Hey I have a question, I want to do a 5 on 5 1/2 on the D30 in my YJ. I am trying to do a number of things to the Jeep and I reall y dont want to spend the cash on the Warn kit. Is there a way I can do this on a limited budget? What knuckles, hubs, brakes can be used to make much the same kit? I am in the process of pulling the R.E. 4 1/2 out and swappin in a 1 1/2 soa. so I want to put in a hight steer kit too.

Thx
Tom

I ask only because I am almost done building my rear axle, and it has a 5 on 5 1/2 pattern. I have also run into a very low cash flow problem at the house so I cant go and build a D44 like I wanted to and was hoping to beef up the D30 for to match the rear and be able to yank some parts off later when i can get the D44 for the front.

Any info will be great, thanks again guys
Tom

As far as I know, there's no easy way to change to 5 on 5.5 except the warn kit...

I have heard of someone taking the INNER knuckles off of a CJ D30 and welding those onto the YJ axle and the OUTER knuckles off of a D44 (for the crossover steering) ... it sounds like a lot of work for a weak axle, but you would get manual locking hubs, and crossover steering that way.
You should be able to search and find the thread with that. It was fairly recent (2 weeks).

You could also try an adapter... it'll add a little width to the axle, but if you're planning on going to a D44 eventually it may not matter. Hell, Chevy's ran a wider front axle for decades.:beer:

sorry ShaggyGTO, I didn't realize you had logged onto my computer... the previous message was from me...

As far as I know, there's no easy way to change to 5 on 5.5 except the warn kit...

I have heard of someone taking the INNER knuckles off of a CJ D30 and welding those onto the YJ axle and the OUTER knuckles off of a D44 (for the crossover steering) ... it sounds like a lot of work for a weak axle, but you would get manual locking hubs, and crossover steering that way.
You should be able to search and find the thread with that. It was fairly recent (2 weeks).

You could also try an adapter... it'll add a little width to the axle, but if you're planning on going to a D44 eventually it may not matter. Hell, Chevy's ran a wider front axle for decades.

You can cut the inner knuckles off a CJ dana 30 and weld them on to the YJ housing. If this is done than I'd start with a Cherokee dana 30 that doesn't have the central axle disconnect. Use a TJ long side axle (297 joint) and use dana 44 flat top knuckles and hi-steer. I'm probably going to build one of these for a friend "to say that I've done it" and because he didn't listen and dumped way too much money into the little axle. Really though, it's just as easy to narrow a dana 44 from an F-150 and you end up with a better axle. I don't blame you for trying though, it's something different than everybody else's and I HATE that stupid bolt pattern! (5 on 4.5)

redrill your rear axles for 5 x 4.5? Use adapters on the rear or on the front to match either pattern. Putting CJ outers on is alot of work.

Here's a link to BillaVista's write up. (http://billyxj.tripod.com/hybridaxle/hybridaxle.html)