has broken with his new 37"s even running alloys up front.......................

-Mike

 

[Big Red]

Man, How many times are you going to ask that question? It has been answered more than a few times that 5.38's will be oki-doki in the hp44. You still never answered the question: Why do you want to run 37"s? Is it to be cool? I'm assuming that it is because you already got them. You could sell them alone on Pirate and fetch some good money. If you really want to run 37"s I suggest you get alloy shafts for the rear as 31-spline stock shafts won't hold up for long.

Maybe GOATMAN will list all the stuff he has broken with his new 37"s even running alloys up front.......................

-Mike

Enough said. Sorry for asking the same stuff over and over. Thanks a lot guys. I think I will go with my 35" pro comp XT's with the axles and 5.38 f/5.43 rear gears (lock rite front/detroit rear). This diff in gear ratios isn't going to screw up my t-case or tranny is it? I think I heard at crawl speed it is o.k., but you don't want to run it in 4wd on the street with those ratios, let alone being locked front and rear. I know Toy guys have about this ratio with their 8" rear/swapped waggy 44 front.

 

[Mike L]

Enough said. Sorry for asking the same stuff over and over. Thanks a lot guys. I think I will go with my 35" pro comp XT's with the axles and 5.38 f/5.43 rear gears (lock rite front/detroit rear). This diff in gear ratios isn't going to screw up my t-case or tranny is it? I think I heard at crawl speed it is o.k., but you don't want to run it in 4wd on the street with those ratios, let alone being locked front and rear. I know Toy guys have about this ratio with their 8" rear/swapped waggy 44 front.

There is no difference in the ratios at speed or in crawling. There can be a percentage difference (forgot what it is) between the front and rear and it will be ok. When you go up numerically in ratios the difference can be greater.

-Mike

 

[Paul S]

Sounds like you've settled on 35's, good choice. I wouldn't run 37's on a rear axle with 30/31 spline shafts, at least not on the trails that warrant 37s.
As to your front end, I think you're going 1 step forward, 3 steps back.
You're going from good ground clearance & coils to worse ground clearance & leaves. IMO you're giving up way more than you're gaining in regards to performance & reliability.

Paul

 

[Kaczman]

Sounds like you've settled on 35's, good choice. I wouldn't run 37's on a rear axle with 30/31 spline shafts, at least not on the trails that warrant 37s.
As to your front end, I think you're going 1 step forward, 3 steps back.
You're going from good ground clearance & coils to worse ground clearance & leaves. IMO you're giving up way more than you're gaining in regards to performance & reliability.

Paul

But, you have no credibility.

-JonK

 

[Big Red]

Sounds like you've settled on 35's, good choice. I wouldn't run 37's on a rear axle with 30/31 spline shafts, at least not on the trails that warrant 37s.
As to your front end, I think you're going 1 step forward, 3 steps back.
You're going from good ground clearance & coils to worse ground clearance & leaves. IMO you're giving up way more than you're gaining in regards to performance & reliability.

Paul

I disagree with the 1 step/-3 steps. The hp dana 44 is a great axle and leafs are easy to set up and maintain. You can add a leaf, take out of leaf, alter wheelbase easily. Find them at pnp easy etc. While I do have a hp 30 with 4.56 gears and the nice arb, the hp 44 with the lock out hubs, low 5.38 gears, big brakes, strong housing, 30 spline shafts, stronger ball joints, etc etc make it a well worth the work. A standard 44, maybe not as much, but a hp 44, easily.

I know the dana 44 will will hang down farther than the 30, but without those lower control arms mounts on the axle, I think I will be o.k. with the SOA leafs and the u-joint ends pointing up. The lower control arm mounts on the 30 are know to really take a beating and get hung up alot. Also my rear xj dana 44 shock mounts are really low. I got the ford 9" to go with the hp dana 44 because of the width, strength, huge buildability of both the axles, and because I plan to get a decent amt of $ for my hp 30/xj dana 44 pair to offset alot of the costs of getting the full width axles in my xj and gearing them to 5.38 I think I'll be o.k. Also at 8" while my coils and control arms were working with my RE drop arms. I know that leafs SOA are much easier to maintain and simple. I have owned 3 YJ's and 1 CJ and leafs can flex really good if you keep them pretty flat and do a SOA. Look at Brett's rig, that thing has great front articulation. I think I'll stick with my 35's. I got some 5 on 5.5 10" rims thrown into the deal. Do you think those will be a problem being to wide? I might swap out my 37" mtrs off of the 8" beadlock rims and mount them on the 10" rims and then mount my 35" pro comp xt on the 8" beadlocks. Sure would be alot easier to run the 37's on the beadlocks already though. :laugh3:
Troy

 

[Big Red]

But, you have no credibility.

-JonK

Jon, aren't you running 38.5" TSL SX tires on dana 44 front and rear? Do you have alloy shafts? Front hp 44 and standard rear 44? I like your rear coil conversion from seeing it on Fordyce this summer.
Troy

 

[Kaczman]

Jon, aren't you running 38.5" TSL SX tires on dana 44 front and rear? Do you have alloy shafts? Front hp 44 and standard rear 44? I like your rear coil conversion from seeing it on Fordyce this summer.
Troy

Yup. Standard cut 44's front and rear with 38x12.50's. Alloy shafts in the rear, and on the wish list for the front.

However, with large tires and lightweight axles, I tend to drive with extreme caution and am very aware when the tires really start to hook up. I'm a bit worried about getting on the gas with the rear D-44. I'd feel much more comfortable with a built 9" or 60. And when I get alloys and CTM's for the front, I should be good to go for a while longer.

Peace of mind is expensive.

-Jon

 

[Ramsey]

Peace of mind is expensive.

-Jon

truer words havent been spoken

 

[Big Red]

Yup. Standard cut 44's front and rear with 38x12.50's. Alloy shafts in the rear, and on the wish list for the front.

However, with large tires and lightweight axles, I tend to drive with extreme caution and am very aware when the tires really start to hook up. I'm a bit worried about getting on the gas with the rear D-44. I'd feel much more comfortable with a built 9" or 60. And when I get alloys and CTM's for the front, I should be good to go for a while longer.

Peace of mind is expensive.

-Jon

Aint that the truth of peace of mind being expensive. So you haven't been breaking your front shafts or u-joints yet? Those SX are some nice tires. I have some spare shafts for my hp 44, I think I might give the 37's a go, I'll see, though peace of mind is more important than an extra inch of ground clearance. I've been pricing out the alloy front shafts and CTMs too. I would like to have them in the future. I have been driving with caution with my 35's and hp 30 and haven't broken anything on 2 trips to the Con and 1 to Fordyce on my xj. I really will miss the arb, it is so nice to be able to flip it on and off, but I will love the manual hubs, 5.38 gears, extra beef of the hp 44 so I'll just have to work out and get some stronger biceps to turn those tires with the lock rite. :laugh3: I have been wanting to get back to the gym. I used to powerlift, man marriage and jeeps change everything.

 

[Ramsey]

you married a man?

 

[Big Red]

you married a man?

She is a Tom Boy at times, but last time I checked she was a woman.

 

[Ramsey]

gotcha, a comma here and there wouldnt hurt :laugh:

 

[BrettM]

Aint that the truth of peace of mind being expensive. So you haven't been breaking your front shafts or u-joints yet? Those SX are some nice tires. I have some spare shafts for my hp 44, I think I might give the 37's a go, I'll see, though peace of mind is more important than an extra inch of ground clearance. I've been pricing out the alloy front shafts and CTMs too. I would like to have them in the future. I have been driving with caution with my 35's and hp 30 and haven't broken anything on 2 trips to the Con and 1 to Fordyce on my xj. I really will miss the arb, it is so nice to be able to flip it on and off, but I will love the manual hubs, 5.38 gears, extra beef of the hp 44 so I'll just have to work out and get some stronger biceps to turn those tires with the lock rite. :laugh3: I have been wanting to get back to the gym. I used to powerlift, man marriage and jeeps change everything.

You finally got it figured out.

Peace of mind isn't always expensive if you figure it all out at the beginning. Although Kaczman has a very nice XJ, if he would have gone with 35s (or even light 37s) from the beginning he would have plenty of peace of mind and cheaper than he is now. Sure he would loose some clearance underneath, but not being scared of breaking might make up the difference.

 

[Goatman]

:twak:


Troy, I can see how bad you want some bigger axles........but remember, you haven't broken the ones you have, yet. I should propably keep my thoughts to myself, but this discussion can apply to many people, so maybe someone will get something out of this.

I know all don't agree with me, so this is my way of looking at it. I don't like to do a modification that is supposed to be an upgrade, and then go backwards in other areas in the process. If I am upgrading one part, it has to be done in a way that doesn't detract in other ways. Let's look at what you're gaining, and what you're loosing.

You want a stronger front axle, so the D44. You're keeping high pinion, which is good, you're gaining gear strength, increasing axle shaft strength, housing strength, and gaining brake size. The most likely part to break, however, the axle u-joints or axle yokes, is staying the same, you aren't gaining anything. You are loosing some ground clearance, and loosing the ARB that you really like. You're going full width, which is a negative, since it will get into more sqeezes, and will have to climb some rocks and ledges that the narrower axle will miss. This slightly increases the possibility of breaking a front axle joint. You're loosing the four link and coils to leaf springs, which is also a negative. I realize that leaves work fine in the front, but they don't work as well as coils. They don't ride or handle as well either, and if this isn't a concern for you, it should be, and it definitely is there. The other big negative of front leaves is the axle wrap, that you don't get with a four link.

Now the 9" in the rear. It has great gear strength, but the D44 you now have isn't bad. The axles increase from 30 spline to 31 spline (assuming it's not a 28 spline 9"), which is too insignificant to consider as an upgrade. The pinion on the 9" is even lower than it is on the D44, which is definitely a negative. The full width is a negative for the reasons already stated.

IF you had stock axles, with stock gears and no lockers and were just getting started, and ran across those axles, it would be tempting to use them......if you are a full width axle kind of a guy. (BTW, full width used to be cool, but it isn't any more because it doesn't work as well) Since you already have gears and lockers in both axles, and a lift, it is quite a bit of a trade off in important areas. Personally, I would never make the change that you are proposing........it has WAY too many compromises and down sides for my way of thinking.

JMHO.....FWIW.

 

[BrettM]

I really like my front leafs, but I still TOTALLY agree with Richard.

I was starting basically from scratch and on a very tight budget.

I insisted on a D44 front with 35s because this is my DD, it will see thousands of street miles a year. If you just drive to and from wheeling, the D30 ain't that bad.

if you got such a great deal on that stuff, sell it for profit and buy other stuff for your XJ that you do need.

 

[Big Red]

Thanks guys. I'm counting on getting a good price for the axles I have under my xj to offset the costs of getting my new axles geared and installed in my xj. Thanks Richard for going over everything point by point. You are very wise with this stuff. I'm very impulsive about stuff, but I've been eyeing these axles for about 5 months or more and the guy has really come down alot on them. At 1st I was just going to get the hp 44, but then when I talked to him and he told me that the 9" doesn't have a carrier break and I could use the detroit for deeper gears, I got him down more by getting everything I could from him like the ds, both 9" shafts for spares, u-bolts, etc and his 10" rims. I know they will stick out alot and I do like 8" rims, but I was planning on putting these on the CJ and putting the 37" mtrs and 8" beadlock rims on my xj.

I really need to get the C-Rok plates for my steering box. What would U guys use to cut the outer plate a bit? My front bumper is welded to the frame in a few spots over a 3/16" plate already covering the 3 bumper bolts and the front/top steering bolt, so I would still like to get the entire C-Roc inner and outer plates and then have them cut a bit so as not to have to grind down the welds and take off my bumper with my winch. Would U guys use a plama cutter or something. I also think that I will have some more holes drilled in the outer plate to be able to have some welds secure the plates better than just bolting them.

 

[Loose_Nuts_Enterprises]

From where? I only see 5.13, 5.29's and 5.43 in that range. Will 9" 5.43 gears work and damage things while running 5.38's in my hp 44? Would you guys run this much gearing even with 35's? I just wheel this jeep, drive it to and from the trail and have an overdrive auto tranny (AW4). Does the hp 44 get to weak (r&p) with this low of a gear?
Troy

I bought the complete 3rd member from Dutchman, which came in a Randy's Ring and Pinion box. I just had the complete unit sent because I was too lazy to source out all the parts for the 35 spline stuff. Even came with a "pretty" purple pinion support.

Dan