I have posted a few questions recently as I plan for some upgrades to my 2012 JKU Sahara. I am planning to upgrade the gears in my Jeep when I upgrade to a Teraflex 3" 8 arm lift and 35" tires. I started thinking that if I am going to spend $1600 upgrading the gears in both axles, now may be the best time to make any axle upgrades that I may want.

I did lots of searching and see that there are lots of options, but I'm not really sure what is going to be best for me. I will do lots of on road driving, but also plan to do some weekend trail rides (rocks and mud). At a minimum I want to upgrade my stock front Dana 30 axle, but was wondering if it makes sense to go ahead and swap the axle for a Rubicon Dana 44 front axle. Here are some of the options I came up with. I am open to other suggestions as well.

1. Upgrade stock axle - The simplest option would be to add gussets and sleeves to my existing axle and just get the new gears installed. I have a welder and can do the gussets myself, but would likely just have the shop add the sleeves while doing the gears.
   
2. Buy a complete Dana 44 front axle from Mopar - This option is cheaper than aftermarket axles, but I would be paying for things such as 410 gears that I don't need. I wasn't sure if the complete axle pricing makes it worth it even if I am not going to keep the gears. I could then add the gussets and sleeves when having the gears upgraded. This would come with the stock Rubicon Tru-Loc differential.
   
3. Buy a Dana 44 axle housing from Mopar - Would it be cheaper to buy the housing and add the parts I want and then get the gears done at the shop? I could select a different differential option as well.
   
4. Buy another brand axle - fully upgraded at factory - There are lots of aftermarket options, but they seem very pricey and I'm not sure that I would gain that much more than upgrading the Mopar Dana 44 axle.

Again, I found lots of threads on these options, but none that clearly compared all of them. If upgrading the stock axle is all that most people ever need, that could be a great option, but if most people find they wish they had upgraded up front while spending the money on gears, I want to seriously consider that option, even if it means waiting a bit longer to do the lift and tires.

Nick

 

If you keep the d30, are you planning on a selectable locker? Shafts? Balljoints? Truss? Dumping a ton of money into the d30 doesn't make sense to a lot of people. But to others, apparently it does.

A decent build vs buy comparison. (modify it for specific options)
https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...-build-274896/

New empty rubi 44 housings are a bit under 1000. The rubi locker by itself is around 1400, aftermarket lockers around 1000. (ARB/OX). I haven't seen any posts about open carriers being available for that housing, so I think you are forced into a selectable locker.

A few websites list new complete rubi44 axles at around 2800. And a link was posted to an ebay auction a few times recently, 1600-1800ish for new crate rubi axles. If you can get one of these, go for it. Sure beats the bare housing or the normal priced one.

With your lift height, the caster correction built into the aftermarket axles could be a big plus. And depending on the total investment you come up with for the d30/rubi44, it may not be too much more to just grab a PR or Tera.

 

I say this in every axle thread, maybe I just got REALLY lucky, but I paid $500 for a rubi axle with a truss and gussets installed. 4:10 gears inside of it with the factory locker. There are deals to be found in this forums for sale section, you just have to be quick.

 

I depends on what money means to you. If dropping 2-4 grand on an axle isn't a big thing to you go for it. Or you can beef the 30 up for 300 bucks and run it for a few years till you can save up the money for a new axle. Most would say a rubicon axle is a waste of money as the tubes aren't much stronger than the 30 just a stronger ring and pinion and a 30 spline shafts rather than 27.

 

Finding a used Rubicon axle would be ideal. Then I could upgrade that one. The guy who was selling them on ebay for $1600-$1800 doesn't have any more listed, but I was going to contact him. His old listings say that he can configure it with any gear ratio you want. If he can do that for the same price, that is a great deal considering that it is $800 per axle to upgrade the gears.

While I can beef up the existing axle for $300, I would still have to put $800 into new gears. Then I would end up spending that same $800 in a few years to regear the new axle. While the Rubicon Dana 44 isn't much stronger than stock, I would think that adding all of the standard axle upgrades (gussets and tubes) would make it a lot closer to an aftermarket axle, but for a lot less money.

If I could get a Rubicon axle and upgrade it with new gears, gussets and tubes for $2K or less, I would likely go that way and be done with it. From what I have seen, the aftermarket axles are $3K+.

One other question about the Rubicon Tru-loc - how difficult is it to wire up? Can you get the OEM harness, or is it just a couple of wires and a switch? If I remember correctly, the Rubicon uses one switch to activate both the front and rear locker with multiple pressess to activate and deactivate. I would rather have two independet switches. I know the Rubicon axle also has the option of the electric disconnect sway bar, but I would rarther just use a manual disconnect (one less thing to break).

 

I found a set of built Rubi axles with 5.13 gears, C gussets, etc and swapped them into my 2010 JKU. The rubi lockers are easy to wire to separate switches. I wired mine so that the bottom light is on when jeep is running and the top light is triggered by the switch in the axle to tell me when it is actually locked. I can give you more info on this wiring set-up if you get to that point in your project. Just PM me for that info.

 

Thanks for the info Clark. It looks like that is something that can easily be done.

I have been talking with the ebay seller of D44 axles that was mentioned in other threads. I can get a brand new Rubicon D44 front axle with 4.56 gears and tru loc for $1700 total. The only thing I need to swap over is the brake calipers. Since it would cost me $800 to regear my current axle, that is only a difference of $900. If I can sell my existing axle for $400-$500 dollars (18K miles on it), I think it is worth going this route vs. spending $3500 plus on an aftermarket unit. This one will still require some upgrades, but I am likely to do that regardless of the axle I end up using.

Of course, I won't be able to actually work on any of my upgrades until the weather warms up. I'm slowly stocking up on parts while waiting for the sun to come out .