I've got a Ford 9 inch sitting in my garage along with a d300 waiting for a DEO flip kit. I'm not really planning on doing any rock crawling, but would like to go offroading as well as play in mud and snow. Would I be alright with the stock or beefed up front d30 or should I just go for a d44?

the response you are going to get around here is definitely to drop the 30 and put in the 44.
BUT, you might be fine with the 30. How big are you planning on going? What kind of wheeling? How happy are you with the skinny pedal? with a big engine you're much more likely to bust the 30.

I'd keep it until I blew the snot out of it. It's really not worth much anyway. Sometimes you just can't kill those d30's. For a small upgrade, change to a 760x ujoint (which requires new shafts).

Run the 30 till it breaks, then put in the 44, consider it a complete set of spare shafts!

I would run the 30 until it breaks, If the gears in the 30 dont match and the 44's do, then I would change to the 44 now, If your not rockcrawlin and arent runn'n too big of tires the 30 will probably live, but I wouldnt spend any money on it, for gears and such.

I've got a Ford 9 inch sitting in my garage along with a d300 waiting for a DEO flip kit. I'm not really planning on doing any rock crawling, but would like to go offroading as well as play in mud and snow.

That's kind of overkill for what your describing???? Stay with what you have and you should be fine...

If this is the same jeep that you have discribed in your signature with 33's and an LT1 motor, and your running a d35 in the rear you will end up needing to upgrade the rear to something, a nine may be overkill, but if you allready have it, use it.. I guess the stock stuff would hold up if you arent a throttle junkie and run without lockers..