The Dana 34 Project: The Ultimate turd polish!

[Ironmanandy]

Ghost and a few other buddies from Naxja have been hounding me to throw a thread up here about my Dana 34 project that I started a few weeks ago, so here goes.

An aged and extremely experienced 4x4 fabricator once told me: "No matter what you do to a Dana 30 to improve it... Its still a Dana 30 and you are only polishing a turd"

With this in mind Lets make it Shiny as Hell!!!

I have started building my 1990 2 door split window in the hopes of being able to compete in Next years Ecorrs series Class A, My approach is; simple, reliable, Light, Inexpensive, and Practical... to an extent. Since when was practicality any part of this sport?

I have decided to make my front axle have as much ground clearance as possible and still be tough and reliable. I started with a YJ HP D30 housing I had laying in my axle pile and cut the axle tubes off at the Housing. I then dug out an old Waggy front 44 and gutted it.

I imagine you can see where this is going.
Housing: the Idea is to use a dana 30 housing ring and pinion with dana 44, 1/2" wall axle tubes, outer Cs and shafts. I want a beefy 30 spline Dana 30. The dana 44 axle tubes obviously will not fit in the dana 30 housing and will require modification.

Carrier: The D30 carrier obviously will not fit 30 spline shafts and needs modification. The 30 spline side gears will obviously not fit in the Dana 30 carrier and need modification.

At this point I have removed the axle tubes from the D44 and have turned down the d44 side gears to match the dimensions of the d30. Plenty of material remains for strength. I will make the dana 44 side gears work with the spiders so that the cross pin will mount back in and I will fully lincoln lock the carrier. Machining hardened gears sucks because of how hard they really are. Even the toughest sandvik carbide is having a hard time making this work. I have 1 side done and will finish the rest later this week when I get caught up on control arms.

I will post up lots of pics tomorrow of this build up to this point.

 

[shortxjdoug]

why? i never had a gc issue with my 44 and aired down my first set of tires measured 33". it seems like a lot of work to set yourself up for many future ring and pinion purchases....


i mean dont get me wrong im not knocking the machine work and ingenuity it takes to get it done but the awesome ground clearance is gonna come at a serious price

 

[Ironmanandy]

I have never had issues with the RC ring and pinion with even 35s, I realize this build does seem a little superfluous and knew the first response would be asking why the hell bother.
The RC D 30 ring and pinion "when set up correctly" can take one hell of a beating. Imma give it a shot!

 

[shortxjdoug]

The RC D 30 ring and pinion "when set up correctly" can take one hell of a beating. Imma give it a shot!

i agree completely.... most 30's that i have seen stand up to serious abuse benefited greatly from cryo treatment on the r&P... you planning on cryo'ing the gearset?


even though its a lot of extra building...i like the use of as few custom pieces as possible... making sourcing replacemnt parts easier... what tires are you going to be running

 

[Ghost]

THis should be intresting if nothing else... :laugh3: If I had the lathe and the axles sitting around I guess I'd be tempted too do somthing like this too. True high steer knuckles and lock outs too boot on the ground clearance of a D30. You aint right but "I love you man!" :twak:

 

[PacificEd]

An aged and extremely experienced 4x4 fabricator once told me: "No matter what you do to a Dana 30 to improve it... Its still a Dana 30 and you are only polishing a turd"

With this in mind Lets make it Shiny as Hell!!!

I like your enthusiasm. Should be very interesting.

 

[Ghost]

Oh yea I forgot something!

:compwork:

 

[Ironmanandy]

I knew that was coming too....

 

[MoparManiac]

You're using the stock D30 carrier? I've seen countless of them flex and take out the gearset. Measured 0.020" runout where the gearset broke on mine.

How are you going to address this?

 

[Ironmanandy]

I have never had that problem, I run quality gears and always set them up on the tight side of spec. This has always worked for me even with lock rights etc. Hard shifts at redline etc. Shaft failure and bent tubes are my only complaints.

 

[foxwar71]

why not jsut get an ox or an arb for a super30? quickest/easiest way to get 30 spline inners AND get rid of the wet noddle stock carrier

 

[kastein]

For ground clearance... didn't some guy put unimog outers on a 30 or a 44 a while back? I thought I saw that.

Don't get me wrong, I love wacky engineering that gets the job done with some sort of unusual combination of inexpensive-ish parts, but I am fairly certain you aren't gonna like the results of this.

 

[ktm racer 419]

I have never had that problem, I run quality gears and always set them up on the tight side of spec. This has always worked for me even with lock rights etc. Hard shifts at redline etc. Shaft failure and bent tubes are my only complaints.

so you are doing the ultimate turd polish job and keeping the flimsy stock carrier?

For ground clearance... didn't some guy put unimog outers on a 30 or a 44 a while back? I thought I saw that.

ive seen portals on a 44. the gearing in the outers puts virtually no stress on the 44 shafts and gearset. but thats another thread altogether.

 

[Ironmanandy]

I don't want to have any money in this.... I gotta get some pics up tonight. ill argue about reasoning after we see the results.

 

[asp]

Spending money on an aftermarket carrier would be the one thing I would do.

It sounds like you have a full machine shop at your hands. It would be a lot of work, but have you thought about machining the center chunk of the D30 to accept a D44 carrier then bracing the outside to account for lost strength due to material removal? You'd probably have to fill the bearing cap holes with weld, build the surface up with a stick welder, machine it flat, rebore & tap them where you need them to be, put the bearing caps on, indicate off the inside surface of those to find the center of the hole then machine the center chunk with a boring bar. You'd also have to do something for the pinion, but I didn't have any ideas on how to make that work.

If you're going to do that, I'd say screw it and just run a 44. If ground clearance is that tight, shave down the ring gear and the bottom of the 44 housing like they do on 14B's...

 

[kastein]

According to my info, a d30 ring gear is 7.2" diameter and a d44 one is 8.5"... difference of 1.5". So 3/4" radius change, plus housing thickness and ring gear clearance difference.

Any chance you could shave the d44 housing and ring gear and get the same amount of clearance back without screwing up the gear contact area too much? Seems like you'd arrive at the same result (mostly) without as much work and with more strength in more places.

 

[asp]

According to my info, a d30 ring gear is 7.2" diameter and a d44 one is 8.5"... difference of 1.300". So 0.650" radius change, plus housing thickness and ring gear clearance difference.

Any chance you could shave the d44 housing and ring gear and get the same amount of clearance back without screwing up the gear contact area too much? Seems like you'd arrive at the same result (mostly) without as much work and with more strength in more places.

FTFY. I know that extra 0.200 might not seem like much but 0.200 when working with precision machining is a mile.

I edited my previous post and included what you just mentioned, too. (before I read what you wrote)

 

[kastein]

i r gud at maths :dunce:

 

[asp]

i r gud at maths :dunce:

Private engineering school education at it's finest :gee:

 

[Ghost]

The point here I believe is he has these axles laying around and he has the baility and equipment to do it. When done it will have the flat top knuckles and lockouts with .50" wall tubes and the high clearance of a D30. Seems perty kool and intresting to me.