I agree as well. When I first got my JK and joined I was so scared my axle was gonna bend and the diff break but after 12,000 miles and many wheeling trips ill say this will they bend and break? Yup if you beat on it enough and there is plenty of jeeps out there to prove it but will you? That is a different animal. I say wheel your jeep a couple times and see what you think because jeep thinks its strong enough for average and beginner wheelers if it was as weak and frail as everyone talks about after this long jeep would have done something about it. How hard you are on it depends on when and if it will bend/break. Me I'm running 35's and out here there are no massive rocks to crawl and I suspect my dana 30 will have a long healthy life. Wedge it against rocks in low range with lockers and 35's or 37's I bet it breaks. I guess what I'm saying is don't be afraid of it just cause it might break, the only person who can answer that is you and your kinda of trails. After all every part on our jeeps might break there will always be a weak link and when you make one part stronger you just moved the weak link further down the line somewhere else.

 

Theres already a poll started with quite a few votes already and is a nice insite to real world experiences.

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-s...-tires-252451/

 

D30 is fine. The thing is if I'm going to put money into it, I would rather be on a safe side. I would totally hate putting 5.13 gears in, chromo shafts, ARB locker, and then grenading the differential. Sure, you can get a new set of gears and pay for the install (or do it yourself, if you can), but the next time out wheeling you'll be way too overstressed thinking it might happen again. I'm not saying that it will, but for some peace of mind and insurance, buying a PR44 isn't a huge deal, especially since it's going to come out to about the same price anyway.

My thinking is if you are installing a locker, you must be wheeling hard enough to warrant one. If the locker isn't really needed and you still install it (for whatever reason, maybe you're a poser or just think you're a hardcore wheeler, when you're not), then it won't make much difference, locked or open, and your D30 will last a long time.