A stock d44 and 30 are damn near the same thing minus the pinion size. A d44 could break the spot as a d30 tube wise.

 

Yeah, there has been a ton of D44s blowing up lately. Bent housings, bent Cs, housing that broke in half, ring and pinions blown. Just reading on another forum about a guy with a Prorock 44 who has a bent pinion. The result is new gears, seals, locker seals, and driveshaft. Wait, I thought PR44s were bullet proof?!?! Oh, that's right, all it has is a beefier housing and all the same weak ass parts the stock D44 comes with.

 

I see folks putting RCVs on their 44s, and while they are really beefy, not sure I would do it. Seems like all you are doing is shifting the fuse to your pumpkin. If you are looking to upgrade to 60's, why not just invest the minimal so you can have fun until you grenade your pumpkin. Many chromolly's offer 10 year warrenties and if you keep your originals as back ups.

There are quite a few folks running 37 on stock rubi's at my jeep club. Most of them will sleeve, gusset, and add chromollies. They wheel them on 3's and 4's (out of 5) all day long with no issues. Plus, shaft repairs on the trail are very easy to do when it breaks at the u-joint.

 

Don't know if its changed but arent rcvs not even true 35 spline due to the way jk hubs are? Pretty sure its technically 35 spline but its tapered down so its a smaller od than a true 35 spline youd see with d60 outters.

 

I had RCVs on my D44 and they were WAY smaller than the RCVs in my D60.

 

The 35 spline d44 rcv's are tapered to fit. Not sure if this is true anymore but RCV was making the only 30 spline d44 front shafts which is why most people with aftermarket 44 housings have rcv's

 

OK,so I wheel all the time. Maybe the part of not leaving the parking lot was a lie. But I do not feel that I have abused my 44's enough to be in this kind of shape. Either you people that run dana 44's on 35's or 37's don't wheel at all or I had a defective axle housing. I have 12,500 miles on this jeep.Tires and lift went on at 4,500 miles. Probably 5,000 miles of off road use and an axle broken in half? I don't jump my jeep, I point and go out in the desert and I follow anything that looks like a 2 track in the hills. Lets just say that I am a little nervous wheeling a 44..

 

I am running 37's on 44's, and wheel it hard. Front is sleeved, gusseted, trussed, RCV's, Reid's, Synergy BJ, and Cryo treated 5.13's. I blew up the factory shafts the first trip out with 37's. So far so good with the RCV's. At some point I'm sure tons are in my future though.

 

As soon as I get it home with the new front axle I am going to sleeve, gusset and truss. Then its getting gears and shafts. I am hoping this will be good enough for my 35's and maybe even 37's in the future

 

The housing is much stronger than a Rubicon 44. Thicke and large diameter tubes, stronger pumpkin and Cs that are massive. The Pinion strength is determined by who mad it. Was this pinion the Dynatrac pinion made just for the Dynatrac or a stock, G2, Motive, Yukon or some other make? If you put stock parts in it will still be weak in those areas. If you up-grade everything then you are in a new level of strength. For me I am going to the PR44 with their axles and R&P with an Eaton 4 Pin Elocker. May not be bullet proof but close enough for what I do. As I think about it, nothing is bullet proof. The stronger they make the more some people try to go beyond and break it.