hankthetank

That axle will weigh more than the motor when you're done!

JerseyJeeper

This is probably one of the most in-depth axle builds on this forum. Keep up the excellent work. I'm very anxious to see how this turns out. Definitely subscribed to this one.

Ianf406

Looks good so far man... what do you have into it so far?

Ianf406

The 44 that is... haha

flexin91xj

I've got about $1600-$1800 in to the axle and that's every part needed for the build except for the custom axle shafts. I've been buying and searching for deals on parts for a little bit over a year now.

flexin91xj

I finally got the ball joints pressed in. Thank goodness for my 3/4" drive socket and breaker bar. I highly suggest using emery cloth and lightly go over the metal where the ball joints will be pressed in to. Clean them out very well and I used WD-40 to lube the metal where the ball joints will be pressed in to. Time for paint!

PingPong

I like your going different approach.

I am glad you went with the Chevy/waggy stub shaft. DO you plan on upgrading spline count? Also drive flanges or Lock outs?

Now for questions.. Why did you use RE's front truss setup? Do you plan on fully trussing the axle?

flexin91xj

I'm gonna stick with 19 spline outer shafts and warn locking hubs so I can get spares from the junkyard for cheap and have spares should the chromoly outer shafts or locking hubs fail on the trail. And from what I've read, the outer shafts are the weak link in the chain. That and the u-joints.(depending on what u-joints are used)
The reason for the RE mini truss is to mount the driver's side upper control arm bracket. I wanna keep the stock XJ axle bracket locations and there's no other way to mount the UCA bracket on a custom axle without the mini truss.

Edit:
I might consider using 30 spline outer shafts and use lock outs for daily driving and use slugs(drive flanges) when I'm wheeling. Its a pretty easy swap out and lock outs are very prone to breaking on the trail.

PingPong

I know when I built my axle I looked at those brackets, and to get a full truss like some companies offer was only a touch more.


Nott sure what companies Chromo's you are going to use, but I have been real Happy with my Nitro shafts, and 300M u-joint. I ahve about 10 runs on them and when I did my maintenance I saw no signs of twisting yet. Kinda impressed with that considering the doubler and my driving style

flexin91xj

I'm still researching on 300m u-joints. That's 2 other parts I have not purchased yet. Some say not to run them on daily drivers and others say that they've had no issues with them on their daily driven rig. And many say if you re not running 37s or larger, you don't need them.
Don't know about axle shafts yet either...

flexin91xj

I might consider using 30 spline outer shafts and use lock outs for daily driving and use slugs(drive flanges) when I'm wheeling. Its a pretty easy swap out and lock outs are very prone to breaking on the trail.

flexin91xj

Crane knuckles with synergy ball joints installed and painted.

PingPong

My humble opinion is... do the 300M joints, especially if you plan on running lock outs and switching to flanges. MY weak point is now my driveshaft U-joint a lot easier to change then any axle related parts. I have seen Warn Lockouts fail and break the stub in the splines.


Not sure about other manufacturers.. I know Nitro has greas fittings on each cap, kinda a PITA to service, but doable.


ALos a few compaNIES will not warranty a shaft if a u-joint caused the failure.

Lowrange2

So, why not carry a spare lock out? It's a hell of a lot easier to replace one lock out than it is to replace a shaft or having to swap both slugs each time you want to wheel.

That's just silly to me.

300M lock outs don't just fall apart.

ktmracer419

ive broken several 44 alloy shafts, a detroit locker, ring and pinion, and one warn locking hub. and it was because i knocked the selector off of rocks so many times that the selector popped out and caused the hub to be sorta half locked.