45 Willys Jeep strength

[rjrobin2002]

My uncle has a 46 Willys that he has rebuilt the complete drivetrain. He has put 34x10.50 tires on it and it has stock axles. If I buy this thing and drive it easy on some mild mud/dirt roads, am I going to be breaking axles/u-joints. It has the original motor/trans so it will not have much power.

[ddestruel]

doesn't have axle joints, has Bendix joints, ball and socket in a way. rear axles are tapered. I have two flatfenders 1 45 1 46. the 45 had the 23-2 full float rear end. we use em on the ranch as hunting jeeps. stock 29" tires. that jeep breaks an axle if you look at it wrong on a steep hill barely spinning a tire.

The tapered axle dana 41 has held up a little better about every 10 years a flange will spin on the end of the axle while climbing a hill with 4 or 5 guys in the jeep when someone spins a tire then grabs traction.

I wouldnt put much stock in stock axles past stock tires up to 31 on the old flat fenders the dana 25 likes to eat spider gears if you push it much and if you play on hard trails the full turn and power positions can spit out the ball and socket joint. for mild trails 33's in an AT would probably last for some time but you are asking a lot with 34 ltbs on there if you get in any kind of difficult situation where you might have to rock it or apply some power. my two cents are get a flanged rear axle set in there or look to a dana 44 with a power lock or other and accept that the front end has its limits also. way back i used to push my willys with 4 cyl 4 speed and power loks fron and rear up and down the Rubicon on stock axles, the flanged rear setup was a real PITA to fix so as soon as i could it became a flanged rear assembly and a lot of my headaches went away. with the altitude when i jumped to SOA and 33's the old 4 cyl was having trouble pushing things around. So an odd fire went in and a power steering box went onto the side of the frame turning 33's with the stock steering was a beast in the rocks. from there the dana 25 axles held up alright after a few breaks i upgraded to model 27 axles with u joints and carried spare hubs, assembled axles and a side gear set for my powerlok that seemed to be the three things that used to grenade. The rear with flanged axles took the abuse just fine, having the power lok helped also it was fairly forgiving yet hooked up well. But i wouldnt expect the stock tapered dana 41 to last long especially with 34's doing much of anything if you plan on applying any power to those wheels

[rjrobin2002]

So does this mean that in 46 Willys upgraded all rear axles to the dana 41? Is there a heavy duty one piece axle made for these?

[ddestruel]

guys do it parts mike has a set ont he shelf for a dana 44 which will slide in but you are polishing a turd

[MyaScape]

I don't think you should have any problems with the tires on mild trails with your stock driveline. You might want to keep an eye on the front axle for wear on the steering knuckles, especially the driver's side where the steering arm attached to the top of the knuckle.

[onewhitezj]

I run around the local trails with some guys that have flatfenders, running the stock axles. They run 31" swampers, and dont seem to have any problems. Just trail riding is all we do, they wont play in the rocks.

If you just want to go trail riding, I say it might be ok, but 34's are pushing the limits of the axles IMO.

[brownbagg]

if you find a postal jeep, they have dana 44 rears that will bolt right in. some has lockers. But they are 3:73 gear ratio tho.

[FF3PM]

I must agree with ddestruel I have run a lot of trails on old D25 and D41 axles and beyond 31" tires you are asking for trouble. Old CJ5 (NT or WT) axles will bolt right in too. I have them on my cj2a, I also converted it to saginaw steering from the ross style. I picked up a set of Summers Bros. forged rear axles for free and installed them with a lock right into the M20 rear axle after welding the tubes to the housing. The CJ5 D30 front was a disc brake version so that is a huge improvement over the non self adjusting drums. My tires are 33" boggers rear, and LTB's in front. With the CJ5 axles I have not had any issues.