I want to upgrade my stock Dana 30/35 to something stupid. Right now with the lift kit and 33inch tires, gas pedal to the floor im getting 2k rpm and 100kmh (and its over 100AED in fuel from RAK to Dubai and back)

I was thinking of Dana 44 in the front and either a ford 9 in the rear or hearing alot of cut Dana 60's - the problem I have is I don't have time to attempt any of this work myself. I called Vlad at Icon and asked if he know a place that could do this and he just laughed and said I would have bring form the US myself or could try my luck in Shj. Being whitey and not able to speak arabic/hindi/urdu I have given up going to shj junk yards looking for parts alone.

Does anyone on here happen to know a shop that would understand the scope of this work and would be able to source the parts also?

Any help on this matter would be great.

This is my advice to you and I am assuming that your rig is a Jeep Wrangler JK perhaps????:

From my own personal experience, we jeepers tend to upgrade the front axle because it gets bent/broken due to the heavy tires we carry.

I notice that your rig does not move, pedal to the floor and only 100 kph??? Have you re-geared? If not, you have to or else replace those 33 tires with stock. Regearing will let you be back to the correct ratio and carry those 33 tires.

If you want to upgrade your front axle, then I would suggest Dynatrac Pro Dana 44. It is available on quadratec:
http://www.quadratec.com/products/produ ... c=51&srt=h

You do not need a Dana 60 at the rear. Most break-downs occur to the front axle, and this is the area you should focus on.

Your post is not very clear as to what you are aiming for, is it speed?

Al Kurby wrote:This is my advice to you and I am assuming that your rig is a Jeep Wrangler JK perhaps????:

From my own personal experience, we jeepers tend to upgrade the front axle because it gets bent/broken due to the heavy tires we carry.

I notice that your rig does not move, pedal to the floor and only 100 kph??? Have you re-geared? If not, you have to or else replace those 33 tires with stock. Regearing will let you be back to the correct ratio and carry those 33 tires.

Your post is not very clear as to what you are aiming for, is it speed?

Gearing is still all original - only thing changed under the frame was the suspension and the yoke eliminator.
I'm not going to lie I'm impatient, and want to be proactive about the upgrades - I don't want to just change the gearing now and a couple months do the axle and gearing again.

Hell if I could find a shop that knows what they are doing I would even have them truss it from the start (i can even cut it on my CNC laser, and might end up doing that if I get a used axle housing)

The jeep in question is a 92 YJ 4.0 - so far upgraded to MSD ignition system / 4 inch lift kit / 33 tires - still have to cut the body to install the rear fenders and cut and extend the sliders to clear the oversides fenders. Working on some under armour for the fuel tank and transfer case.



Want to get all the upgrades finished ASAP so I can send the jeep out for a repaint (and looking for a set of used 1/2 doors)

Back home in the swamps its common to "Red Neck" up the wranglers with the ford axles - tell you the truth that ford 9 inch is used on everything - I even had on my chevy pickup truck. My main concern is finding a shop that fully understands what is going on (I wont lie axles is not my place of expertize) and make sure what ever route I go with the car wont be down for weeks waiting for parts.

I agree with Nasser. From what you describe, you are having very low power and very poor fuel economy. To solve these, your problem is with gearing, not the axles themselves. There are charts all over the internet about what gears suit which size tires, but for you, 4.56 gears should bring you back pretty close to stock when running 33" tires.

Now, if durability becomes the issue (bending axle tubes, breaking axle shafts, all of which is made more possible with the big tires), then upgrading to a D44 in front will help a lot. Rear shouldn't really be a problem unless you have a jumping jeep. Having said all that, the front of my Grand Cherokee has a D30, and while I only have 30" tires, I also have a V8 and a much heavier truck. I've hit some tough terrain on it and haven't bent anything. Tony (Tintin) on this forum also has a V8 Grand Cherokee and a D30 front, and HAS bent his front axle -- but I would say that happened under very unusual and extreme conditions (about 6ft+ high jump).

Hi Kenn,

Gotta tell ya mate, getting it trussed would be easier, and a lot less expensive than finding and properly installing those axles out here. As you are good with the cutters, why not cut out your own truss then get somebody else to fit it. If you have the u-joint front shafts then you should be fine strength wise. I am sure you do as only the Grand Cherokees came with CV's as far as I'm aware.
You could also get the inner sleeve from IRO. I had one for mine but ended up selling it as I didn't see a need for it. Typically I lost my brakes and did my super jump as outlaw said and bent the housing and u-joint shafts I installed about 2 weeks before!

So now I am looking into designing a truss and getting it welded up and fitted after the summer to save that crap from happening again! Keep us posted mate, would be interested to see if you make a truss your self.

So I went ahead yeasterday and ordered 2 sets of 4.56 gears for the Dana 30/35 and warned my lasershop we going to be building a truss system for the axels. Now im trying to figure out which style of truss I'm going to go with.

Options 1 - single pc of either 10mm to 12mm rib with a 20+mm lip


Option 2 - double 4mm to 6mm with a 4mm bridge on top to join the two


Option 3 - common DIY style with a bent pipe and then a 4mm filler plate


Of course my major concern is warping the housing - as I am not a welder myself and going to have to find someone I can trust to do the welding part.

I was thinking of doing option 3, but running from the top of the pumpkin to the inner corner of the axle tube/knuckle seam. Same problem as you though, no trust in the shops here. My cousin is coming over after the summer though and he is a steel fabricator, I may see if I can get a welder from somewhere and get him to do it for me. Let me know if you find a good shop mate, would be very interested in this. I do like the look of option one though, but it would only work for the rear on Jeeps eh!?!

tintin wrote:I was thinking of doing option 3, but running from the top of the pumpkin to the inner corner of the axle tube/knuckle seam. Same problem as you though, no trust in the shops here. My cousin is coming over after the summer though and he is a steel fabricator, I may see if I can get a welder from somewhere and get him to do it for me. Let me know if you find a good shop mate, would be very interested in this. I do like the look of option one though, but it would only work for the rear on Jeeps eh!?!

Tony ...if you want a good shop with a good welder / mechanic / denter / painter at extremelyy good prices in Musaffah call em for help....

So finally cut the body so that I can install the rear fenders and be sorta RTA legal......




Just picked up a new water pump last night along with new belt and valve cover jaskets (going to try and clean up the engine area) - and getting a 4 layer radiator made today for it. Still trying to decide to go with dual electric fans or just stick with the crank one..... I need to hurry up with this rebuild since it seems the YJ is falling apart faster then i can bolt things on.

truss has been designed for the rear - your right im still trying to figure out the best way to do the front - either a 3/4 design and maybe just a small triangle brace on the short side. To bad you on the other side of the country I have plenty of welding machines here at work. I do have a small telwin 180 at home that i was thinking of using since its low power. The Lincoln and Miller we have are real power hogs 350+ setups here at work.

Im trying to get these cut and ready to be installed when I drop the jeep off later in the week for the 4.56 gearing.