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Am I missing anything on my axle swap plan?

1K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  derf 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone, planing an axle swap and wanted to see if anyone had some thoughts if im missing something or making a mistake. I have a '13 jku sport (dana 30 front that i am NOT going to build, done with it) duratrac 35" currently but i want the option to move to 37's at some point (years down the road). Auto transmission and adams 1310 front drive shaft that i think will just bolt up (email out to them on measurements). As for trails, im running blues and some light blacks at Rausch Creek if that gives an idea how im using the jeep.

I was planing a prorock 44 up front with 4.56 gears, new ball joins (stock are already dead), easton elocker, new axle shaves (not cv) and tube seals. For the rear i was going to have a shop regear to 4.56, drop in a easton and keep my stock shaves until i bend the flange.

From what i can gather my rear 44 is strong enough that outside of bending flanges it should be fine. I know what spline count is on the shaves but i dont really know why i should do one over another so i was going to go with default.
Any thoughts?
thanks
tim
 
#2 ·
Probably a good idea to go ahead and get chromoly shafts for the rear right away, and keep your good stockers for trail spares.

As for the front...if you're getting a Prorock 44, doesn't that already come with ball joints, etc, or are you just talking about getting a housing? Even if you're getting just a housing, you'll need balljoints regardless.
 
#5 ·
What lift are you running? If it's anything with bolt on or weld on brackets, let dynatrac know when you place your order and they can most likely accommodate you.
 
#6 ·
be sure to check on the Eaton E-Locker for the diffs..
Eaton at this time does not make a metric E-Locker as I found out the hard way..
The only electric locker out for metric is the Auburn which is a Limited Slip/E locker.. and performs very differently than the Eaton E-locker..
the Eaton is an open diff until locked..
The Auburn is a full time limited slip and a locker when locked.
This makes for a very interesting front drive.. makes the rig handle very strange..
I had the Auburn removed because of that.. ended up with a ARB great diff but not what I was wanting to use..
 
#9 ·
Timp.. good question... unfortunately I don't have the answer for you..
I ended up swapping out my stock diff's for G2 with the heavy axles and went with a Detroit locker (which is fantastic.. if you have ever had one you will never want to change..) so I didn't even look at the Eaton E-locker for the rear..
What I was told by 4Wd parts is that Eaton does not make a Metric E-locker so I would imagine that both diffs are metric so the Eaton would not work in the rear either.

Eaton did say they were working on a metric one and this was last fall so they may have it by now.

I do not know whether or not the Prorock is standard or metric housing...
 
#8 ·
If you are dropping in a new carrier/locker into your rear d44 housing, I don't know why you would want to stick with the stock 30 spline axle shafts. Get a carrier that accepts 32 or more preferably a 35 spline shaft and put aftermarket chromo shafts in the rear and be done with it. No sense doing all that work to the rear dropping in a locker and half-assing it on the shafts/spline count.
 
#11 ·
Thanks everyone for your input. Got a chance to talk to Dynatrack and the Eaton does fit there housing (though I didn’t ask too many questions about that). Looking in to spline count though it seems the Eaton elockers are only available up to 30… so not sure if im missing something there or if I will have to go with someone else to get 35 count shafts which I guess pushes me back to arb lockers but I didn’t really want to deal with air. O well, research goes on.
Thanks again for the input!
 
#14 ·
Be careful when choosing the rear diff. The JK rear D44 comes in two versions. The Rubicon and non-Rubicon.

The biggest difference between the two is the carrier bearings and the carrier itself. The non-Rubicon uses the same bearings as the older generation Dana 44, as well as the same carrier. The Rubicon uses larger metric bearings and an entirely different carrier. You can't use a Rubicon carrier (including the aftermarket 35 spline carriers) in a non-Rubicon axle. I know. I tried. That ECTED link says it's for both but it really only fits in a Rubicon axle.

I don't know of any non-Rubicon carriers that run more than 30 spline shafts but there might be.

As far as the ECTED, I have a good 30K miles on mine and it's doing just fine. The limited slip is great on the road, but it really doesn't fully lock my 35's like an E-locker would. But it's good enough for the wheeling I do.
 
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