I have never built front edns to have a weak link in them. And honestly we rarely see a blown up ring and pinion.

The way I look at it is BUilt it without and weak links and if it break that is your jeep telling you that you need a bigger axle. The 30 or 44 has reached the end of its life to say.

This topic is pretty high up on the most argued on the internet.

U-joint failures usually take out the ears of the axles.

Beef up the u-joint and you may take out the axle which may take out the Carrier.

Beef up the axle and you may break the ring and pinion.

And so on . We can argue for ever about this I have seen all of this happen.

Like I said I prefer to take my chances breaking a ring and pinion.

David

 

Thanks everyone for the info. Now I'm getting a clearer understanding of the two sides.

It seemed like there was conflicting ideas out there and I could never imagine Jeepers (or anyone on the internet) having strong, differing opinions

 

Thanks, once I got unstuck and got back on pavement that was actually my first thought. Though I was less enthusiastic today pulling out the busted bits.

Got high centered on some unexpected snow (def. need a lift) and in my attempt to get free I kept getting more and more off the trail. I had my wheel jacked to the left and got a little brutish with the gas. Upon further reading it seems a turned wheel is a definite no-no.

I did today. I could tell on the phone the dealer was a jackass and wasn't going to cover it. I pulled the two shafts and plugged the hole so I can at least limp it to the train station. I'll be ordering replacements today.

I've been looking all over for OEM parts and the only ones I've found are more expensive than the Ten Factory ones from Northridge. So unless someone has a decently priced place for OEM parts I'm leaning that way.

Hate to be a sack rider, but that was my thought. wayoflife has show time and again he knows his shit.

Haha, where were you on Saturday?!?

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've learned a valuable (and only mildly expensive) lesson this week.

 

More pics of the carnage. The inner shaft seemed hard to get out so I was relieved to see that the splines were still in good shape.

 

Ahh, thought they went hand in hand, could've swore when I read the product release it said you needed Magnums for the plug. Cool, something to add to the list.

 

2 out of 3 times I broke, a few of the inner splines had a twist to them. They shaft just didn't pull out, had to slam the hell out of it with a 3lb sledge and a prybar. Could only imagine the splines not twisting and having that load on the carrier...just me.