Superior Axle’s new Dana 44 axle truss kit is installed!
Few things are ever strong enough right out of the factory and that includes the TJ version of our beloved Dana 44 rear axle. The Dana 44 is a fairly strong axle, of course, but its axle tubes are exactly the same diameter and thickness as what come with a Dana 35c. That means in a tough wheeling situation, the axle housing can flex… sometimes enough to cause breakage which is often a busted axle shaft or sometimes, the ring & pinion gears. That can ruin your whole day on the trail. With some lockers that can be taken out by a busted axle shaft, that can also present a major problem on the trail.
That Dana 44 axle flex issue has been well addressed by Superior Axle’s newly announced Dana 44 axle truss system. Consisting of a new braced differential cover and two heavily constructed braces that secure to the axle tubes with oversized u-bolts, it was designed with the serious off-roader in mind. And since the Dana 35c uses the same axle tubes that can also flex, Superior Axle has a similar axle truss kit for you Dana 35c owners too.
The kit is very complete and contains everything you see here with the exception of the two quarts of non-synthetic Currie 85W-140 GL-6 gear lube that are not part of the kit.
This is my Dana 44 axle just before mounting the truss. Now that I look at the axle tubes, they do look pretty skinny don't they. For cleaning purposes, I sprayed Simple Green onto the differential cover just before the photo was taken, that’s why it looks so nasty.
The blue brace between the track bar mount and differential cover is a track bar brace made by Jason Bunch over at Tri-County Gear. Superior Axle’s kit also includes a track bar brace but due to some dimensional changes on my axle, I had to retain the Tri-County Gear brace. If you don’t have a track bar brace and you wheel with big tires, the track bar brace in this kit will save your track bar mounting bracket some day.
Few things are ever strong enough right out of the factory and that includes the TJ version of our beloved Dana 44 rear axle. The Dana 44 is a fairly strong axle, of course, but its axle tubes are exactly the same diameter and thickness as what come with a Dana 35c. That means in a tough wheeling situation, the axle housing can flex… sometimes enough to cause breakage which is often a busted axle shaft or sometimes, the ring & pinion gears. That can ruin your whole day on the trail. With some lockers that can be taken out by a busted axle shaft, that can also present a major problem on the trail.
That Dana 44 axle flex issue has been well addressed by Superior Axle’s newly announced Dana 44 axle truss system. Consisting of a new braced differential cover and two heavily constructed braces that secure to the axle tubes with oversized u-bolts, it was designed with the serious off-roader in mind. And since the Dana 35c uses the same axle tubes that can also flex, Superior Axle has a similar axle truss kit for you Dana 35c owners too.
The kit is very complete and contains everything you see here with the exception of the two quarts of non-synthetic Currie 85W-140 GL-6 gear lube that are not part of the kit.
This is my Dana 44 axle just before mounting the truss. Now that I look at the axle tubes, they do look pretty skinny don't they. For cleaning purposes, I sprayed Simple Green onto the differential cover just before the photo was taken, that’s why it looks so nasty.
The blue brace between the track bar mount and differential cover is a track bar brace made by Jason Bunch over at Tri-County Gear. Superior Axle’s kit also includes a track bar brace but due to some dimensional changes on my axle, I had to retain the Tri-County Gear brace. If you don’t have a track bar brace and you wheel with big tires, the track bar brace in this kit will save your track bar mounting bracket some day.