Team Willys
www.rocksolidfab.com
- Location
- Chattanooga, TN
Glenn, I don't know why you hate 8.8s so much... they are great axles when built right. I thought I might win you over with the LS2 XJ. You thought the axles would never hold up to the heavy tire/wheel combo and that much power, but its been beat on, jumped, done on street burn outs, basically given any type of punishment you can think of and we have had absolutely no trouble at all.
Oh well, guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Anyway... I think you are going about this the wrong way. I had housing issues with my rear 44 in my Willys. A lot of people (including Glenn) told me to stop wasting my time with the 44 and just swap in a 60. BUT... I haven't had any trouble with internals breaking, just bent housings. I ended up sleeveing the housing with a larger DOM tube, and that worked out great. There are 2 things that make a tube more resistant to bending, the OD, and the wall thickness. With an external sleeve, you are doing both. The issue you are going to run into as far as the housing geos is that you are either going to have to open up the casting to get the 44 tubes in, or turn down the tubes to fit the D30 casting, or a combination of both. Either way, you are going to have a weak spot where the tube meets the casting. With an external sleeve over the factory D30 tube, you could just bevel the end of the sleeve where it meets the cast and then weld them together. Also, drill several holes in the sleeve and rosette weld it on. Then, to get D44 outers, cut the inner Cs off of the 44 and open them up slightly to fit the new sleeved housing. You would end up wit a much stronger combination for a lot less work.
As far as the 30 spline stock carrier... I guess that's a cool option for someone on a budget, but I would have personally just gotten a 30 Spline Detroit and been done with it. However, I too am a cheap bastard when it comes to my own stuff (trail rigs anyway) so I do get it. I WOULD NEVER run a spool/lincoln locker in the front though, because personally, I like to be able to turn.
Hats off for trying something new, but I personally don't see this turning out good. Kinda like Auburn ECTED Lockers... a good idea that received bad engineering.
Oh well, guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
Anyway... I think you are going about this the wrong way. I had housing issues with my rear 44 in my Willys. A lot of people (including Glenn) told me to stop wasting my time with the 44 and just swap in a 60. BUT... I haven't had any trouble with internals breaking, just bent housings. I ended up sleeveing the housing with a larger DOM tube, and that worked out great. There are 2 things that make a tube more resistant to bending, the OD, and the wall thickness. With an external sleeve, you are doing both. The issue you are going to run into as far as the housing geos is that you are either going to have to open up the casting to get the 44 tubes in, or turn down the tubes to fit the D30 casting, or a combination of both. Either way, you are going to have a weak spot where the tube meets the casting. With an external sleeve over the factory D30 tube, you could just bevel the end of the sleeve where it meets the cast and then weld them together. Also, drill several holes in the sleeve and rosette weld it on. Then, to get D44 outers, cut the inner Cs off of the 44 and open them up slightly to fit the new sleeved housing. You would end up wit a much stronger combination for a lot less work.
As far as the 30 spline stock carrier... I guess that's a cool option for someone on a budget, but I would have personally just gotten a 30 Spline Detroit and been done with it. However, I too am a cheap bastard when it comes to my own stuff (trail rigs anyway) so I do get it. I WOULD NEVER run a spool/lincoln locker in the front though, because personally, I like to be able to turn.
Hats off for trying something new, but I personally don't see this turning out good. Kinda like Auburn ECTED Lockers... a good idea that received bad engineering.
