L.P. D30 woes

[JeepTJ38]

so my XJ chews through a front shaft every 6 months or so after i run it in the winter (its off all summer) any new fixes other then swapping in a H.P. from an older cherokee ? I did the T-Case drop thing (1") and that helped a little but the angle (6" lift) as we all know is just a little too extreme.

 

[1993yj]

Why do you have it off all summer? Do you not take it on trails?

It is wearing out the u-joints I would assume, or is it worse?
A high-pinion would be best, but also a CV style driveshaft could help. Six States or any other driveshaft shop could take a look at it and build you one. It will run around $250 or so.

 

[waynehartwig]

What brand of u joints are you using? If you are using a crappy $6 one from Autozone, that is your reason. Buy a Spicer joint and never look back.

Also, you've gotta have your pinion angle right. With 6" of lift, you aren't going to have it right and your caster correct, too. You have to chose one or the other, unless you go with a dual, dual cardan driveshaft or move your knuckles. My personal opinion is pinion angle wins over caster any day of the week. Going up 6" is not goign to move your caster a whole lot...

On another note, I have a friend selling a HPD30 out of his old XJ (all new bearings, seals, and brakes) with a Detroit true trac (limited slip) and 3.55 gears, if you are interested

 

[waynehartwig]

Why do you have it off all summer? Do you not tak eit on trails?

It is wearing out the u-joints I would assume, or is it worse?
A high-pinion would be best, but also a CV style driveshaft could help. Six States or any other driveshaft shop could take a look at it and build you one. It will run around $250 or so.

XJ's already have a CV driveshaft in the front, just like your YJ and my TJ does. So spending another $250 on something he already has won't help his cause.

 

[ewander]

so my XJ chews through a front shaft every 6 months or so after i run it in the winter (its off all summer) any new fixes other then swapping in a H.P. from an older cherokee ? I did the T-Case drop thing (1") and that helped a little but the angle (6" lift) as we all know is just a little too extreme.

Welcome to my world! I swapped in a HP Dana 30 from an older Cherokee and it 100% fixed the problem. You could always do the hub conversion, but it would be a lot cheaper to get the HP D30. It is not uncommon to find them around, already set up with gears and lockers.

 

[JeepTJ38]

wow....umm, i have not been driving it an ex (laugh it up) has been while i've been away. She had a nice one built by a driveline shop in colorado and its pretty stout but the u-joints just go to hell after a winter. She just took it off in the summer cause she never went off road with it so it hasnt been a problem. But now my bro is going to drive it and it will see some trail use. I was looking at lock-outs but like you said a used HP30 is cheaper. I thought if you rotated the axle it would throw the caster all to hell and make steering harder ? I would like to just get an old HP especially now since i need to re-gear it, only want to do it once.

waynehartwig i am interested especially if it has new seals and what not. I'll PM you

Not to sidetrack but really quick. 4.0L with Auto running 33's 4.10 or 4.56 gears for mainly highway cruising ?

 

[waynehartwig]

I thought if you rotated the axle it would throw the caster all to hell and make steering harder ?

waynehartwig i am interested especially if it has new seals and what not. I'll PM you

Not to sidetrack but really quick. 4.0L with Auto running 33's 4.10 or 4.56 gears for mainly highway cruising ?

You're not goign to throw the caster off that bad with making the pinion angle good or even close.

The axle is pretty much all new now. I just put that true trac in it about a year ago; and when I did that, I replaced all the diff bearings/seals. The ball joints were also replaced about the same time. About 6 months or so ago he had all the calipers and rotors replaced. So it should be a good solid axle, with lots of life left in it. It's also a non disconnect axle....

As for gears, if it's an auto, I'd keep 3.55's for 33's. I don't think you would see much of a difference if you went to 4.10's to make it worth it. I'd at least try it with the 3.55's, and if you find it's not low enough then change.

 

[JeepTJ38]

It had the stock 3.55 now. works ok but on the freeway (yea i know) it has a hard time staying in OD.

How do you change the angle ? Cut and re-weld the buckets ?

Axle seems kinda high on the price but i'll look more when i get home (currently in Papa New Guinea working). But it probably be that deep into it after new seals and the locker anyways. I'll call home when i get home.

 

[waynehartwig]

It had the stock 3.55 now. works ok but on the freeway (yea i know) it has a hard time staying in OD.

How do you change the angle ? Cut and re-weld the buckets ?

Axle seems kinda high on the price but i'll look more when i get home (currently in Papa New Guinea working). But it probably be that deep into it after new seals and the locker anyways. I'll call home when i get home.

Adjustable control arms. With those you can adjust the pinion angle and where the tire sits in the wheel opening. But at least upper adjustable arms you can set the pinion angle. I like to set them a little high/low at rest so that when the axle droops, the pinion angle goes the opposite direction. For example on my personal rig, in the rear, it's set a little low becuase when the axle droops the angle goes higher. YOu don't want it to be high at rest and then higher at droop and end up binding the joint. Make sense?

 

[GOAT]

so my XJ chews through a front shaft every 6 months or so after i run it in the winter (its off all summer) any new fixes other then swapping in a H.P. from an older cherokee ? I did the T-Case drop thing (1") and that helped a little but the angle (6" lift) as we all know is just a little too extreme.

Check/replace the pinion yoke. If you've gone through that many joints, it may be the cause and certainly is worn out by now. My LP30 has been through 3 joints,two yokes and has 140K HARD miles on the stock front shaft.

HTH -Marcus

 

[JeepTJ38]

yea makes sense. I was going to do a long arm set-up here shortly so maybe i will try the rotate thing first as the set-up will have adustable arms if that dont work i'll get more drastic

 

[4554x4]

olds442

I noticed you have a 442. cool... I own a 72 455 cutlass, and my tow vehicle, 74 chev pu has 455 power.

 

[19503a]

If you are still interested in the gears I have a 98 cherokee with 4 inch lift and 32s and went from 3.55 to 4.56 and the rpms are at about 2500 at 65-70.
It made a big difference in power and does not shift out of overdrive all the time.
The rpms are a little higher than stock but I have a trailer that I like to pull with it and it works alot better with the 4.56 gears.

 

[JeepTJ38]

Dude you have a supercharger on yours, hows that do for power ?

 

[19503a]

It made a big difference in power.
I did the gears before I put on the supercharger
and just doing the gears made a difference in power it would stay in overdrive lock up and not shift in and out.
I would regear if you are running a 33 inch tire 4.10s or 4.56 depending on your driving.

 

[ewander]

You're not goign to throw the caster off that bad with making the pinion angle good or even close.

The axle is pretty much all new now. I just put that true trac in it about a year ago; and when I did that, I replaced all the diff bearings/seals. The ball joints were also replaced about the same time. About 6 months or so ago he had all the calipers and rotors replaced. So it should be a good solid axle, with lots of life left in it. It's also a non disconnect axle....

As for gears, if it's an auto, I'd keep 3.55's for 33's. I don't think you would see much of a difference if you went to 4.10's to make it worth it. I'd at least try it with the 3.55's, and if you find it's not low enough then change.

I'd run 4.56's with 33s.....

 

[JeepTJ38]

Just did a 1" T-case Drop and a 6 Degree shim on the back and it's amazingly smoother. Im going to drop the Front axle in probably tomorrow and then it should be T++ts.

 

[JeepTJ38]

Finally getting to this project but the axle is going in the new white jeep. Im not digging the lay on my back all day to do this so what do you think I would have to pay to have a shop swap my axle. Nothing fancy just a basic swap ?

 

[grandmaster]

Shouldn't the axle just bolt right in? If it does that swap wouldn't be to hard. You wouldnt be looking at all day i dont think. But whatever floats your boat, if you wanna lay down the doe to have a shop do it more power to ya. I would imagine it shouldnt be that expensive, never had one done so sorry im no help

 

[RockChucker]

it really doesn't take long to swap in an axle, as long as you have a helper. my brother and i swapped in my front axle and rear axle. the front dana 30 (replaced the bent housing that came w/ my jeep when i bought it) was easy as soon as we got all the bolts loose.

you will need to get a pickle fork to separate the steering from the pitman arm if the new axle has steering or from the knuckles if it doesn't. it really is pretty straight forward, i would probably just use the same calipers that are on the jeep currently if they will work, that will prevent having to bleed your brakes.

it really isn't too bad though as long as you have a helper.