well i didnt start breaking stuff untill i went to offroad parks, the wheelin i did was light to moderate around my local area, i am becomeing more and more agresive offroad and i am paying the price for it now. for a long time i did not know the limitations for the jeep and the d30. im starting to figure that out,

but the last breakage was my fault, when u are on an incline called "slick willy" and for the most part only buggies can make it up this, u should not try it, well i did anyways. at 6,000 rpm, front and rear locker engaged, runing in 4lo, then u catch traction, something had to give, well the axle sure did. even the buggies have to run full rpm up this incline in 1st gear maybe 2nd, some how after the axle broke i made it up this thing, so it was worth the busted axle just to have the bragging rights!!!

anyways on to your question, i think i would just stay where u are at wth the 35's for now, 37's are nice to have but 35 may be the max limit for the d30 and i have seen plenty of guys go same spots as me with their 35's,the sleeves strengthen the axle tube and i would recomend the gussets for the axle c's sinec u have the added weight of the larger tires., if u are like me and start getting more agresive, i would surely look into upgrading your axles to atleast the chromolly.

now some people say its fine and some people say 37's are not for the d30. i feel its all in how u wheel. if i stuck wth the light offroading like i used to do, then i would be fine wth the stock axles, but eventually those puny ujoints will dry up and crack or u loose the c-clip on one end then it fails from that. upgrading not only gives u stronger axles but theu come wth full circle clips. some people have overcome the stock ujoint by tack welding the cap in a few spots and that tends to help if a clip should fall out

if u do decide to run the 37's i would recomend the gussets and axle upgrade, the sleeves well personal opinion is its more marketing but maybe there are alot of people who have busted the axle tube. if im not mistaken, the axle tube on the d30 is the same or just slightly smaller than that of the d44. u will probably get many varying opinions on running 37s on the d30, some say go for it and some say wait till u can upgrade to atleast a d44. to be h9oonest i dont think there really is a correct answer.

people have gone years because they do light offroading asnd take it easy on the pedal with no problems on stock parts then some people are more aggresive and break things just like i have done, i have slowly built up my offroading skills so im attempting more dangerous or harder obstacles, with that i know i need to upgrade the front end or take it easy untill i can a 44 or a 60 under there

hope this helps, sorry so long winded

 

Thanks for the comeback captjay, I'm new to this crawlin thing (about a year ) but like you I keep pushing it. It's like a drug ,the more you do the more you want ! We have a lot of rock's out here so it's a lot of slow percise crawlin. I find myself wanting to upgrade and go bigger on everything, What I need to do is strengthen up the axle's and get better at this skill. Like you said there is still a lot to learn. But I think I will go with the CRV axle's,the sleeves aren't that expensive so I will probably throw them in when I put the axle's in. If I'm gona have this D30 for awhile it might as well be a strong one....

 

Jay, that's a fair and honest reply. For the record, I wasn't trying to be uncharitable, and it sounds like you have more of a grasp of reality than a segment of the JK crowd who try to get away with running big tires on small axles.

I've added EVO gussets to my 30's end forgings. I've contemplated adding a truss, sleeves and chromo shafts as well, but I'm only running 33s and will never go beyond 35s on my personal JK, so a set of OEM axle shafts as spares in my trail kit is my approach.

I think it's worth mentioning that a guy can be an "aggressive" off-roader without using a lot of rpm and wheelspin; rock crawling is more often than not something that should be done slowly and deliberately, not hard on the gas. If missing an obstacle on the first attempt, it's better to back down and try another line than romp on it and risk a break due to shock loading (this is what happened to you on "Slick Willy").

Anyway, good luck with your mods and continued evolution of your JK.

 

thanks underdawg, its all a learning process for me. very true on the rock craling, i have done that and enjoying it more than the mud now, actually im starting to hate mud. the slick willy incline was nothing but pure red clay mud which u had to have high rpm and wheelspin to push up it, but when i say agreesive i mean steeper rocks, more articulation, more on edge type stuff, before it used to be flat trails with some bumps in it and little articulation, u are right though its noce and slow on the rocks and i had to learn the hard way on that one.

i did not think u were trying to be smartass about it and i appreciate that

i talked wth david at northridge yesterday and im going wth the rcv axles along wth some other upgrades, so maybe this will help out some over the stock axel shafts. and hopefully when the jk becomes my second vehicle and strictly a toy, i will get the 44 or 60 under there

 

With the type of wheeling you do and the tire size you want to use, a Pro Rock 44 should be considered. Unfortunately you've already sunk money in your 30. In hindsight, had you done NOTHING with your 30 and put that same money towards a new front end, you could have had a fully built PR44 for about $2K more than what you've spent and are now considering to spend. The difference is that when you're done with you current build, it will still be a D30.

Obviously you know that things could have been done differently. What I try to do is catch the new owner of a rig (any type) BEFORE they spend any real money. I can't think of any newbie (myself included but many years ago) that hasn't spent money only to find out shortly thereafter that what they bought was a bad idea. If you develop a real plan based on where you wheel, what tire size you eventually want and overall design of your rig, you can save thousands of $$$$. Do it once...the right way.

 

yup definitely agree there!! back then though i didnt know, so have to deal with it for a little while longer. but i guess thats part of it sometimes, learning the hard way. but also back in 07, there were not alot of options then either. so in the mean time, i will build it up some more and wheel that untill i can afford a 44 wth arb and 5.13 in there. i also did not think i would ever become this into the offroading either, so i was always fine wth stock except for the lift. but over the last year i have gotten more and more into it (i got the itch) and trying new things and have learned that i cant do the things i now enjoy without that bigger front end

yes when i finish the build the d30 is still just a "polished turd"