I had the PJ on my D30, good little truss for the price!

 

Not true. The axle tube for the Rubi is the same as the Dana 30. Also, the Nitro sleeves are large enough to allow the larger 35 spline axles. The Nitro sleeves are a great addition. If done right, they slip right in.

 

This x100......

 

Do you remove the seals so you dont melt them or just take your time. Also to weld the cast your supposed to preheat and use a tig welder with higher nickel content correct?

 

Gotta disagree with the statement that "when you spin a tire and it grabs, it's going to twist the housing". It twists the axle inside the housing, not the housing.

 

Just take your time and there is no need to disassemble the axle in any way. Usually tho if you're going to change ball joints, it's a great time to do it. Inner axle seals stay relatively cool especially of wet with gear oil.

Now, I'll be blunt, I'm no welding expert, but it's pretty common to use mig when welding to the housing. You need to preheat with a torch to a good 200* and post heat after till it evenly cools. The beauty of TIG is it preheats the target area for you. If you do some looking into welding cast steel to mild steel many suggest using a specific wire with a high silicon content. I can't for the life of me remember which one tho.

Maybe poor wording on my part, but yes it is going to send a torsional load into the housing, aka: axle wrap or torque wrap. You are correct that a good portion of the load goes into the axle shafts themselves, but even then the housing takes a lot of that load as well. The JK front axle has a lower vertical separation at the axle, so when seeing higher torque loads, especially with stock arms (cleverer bushings), you see a lot of axle wrap. That puts a good deal of damaging stress on an un-reinforced housing.

 

Before you decide on sleeves, truss and 35 spline axles. Pull the diff cover and look at those tiny! Dana 30 gears. Then ask yourself what is going to break when you spin a 37 and it bites hard.

 

That was my thought...what part would you want to realistically keep the weakest link ...if something breaks I want it to be the cheapest to fix lol and the easiest to have a spare part of

 

You won't here any disagreement from me on that statement (I've broken a D30 R&P on 35's), but even on stock tires, there have been people that have bent or cracked/fractured the long tube.

Also:
The number 1 enemy of the D30 gearset is gear/pinion deflection. Adding rigidity to a stock housing is best done with a truss and high strength differential cover, and will keep gear deflection down, protecting your gearset as well as strengthening the tubes.

 

I agree, all of this is good. I have a Dana 30 with nitro gussets, sleeves and lca skids. I would just be worried with a dana 30 ring/pinon gears and 37's if you wheel it. And the diff cover is a good point! Need to move it up the to do list