In my experience, if you are going someplace where you NEED lockers, you should have a beefier rear axle. That said, i would get a Lockright for the front and an LSD (TrackLock) for the rear idf you want to keep it. That should give you all the traction you'll likely need.
ill try to answer without stepping on your toes.
a) what kind of tires do you have? you can get alot more traction by upgrading from an all terrain to a good mud terrain (note, i said GOOD)
b) dont worry about a high9 or anything fancy like that, you are obviously not looking for a hardcore rig. find an 8.8 out of a late model exploder, and you will be very happy.
c) swaybar quick disconnects. necessity. with more flex comes more contact for your new GOOD mud terrains
d) why dont you leave the front open and just lock the back. many, many wheelers have been doing this for decades.
e) no-one said that the stock 35, or stock 30 with stock sized tires, used sanely, were bad axles. in fact you would most likely never break a stock axle if you didn't run larger tires. this would force you to stay on trails that didn't require lockers, again, adding to the reliability of your axles. you need to decide if you are fine running fire roads, or want to take the step up. by taking the step up you are putting your poor little jeep through more than it was intended (hence, bigger, better axles)
ok, guys, sorry about the pissed off post but i just wasnt getting much information from you guys except for the fact that stock axles suck and they'll blow up.
That said, One of the first posts after my pissed off comments was what i was looking for. Thank you ToocoolforschoolTJ for your reply about the Super 35. This is the kindof information that I'm lookin for, Not just replies about the fact that stock axles suck, I need information on what to do about it. The super 35 will probably work fine for me, I'll probably look into that or maybe the D44 or 8.8.
As for axles now, What vehicles would the 8.8 be found in, especially if it could come with posi? What would i need to do to install this on my jeep? How much money would i be looking to spend on one?
I need help not critisism. I dont need to know that my axles suck, I need to know what to do about it, options, advice, or help.
Thank you for the guys that were able to give me some insight on why not to weld up the diff, I'll use your experience and knowledge to my; advantage, I believe in the whole learning from the mistakes of others thing.
OK, i feel better now, i think i'll have a beer and go to bed.
if an 8.8 is what u want some one told me to go to this site OK4WD.com they have them starting at like $1500 but it is a low pinion axle though which may cause driveshaft vibrations
Dude you need to sit down and have a good think about what you want from this rig you say its a grocery getter but then you want to do light wheeling but when you go light wheeling its not good enough the fact is that if you try to chalange this rig off road you are going to break it so either suffer the breaks like a man or upgrade your rig, or dont expect to much from a stock rig and remember the more you upgrade the harder you will drive so the more shit you WILL break
Weld it! I ran my 2.5l (on 33's) welded in the front and open in the back until I could afford a locker for the rear. I 'wheeled like that for over a year with no problems. It was my daily driver at the time and taking it out of 4low was no more of a problem than it would be open or locked by anything. I ran 4.0's all day, (with work, because of my 33's). If you plan on swapping engines or running taller tires or both, you might want to consider an axle swap at the same time. By welding the front end, you'll notice a night and day difference in want your Jeep can do. With that being said, you will want more and will end up going bigger. Do it until you can afford to go bigger.
For fucks sake dude, do a fucking search! Yeah, it takes time, and ya, it's not as easy as asking, but your sitting on a soft chair, downing your favorite beverage. How much work is it to do a few extra clicks with your mouse again? You come to a hardcore rockcrawling website were most people only have a stock frame and body left on their rigs, if that, and wonder why they tell you stock shit sucks? There is so much info on the web its not even funny! Type in "ford 8.8 swap" on google. How many different write ups did you find? The first two pages for me.
I've owned 6 Cherokee and a ranger with Dana 30 and long arm kit in it. My friend built bronco II. Everyone on here is correct the 35 is junk and in the B2 the 28 in front is as well. But all that aside everyone starts out stock. I say weld them up have someone that can actually weld do it use a good 220 welder with at least .035 wire. Buy some cheap wrecking yard axles for the 30 replace u joints and carefully Tig weld in your caps the caps tend to work lose on 30s and 28 this is cause of most axle failure. I would make sure you have a winch that alone will save you more broken parts then any other up grade. Pick good lines and use the added traction to enjoy your jeep till you save for new axles. Just use your head and don't flat foot the throttle when turning sharp or allow wheel hop and have fun. And most importantly use the winch most breakage happens once you're stuck on not going to make it. Don't give her hell ten times till you break. Just line out pull through it and wheel on.
Ps the more you upgrade the worse the stuck and if you drive like an idiot you still break more expensive parts. Ratchet lockers break electric and air fail no just learn your rig it's ability and enjoy as much as your pocket book let's you.
I've owned 6 Cherokee and a ranger with Dana 30 and long arm kit in it. My friend built bronco II. Everyone on here is correct the 35 is junk and in the B2 the 28 in front is as well. But all that aside everyone starts out stock. I say weld them up have someone that can actually weld do it use a good 220 welder with at least .035 wire. Buy some cheap wrecking yard axles for the 30 replace u joints and carefully Tig weld in your caps the caps tend to work lose on 30s and 28 this is cause of most axle failure. I would make sure you have a winch that alone will save you more broken parts then any other up grade. Pick good lines and use the added traction to enjoy your jeep till you save for new axles. Just use your head and don't flat foot the throttle when turning sharp or allow wheel hop and have fun. And most importantly use the winch most breakage happens once you're stuck on not going to make it. Don't give her hell ten times till you break. Just line out pull through it and wheel on.
Ps the more you upgrade the worse the stuck and if you drive like an idiot you still break more expensive parts. Ratchet lockers break electric and air fail no just learn your rig it's ability and enjoy as much as your pocket book let's you.
alright then, i get it. the jeep is a piece of shit, i wonder why i even bought one, got who'd of thought that a stock jeep couldnt go off roading, what the hell was jeep thinkin of when they made these things 4x4's!
i feel sorry for all the people in the world with stock jeeps its a fuckin wonder that the things even move anymore with stock parts. all parts companys must just be laughing their asses off every time they make a part for a dana 30 or 35 because they know that the part will fail or the axle will fail simply because Jeep doesnt know how to select the proper axle for their vehicles.
Now, if you guys are the go big or go home type, I understand. I have a buddy of mine who thinks that nothing is good stock, he would prefer to spent 2.50 a gallon on gas in his jeep that gets 5 miles per gallon, and sacrafice reliablility for power and coolness associated with having a big motor that uses alot of fuel and is loud.
What the fuck is wrong with having an underpowered 4 cylinder in a vehicle that was never meant to go fast or accerate like a porsche. i would rather crawl around the woods all day long at 3 mph than cruise on the highway at 75mph for ten minutes.
anyways, the point i'm trying to convey is that not all people need to build a professional rock crawling machine and spend an outrageous amount of money on high performance and heavy duty parts just to own a Jeep.
People who occasionally wheel, (LIKE MYSELF) cannot see justification to spend 3k on an axle that will not break, Yes, this axle may be the cats meow for someone who spends all their time off road and never sees alot of time on the road.
This vehicle is my daily driver. To and from the grocery store.
Maybe once in a while this thing will see some mud or sand or maybe a rock but the rocks that i drive on usually get stuck in my TIRES!!!
I'm not gonna change my axles until i can justify spending the money on them!
Jeep couldnt have possible thought that their axles would'nt handle occasional off roading or they Woudn't have put them in their vehicles.
Point proven, or maybe not, I dont care!
I'm just not gonna take advice from people who wont view things from my side of the road. If you guys were more understanding of my questions maybe i wouldnt have wrote this post but i just figured that maybe someone could give me a little help and suggest something that would work well for me without breaking the bank
Weld it bro. If it dont last fix it later. Jeepers gotta say F$#@ it most of the time. My jeep is a literal frankenstein. AfterI die there mightbe two other guysonthe planet that know what came from where
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