Phase II

We had a great day working on Jeeps.

Mark and I loaded up the junk and made the trip to Chattanooga. Trip went well with me driving the Olds and Mark drove the XJ. He reported that it drove great with no hint what-so-ever of death wobble. The drop brackets seem to fix that problem. He also reported that it rode so much better.

We arrived at RSOR at 9:30am and started working on the XJ. Melkor was there wrenching and fabbing some cool stuff for his XJ. His rig will be awesome.

Tyler, Mark and I worked to get the front end apart, installed the front Aussie after cleaning everything really well, and install the 231 t-case with SYE. Mark benchpressed out the old 242 and stuck the 231 in place. We had it driving on the front axle by the end of the day. We installed a few new parts in the front axle while we had it apart so we should be good for a long time.

Tyler and Dan took us to a new place to eat. Bea's Restaurant in Chatt-town. Great home cooked, buffet style food. Good choice guys.

The remaining projects will be completed in the next week or so before the Flog. Thanks for a great day.
 
I got the XJ back on Tuesday before the Flog. All upgrades were completed as scheduled at RSOR. Tyler found that I had bad bearings in the 8.8 so they were replaced while everything was apart.

The XJ drives great with the 4.10 gears and rides good with the RC drop brackets. No death wobble. The brakes work great thanks to the '96 Booster/MC too.

The Flog revealed a few issues that I had not forseen as being a major issue.

1. The 8.8 is bigger than the 8.25 and thus seemed to beat and bang on every rock while riding on 32" tires at Golden Mtn.

2. The RC drop brackets hang low when only running 32" tires. They seemed to beat and scrape on everything also.

3. The front Aussie locker revealed another weakness, which was my small 260 jointed axle shafts. I broke the u-joints out of two, not one but two, short side axle shafts. Luckily we caught the breakage quick before any damage was done to the ball joints. I guess I was surpised since Mark ran 33's and 260 joints on his and never broke a joint. I wasn't really ruehogging on it when they popped either.

4. The HD Offroad mid stiffners worked great and made the body much more rigid. I'd say my unibody rails would have been beat to pieces had I not had them on there.

So while I just got Phase II completed, I'm actually bummed a little. I spent a lot of money to get to this point only to realize I need to spend a lot more to get where I need to be. The common theme of many issues above is tire diameter and axle strength. I need alloy shafts with the 760 joints pretty quick. I have no more spare short shafts. Also a 33" or up tire would be extremely helpful in reducing the scraping and dragging that occured this weekend.

To be fair, Golden Mountain is a rocky park with a lot of obsticles to crawl over and climb. I was also doing trails that were harder than what I would typically try.

I'm already planning Phase III.
 
bigalpha said:
Can't you just use the shafts from a newer XJ that has the larger ujoint?
Click to expand...

Better just to go straight to alloys in my opinion, been there done that. At this point Ed and I are set up very similar.

Ed, the 8.8 is just a rock seeking missile, I ran in to the 8.8 size issue up at Harlan on my 33's. I've been through 2 stock covers on mine since I put it in earlier this year, and now I finally put a Solid cover on it.

Had I realized that was going to be the case I probably would have stuck to my plan of a disc brake converted 29 spline 8.25. I was most of my way there when I dropped in the 8.8 anyway.

My plan all along was to eventually end up on 35's and thanks to the 8.8 it will be happening sooner rather than later.

There are several people that have shaved their 8.8's to help the clearance issue as well, I'm just no going to do that though.
 
You can get the bigger shafts from the junkyard for cheap, though. If it's just a problem with breaking joints, seems like upgrading to a larger joint with "stock" shafts would be a good place to start.
 
bigalpha said:
Can't you just use the shafts from a newer XJ that has the larger ujoint?
Click to expand...

Mark had a set of 297 joint axles but they were from an ABS rig with the tone rings. My stubs needed to have a lip for the unit bearing to seal on and these weren't present on the ABS stubs.

I have a Waggy D44 and I may just start planning to build it rather than sink more money in the D30. I don't know. I'm broke now and will be for a while. :(
 
bigalpha said:
You can get the bigger shafts from the junkyard for cheap, though. If it's just a problem with breaking joints, seems like upgrading to a larger joint with "stock" shafts would be a good place to start.
Click to expand...

Yes, this would be the case. Every time I've looked at PNP, all the 297 shafts are gone.

4WP had a good price on some G2 alloy shafts but dang, they are going to be $500+.
 
I just went alloy in mine, unfortunately I didn't get to go test them out at the flog.

I have a pile of shafts at the house that I bought from Blake, I'll try to go through them and see what is left. I like to carry one of each as trail spares just in case, but I'm hoping that with alloys and full circle clips I won't have the same issues as before.

I know the long side shaft that had 297s is trashed because of slung caps and driving it home that way from the cove. I should still have a short side 297 and maybe a long side left, and plenty of 260 joint shafts.
 
a factory d30 297 shaft is stronger than a factory d44 shaft, no neckdown at any of the splines.... find a late model set and run spicer joints in it, even if you do run a set of alloys your still running the same ujoint. now if you built a 44 you could run a cheaper set of alloys and a superjoint, since the hubs will let you keep the front end from spinning while street driving it..... just my .02 cents
 
shortxjdoug said:
a factory d30 297 shaft is stronger than a factory d44 shaft, no neckdown at any of the splines.... find a late model set and run spicer joints in it, even if you do run a set of alloys your still running the same ujoint. now if you built a 44 you could run a cheaper set of alloys and a superjoint, since the hubs will let you keep the front end from spinning while street driving it..... just my .02 cents
Click to expand...

I agree. Go ahead and build the 44. You can get the TNT truss to put on top of it. By the time you spend 500 bucks for alloys for the 30 you could have been half way there with the 44.
 
And I took a flat piece of 11ga sheet and sorta molded it to the bottom of my 8.8 to make kind of a skid. You'd have to see it but I don't get hung up on the lip on the bottom of the 8.8.
 
lowrange2 said:
I agree. Go ahead and build the 44. You can get the TNT truss to put on top of it. By the time you spend 500 bucks for alloys for the 30 you could have been half way there with the 44.
Click to expand...


well in ed's case what i meant was keep the thirty, he's only wanting to run 33's on it anyway. if he keeps the thirty he's into it for less money, only replacing the shafts and unit bearings with later model equipment.... if you build a 44 you HAVE to buy alloys, the stock shafts are 30+ year old forgings and a terrible design neckdown at inner splines and at the stubs.

alloys are overrated for a 30 unless your stupid with the throttle or running 35's and up.... in the end, alloy or not, your still running the same joint in it and the spicer joint is still going to be your breaking point whether its a 300m shaft or a stock piece

parts list for a built Ed 30:
-stock 97+ shafts 60-80$ (generous estimate, when i bought bigger thirty shafts i just bought complete axles)
-2 spicer 760x joints 50$
-possibly new unit bearings if donors arent good...

he's still under just the price of alloys

Ed d44 parts list
-brackets 110$
-4.10 gears and install $300
-aussie locker $220
-alloys $300
- cheapest superjoints about $300 new or spicers for $50 but then its no better than a thirty as far as wheeling goes (still has bigger ring, hubs and BJ's)
- labor to put it together

thats about whats in my 44 (minus labor since i did it), buuuut i run 37's and a 4.7 stroker and shove my jeep places where its not supposed to go, thats how i can justify my $1000 dana 44. I haven't known Ed but a few years now but he's always said he wants to keep it on 33's and he has a very reserved driving style. the 30 will suit him very well. the dana 30 really is an impressive axle for what it is, if i had a dd rig on 35's or under i would keep the thirty.... but thats just me ;)
 
i would say X2 on keeping the 30 but it all depends on driving style.

i've never wheeled with ed but i know that i am confident wheeling mine with a stock 30, aussie locker, and 35's

you do have to take into account that he DID break his axle...so would putting a 30 back together really be the best thing.

the only way i'll ever upgrade mine is if i get a chance to pull a front locked 44 from a rubicon.
 
Doug, you are right, I've always said I want no more than 33's but I might be thinking of 35's already. Jared's XJ with 35's and Mark's old trail rig sure did well. I'm also thinking of trimming my fenders.

What's bad is I wasn't gouging on it when the shafts broke.
 
Those were just 260 joints though. If he had been running 297's or 760's, I doubt they would have broke.
 
Ed, you have seen my 30 survive blatant torture running Alloy shafts with good joints. You won't beat your 30 like I did mine........

For 35s forget about building a Waggy 44,. Add good shafts and joints to your 30 and put the extra money in your pocket.
 
Man I'm glad to hear you guys saying to keep the 30 if only planning to run 35s. I've been doubting whether or not I made the right call.
 
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