WTB HP30, 3.55 to 4.10

[yossarian19]

As the title suggests, I'm looking for a HP30 to slowly build on the bench so I can keep driving around until that magic Saturday. I'm currently running 3.55 so that's my preference but I could stand to buy 3.73 or 4.10.
What do you have & what do you want for it?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

please note that I have seen HP44s with 3.50 gears go for sale for around 150$ on here, whats his name in the south bay had one at one point. another 150$ in brackets and another 100$ in 5 on 5.5 wheels and you are pretty much done….

 

[yossarian19]

I'll keep an eye out for either one. I really want a 44 but don't know if I can pull off the swap on my budget / with the welder I'm picking up tomorrow. Cut & rotating the knuckles I think I'd be fine. I don't know if a 100 amp flux core is going to burn them back in place, though.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I wouldn't worry about cutting and rotating the knuckles with a HP unit. Especially if you are under 6" of lift. For the rest of the brackets you can at least get them mocked up and burned in on full heat, and do a second pass with some one else's 220V .

 

[zachandandy]

My hp 44 didn't need a cut and turn to get acceptable caster and pinion angles either. I'm at about 6" of lift FYI.

 

[yossarian19]

Running them full width?
I want to keep it to 62" WMS to WMS, tops, which means chopping things down on a HP unit (unless I've missed something in my reading)
Waggy 44... would be cool, but gear set isn't much stronger than HP30, same u-joints, and now I've got hubs / lockouts to screw with. Of course it also has bigger brakes and 44s are sexier than 30s, with parts available to beef it up well past the HP30. That stuff costs money, though. All of this brings me back to "Well, at this stage in the game, maybe I want freshen up a 30 on the bench & call it good"
Make sense?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

70s Bronco/F150 44s are only 65 WMS to WMS. So run a 4" BS wheel and you are really close to where you want to be. it would be close, but not quite, to running a hp30 with like 2" BS wheels. No need to narrow. if you go full width at like 67" then id start considering narrowing. Thats with a 15" rim. Now, you can clear steering knuckles and brakes with a 17" rim and run more BS like 4.25 or 4.5 , but then you run into the hubs sticking out too far possibly up front if you go past 4.5" BS.


All I am trying to do is help you out to prevent from my dana 30 fiasco to happen to others. I had way more money into my 30 than my 44, and my 30 broke R&P at that point. I am not a fabricator, or even really know what I was doing, and even I still managed to get a hp44 under my rig. If I can do it, anyone can.


Although, if you are running 33s and smaller, keep the 30, just slap a lunchbox up front, some ABS shafts(the big ones) , ruffstuff cover, and call it done. don't put another cent into it. Since you have some of the WJ stuff, consider finishing that off, all on your current 30. don't pay 150$ for a 30 housing.

 

[XJensen]

please note that I have seen HP44s with 3.50 gears go for sale for around 150$ on here, whats his name in the south bay had one at one point. another 150$ in brackets and another 100$ in 5 on 5.5 wheels and you are pretty much done….

Coming From Theguy That Took 3 Months To Dial In His 44.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Yep. It was the damn 3 link issues. If I were to have kept the stock 4 link at the axle and frame side bracketry. instead of starting from scratch, It would have been like 2 weekends.
I had no idea what I was doing with that think , even though i read for a month straight, and lots of threads on pirate, and lots of goat mans 3 link build advice.


So ya, put a * there and say "if keeping stock bracketry"

I should have kept the TNT arms and belly and went with XJ brackets just to make it quick and dirty.

i also had a 44 that needed hubs, ball joints, u joints, shafts, and a bad high steer arm, and more.

 

[yossarian19]

With all of this in mind, the 30 I've got will get all it's seals, bushings & joints replaced and a Solid Axle Industries cover put on it in the next week or two. That, coupled with full circle clips & fresh U-joints, will hold me until it's time for a 44. The convenience of building another 30 on the bench, as it stands, is too expensive to be worth it.
I've been on the fence with WJ parts for a long time now... Too expensive to finish, too tempting to get rid of them.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

sounds like you have a good plan. you'll fine with that setup and a lunchbox and 33s for pretty much everything we all run on a normal basis. If you cant pull the trigger on buying the rest of the WJ stuff sell it and use it to buy other parts for the rig that you will install. PNP gets WJs sometimes. Pretty cheap for new knuckles if you decide to do it down the road.