Dana 44's and 36" Iroks

[GM4Life]

Anyone running Dana 44's and 36" Iroks or any other 36" tire on dana 44's? Just thinking about down the road, when i get time and money, if i would have to upgrade the axles to throw on some 36's and not have anything blow up. I would rather put alloy shafts in the 44's than have to sacrifice diff. clearance, width, and money to get a d60/14b combo.

[Donahue]

is this a front or rear? if this is on a lighter vehicle such as a jeep, you should be fine. just bring extra shafts and u-joints if you are worried. on a full size, i wouldnt push it far past a 36" tire. but you will never know until you try right?

[hemicj8]

what size motor/ vehicle weight. jeep alloy 4 or 6 cyl no prob
v8 fullsize I'd go 60 14b

[1TFROT]

I'm running a 44/9" on my '00 s10 and it holds up well. have 37" MTRs now and going to a 38" TSL when they are done. has 4.88s and a mostly stock 4.3

it also has Yukon 4130 shafts and 760 joints. I push it pretty hard and its doing great so far. I do always carry spares though.

[BEAR]

I run 37" toyo's on a stock 44.
I seem to break the short side alot, the long side never.

[HsOffRoad]

Unless it's a samurai with the stock motor (and you drive like grandma), With a locker in a front D44 you are going to have issues with breakage running tires larger than 33" if you're pushing the truck hard at it's limits. We break stock D44 axleshafts with 31" tires on heavy vehicles like blazers and fullsize pickups all the time. Of course, if you're talking mild recreational wheeling with a tru-trac in the front axle, things are different. The information below comes from my personal experience in extreme use applications. Take it for what it's worth... I'm sure some people will disagree.

The first thing that happens breakage wise is the axle u-joint spits out of the shaft, ripping the ears off. The cheap & easy solution to this is to weld the u-joint caps into the stock axleshafts with 4 good approx. 1" long welds equally spaced around each cap. After doing so, you'll have to grind the welds to get the shaft to fit through the spindle hole in the steering knuckle - it's a tight fit. If done correctly, this will retain the caps and keep the shaft ears from ovalizing - enough to make the new weak link the neckdown in the stock axleshaft. No, you can't ever change your u-joint again, but if you're using it hard you'll break the shaft long before you need to think about installing new u-joints. If you're cheap and can keep your tire size at or below 33" this is an option.

If you go to 4340 axleshafts & ctm's with a detroit or some otherwise upgraded carrier assembly, and run the backlash tight in the 0.004-0.005" range on a good gearset no lower than 4.10's (to keep the pinion decent size & for tooth engagement), and a set of drive flanges in place of hubs... you should be ok for up to 37" tires on a jeep sized vehicle with some discretion. You still may break something if you are hard on the gas, but it is a relatively reliable combo for non-throttle jockey types. (Keep in mind that running the backlash that tight & having drive flanges & ctms basically puts extended highway driving off limits, if that matters to you).

By this time you've got a good bit of money tied up in your D44, but it's stronger than stock D60 (especially with 30 spline stubs, but by the numbers the shafts & joints are stonger than even a stock full 35 spline D60) and offers the benefits of less weight & more clearance. If you're hard into the throttle in a heavy vehicle, or your plans include tires in the 40" range, then save yourself the headache and go with a D60.

Hans

[GM4Life]

alright, thanx for the info. the axles are going into a willys wagon with a 289 in it and right now has stock 10 spline dana 44 in rear and dana 25 in front. i want to get a set of 1974-1975 jeep cherokee d44's and put those in. the tires will probably be 33 ltbs or 35 baja claws. anyone think i would break axles with the 35 claws if im not throttle crazy? if i do, would 4340's and ctms fix it for good? OR should i just run the stock axles with the 33 ltbs and hope for the best?

[NetBSD]

Anyone running Dana 44's and 36" Iroks or any other 36" tire on dana 44's? Just thinking about down the road, when i get time and money, if i would have to upgrade the axles to throw on some 36's and not have anything blow up. I would rather put alloy shafts in the 44's than have to sacrifice diff. clearance, width, and money to get a d60/14b combo.


i kill my d44 on 33's and a 6.6L 400, useually only the long side breaks for me, never replaced the passengers side, last time i ripped the ears off of the indder and outer with welded caps on a set of bald 33's and in the snow, only nice thing about the 44 is there are a shit load in the junk yard and i just go grab a new inner/outer for $13 outof a chevy/dodge/ford 44. i plan on upgrading to the d60 sometime this summer so it hold up the the 14b i installed in the rear

EDIT: forgot the mention i killed the shafts when i was still on 3.55 ratio

[currupt4130]

I'm running a built-ass 44 up front, haven't had a problem yet and I get on it pretty well, but thats with a 4 banger yj. To my credit though, I am at 95:1 gearing and tend to get badly bound up all the time. I'm not easy on it.

[GM4Life]

so far i havent heard about rear dana 44 shafts breaking, and i havent been able to find any high quality shafts. do rear dana 44's break very often or is it just the front?

[NetBSD]

so far i havent heard about rear dana 44 shafts breaking, and i havent been able to find any high quality shafts. do rear dana 44's break very often or is it just the front?


i never hear good things on the rear 44, only trucks i see them in around here are the mall cvrawlers with lift blocks and body lifts :shaking:

[cisco]

i run a ford hp44 with detroit up front and a tj 44 with 33 spline shafts and a detroit out back. i run 36 iroks and i have yet to break a shaft. i do most of my playing at hot springs. i beat the piss out of it as evidenced by the 2 detroit lockers i have broken. (one front, one rear). but i have yet to break a shaft or a joint. my friend runs an 84 fullsize bronco with a sas hp44 up front and 36 iroks. he cannot keep shafts in it. they break EVERYTIME out. of course he cannot drive but he does have an auto tranny which should be easier than my 5 speed. just my input

edit-- forgot to mention my rig is a 97 tj 4.0l ax-15

[jesster]

So far my 10 bolt has held up in the front with a Lock Right, 350 and 36's, but it only has 3.42's. I also don't do alot of rock crawling, and I am not one to flog my stuff unmercifully.

When I install my 5.13's in the near future, I will also be upgrading to 4340's and super joints to hopefully keep things on the safe side...

[GM4Life]

so is it harder to break rear axles or what? since the fronts have u-joints they are the first to go, right? any imput on rear axleshafts for d44's or the like would be much appreciated

[Donahue]

so is it harder to break rear axles or what? since the fronts have u-joints they are the first to go, right? any imput on rear axleshafts for d44's or the like would be much appreciated
get a D60-2:flipoff2:

[mr.tech]

Well I have been running 36x12.5R15 SX's on steal wheels under my FSJ with no problems at all. I have done some very hard trails like Waterfall at Katemcy, and the comp. coarse. and have never so much as broken a u-joint so I bet you will be ok. oh I have a very healthy 360 V-8 and the rig was about 4500 lbs.

[Redmist]

I am running 35's on the abortion 44's in my Rubicon. I have twisted stock shafts in the rear but did not break them. I upgraded to alloy USA shafts in the back.

For some odd reason the front shafts have not let go at all. No joint failure or anything... :p They are still the stock shafts that came with the rig. I have a real light foot, but have run Pritchet canyon 3 times over, and the Rubicon, and all the wheeling around here without breaking one.


Still going to upgrade the shafts to alloy's though.

[RODEOMAN]

I have been wheeling on my D44's front for last 2 years and also Rodeo come with D44 rear from factory as well. Mind you, most of the wheeling I do has to do with rocks, as I am not much of a mud fan. Front is open currently and rear has Trutrac aka limited slip, every now and then I have to get on it more than some guys with lockers that I wheel with, so far it has been hoding up really good, about 5 Moab trips, plus bunch of local wheeling. My Rodeo is in neighborhood of about 5000 lbs, loaded and ready for trail and on 35's. Not a fan of go pedal, moderate is where it is at. Try it and if your driving style is asking for more, then up the ante and go bigger. I have known a fella that has been wheeling YJ with D30 and D35 on 35's, 4cyl, locked frnt and rear, and he has never broken a shaft, all this and on 5+ trails....