Well not the greatest welder, but new gussets, sleeves, ball joints, and diff cover. Been sitting in the garage for a few months.

Should be a nice inexpensive upgrade and learning a bit about axles and my Jeep! Chose this route before buying a PR44.

 

Look good man.

 

As did I (plus Chromoly axle shafts) ... and now I'm at 126K miles, including some pretty awesome wheeling.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1373533979313.2050061.1260697505&type=1&l=4 3612b6abe

 

Building a rubi take off or junkyard D44 is another option over a PR, and definitely less expensive.

 

You may not be a great welder,but those welds look great

 

X2 on this. They look a lot better than I'd do.

 

Thanks! As long as they hold together..
I'll run this for awhile and possibly look into a D44.
I've been reading a lot on chromo axles but I'm not convinced that I want them stronger than the ring and pinion on the D30.

 

I know a lot of folks feel that way, and it's also the argument against RCV axles (which I do not have), but in the years I've been on this forum (approaching seven), the axle shafts on the D30 seem to be the real weak point--especially the ears,and the U-joint caps and C-clips. Very rare to see a D30 fail inside the diffy, and not really certain that if one were to analyze all the cases (not that it would be easy to retrieve all of that data reliably), one would actually arrive at the conclusion that Chromoly axles are responsible for D30 pinion gear failures. Anyway, my own experience currently belies that belief (but maybe next week I will be the case that proves it ).

 

I think when I break one I'll upgrade. Unfortunately I will be far from my garage.. Hmm. Maybe I should rethink this

 

The stock u joints with the c clips are the weakest point with the Dana 30 axles. The c clips have a tendency to work their way loose and cause u joint/shaft failure. An upgrade to chromoly shafts with the larger Spicer 7166X u joints is money well spent.