Dana 44 vs Toyota 8"

fire4j15

Registered User
Location
Springville
Wonder if someone could help with this. How come I see guys running huge tires on toyota axles and then if you run tires that big on a dana 44 everyone says the 44 will break. I've seen tires sizes from 37"-40" on toyota 8" axles. Is the toyota axle stronger? both have pretty much the same ring gear size and axle shaft size. Anyone explain this?? Thanks
 

Kiel

Formerly WJ ZUK
We were talking about this at the bbq last night. I think toyotas have some sweet axle upgrades, mainly the longfield 30 spliners, but then you just start breaking third members, and don't tell me you don't guys because every junk yard I go to has them removed:rolleyes:. OR you can't keep hubs, knuckles studs alive etc. Yes they make upgrades for those also. But did you really want to spend 1500 dollars on upgrading the stock parts of a toyota axle.

I run dana 44's on the f and r of the zuk and have a stock 1.6 liter in it, and I have broken axles with just 36's and 80 hp. Yeah I could upgrade it, but do I really want to spend 600 bucks on shafts and u joints to polish this turd. Nope I 'm building bigger and better and started with a 60.

I think you will find the consensus is that with around a 35-36 tire and small to moderate power a 44 or toy axle will be ok. Yeah you might break every once in a while like I have, but you don't need a 60. But of course I'm sure your gonna have some guy after me that says I run 44's on my stock toy axle:rolleyes:
 

notajeep

Just me
Location
Logan
Front axel weak links are are the birfileds and the hub studs.
I run 27 spline cromo birfs and blow out the hub studs on a semi regular basis.
That is with a full spool up front, hydro assist, and 36" tires and 223:1 gearing. So that is a fair amount of torque even from my 60 hp 20r. I could up grade to arp studs and then have the hubs drilled for extra pins and it would probably solve that problem.
Dan
 

fire4j15

Registered User
Location
Springville
Axles

Thanks WJ ZUK, Are the toyota axles made out of a stronger metal like 4340 chromoly from the factory? I saw a toyota out at little moab last week with 39" Iroks and I was wondering how his rear axle takes that much force? I have a 05' Unlimited rubicon running 37" mtr's with superior shafts in the rear and alloy usa in the front and I baby the front end on big obstacles. But the Toy guys just seem to hammer it with no problem.
 

notajeep

Just me
Location
Logan
Toy rear ends are tuff. Stock with 30 spline axles. The weak point is the ring and pinion. But if you stay near the 4.10 range then even that is not too much of a worry.
 
I do run 44's on a stock welded TOY 8" axel. Never had a problem with it ever, I go wheeling every weekend and drive it like I stole it on the street with welded diff's.

Why are you bashing our dreams??? I dream about that every night, oh yea and having BBC power with a 22RE fuel economy, and suspension that will allow me to flex without rolling over.


Sorry I couldnt resist, I would rather tell a big fat LIE and make it a joke before someone actually tries to say the same thing.
 

Kiel

Formerly WJ ZUK
Thanks WJ ZUK, Are the toyota axles made out of a stronger metal like 4340 chromoly from the factory? I saw a toyota out at little moab last week with 39" Iroks and I was wondering how his rear axle takes that much force? I have a 05' Unlimited rubicon running 37" mtr's with superior shafts in the rear and alloy usa in the front and I baby the front end on big obstacles. But the Toy guys just seem to hammer it with no problem.

I don't know what the toyota guys deal is. Maybe you think they were gassing it but they just had ricer mufflers on it? Maybe they are just dumb:p But I wheel a samurai so what can I say:confused: I think the toy stock birfields are just normal or 1551 or whatever. The aftermarket are 4340 or maybe even 300m birfields
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Strength-to-weight, a Toy axle can't be beat. Any axle can be upgraded to far exceed stock strength, it just happens that a Toy axle is one of the easiest/cheapest to make pretty strong, so you see a lot of 'em. (plus, every Toy truck came with some version of either the fronts or rears....)

Rear axles are tough from the factory, and you can get chromo shafts for them if you want to. (although I did eventually break a rear R+P and never did damage the shafts)

I'd base any decision between the two based on whether you have one sitting in your garage now, and what width you want. A D44 is available in lots of widths wider than Toys, where there's only functionally one Toyota front axle.
 
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