In my opinion better to build the 30 than swap in 44. They both use the same size u joints.

 

That is the most stupid thing I have read in a while......

 

What would you do? Keep the 30 and build it or swap it out?

 

I ll swap it out

 

probably, but u got bigger ring and pinion, thicker axle shafts, I think, and probably bigger brakes

 

It's early so I'm sorry you probably said this already....what size tie are you shooting for?

 

Ya know what... Doesn't matter....

The d30 had a tiny ring and pinion, and the wheel bearing hubs suck because you will be changing them in some yearly basis, especially with bigger tires. They also have tiny axle tubes which makes them easy to bend. With stock gears/no locker they will hold up for a bit and not explode, but if you gear it it will become a ticking time bomb due to the extra stress.



A d44 does have the same u joints, but all you have to do is run GOOD joints and you'll be fine. The ring and pinion is bigger and stronger, the housing/tubes are way stronger, the brakes are a HELL of a lot better, the wheel bearings are(can't think of the term right now, to early) not the stupid hub design, a lot cheaper, a lot stronger, and you have locking hubs.




Building a Dana 30 is just polishing a turd. But if you don't wheel it much and stay on the street, then you can get away with lightly polishing it.


It's cheaper to swap in a 44 then build a 30 to equal(almost) strength

 

spindle bearings?

 

Okay Yeah cause I'm looking at getting 35's when it's all said and done. So I want something that will hold up with gears and a locker. Right now my 30 has 4.56 gears and a locker and I drive it every day and don't want it to go boom

 

money wise. U ll spend the same polishing the 30 or building up a 44. U might as well as go for a 44. And I bet u ll get a good return on selling your 30 because obviously it isn't stock anymore.

 

Okay cool. Just want it built right off the bat, instead of building something and breaking it and then swapping it out

 

indeed.

 

Buy once, cry once

 

Exactly, no need for excessive crying

 

my d30 has 4.10's its locked, 1/4" control arm brackets and 1ton heim steering, thats as far as i wanted to go because its a pos. I take it to rausch with only 32" tires and i stretch shafts kill 3month old u joints and have to replace a 6 month old wheel bearing already, and on top of that the pinion bearings are toasted now also, dont forget im only running 32's not 35's, at this point i could have built a d60 more or less.... save the pennys and build anything but a d30 unless you only plan to do 1 day of hard wheeling a year Edit: and on top of that i got a faulty moog upper ball joint that kept popping out of the c so ive had to deal with that also...