After talking to some people on here and hearing how much money I will need to spend to reinforce my D30. I was thinking of just buying a Mopar D44 front axle or something comparable. the Mopar D44 should just bolt right on correct? Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a well price D44.

 

The best option you have for scoring a hopefully good deal on a d44 front axle would be to find a wreck with a good d44 front axle. The Mopar ones are retailing for about 3000 right now... what size tires you planning to run, and what are your plans that have made you go down this road?
I would love a d44 front as well...but it's totally cost prohibitive to my requirements right now

 

They are all hovering right around the 3K mark as BlackNorthernJK said. Really no great "deals" to be had in the aftermarket. Remember though, that unless your Jeep has 4.10 gears from the factory, that you'll have to regear that D44 because they are Rubicon Axles and that's the standard Rubicon axle ratio. So you're talking about more money on top of that 3K. Makes strengthing up the D30 look a bit more attractive. You could throw $1500 bucks at that D30 and make it pretty darned strong. Possibly less if you can do the work yourself.

Also, as BlackNorthernJK eluded to, unless you clue us in on what you want to end up with as far as details on your rig and what you want to do with it, there's no way we can give you advice on what parts to run. I broke my crystal ball just last week.

 

In my view, money spent on beefing up the d30 is money well spent. Once you get a d44, if you're running big tires, you're still going to want to do some reinforcement that you would have done to the d30...I'm talking diff covers, C gussets, skids, etc. You may even want to sleeve the d44 because I know the axle tubes are not much thicker than on the d30. The only real advantage to the d44 is the larger ring and pinion which I guess could prevent gear failure. Your choice, but if your even considering a new front d44, look into the Dynatrac ProRock 44. Or buy a used Rubi 44 and spend some dough to reinforce it in key areas. The Mopar 44 is ok, the ProRock 44 is a beast. Just my $.02

 

Beffing up the d30 could cost as little as $600 or so...Sleeves, inner and outer - $400, C gussets - $80, Riddler Diff Cover - $100, Control arm skids - $40. You could even go with a weld-on truss made by Rock Krawler if you are so inclined - I think that's around $80 or 100. There are alot of options, and really unless you are planning on hitting the rocks hard and/or being tough on the skinny pedal, the d30 may be plenty strong. Either way, like Redneck Jeep said, regearing is a big cost.

 

I have 35s on it now and dont want to go any bigger. I was planning on just installing 4:88 gears new diff covers no lockers and adding the Gussets to make it stronger. I only plan on wheeling about once a month during spring and summer nothing hardcore just the green and blue trails at RC.

 

In all honesty, the axle reinforced the way you say should be pretty good. I have nothing strengthening mine yet unfortunately, and I've done some pretty decent wheeling with my setup thus far. As long as you stay careful, your plan seems to be good. And I use mine as a daily driver as well. You should be alright

 

well given this info...why not save yourself the coin and beef up the d30?? It's going to be a HELL of alot cheaper for you...
the d30 diff, ring, and pinion gears are alot smaller than the d44 true...but they should hold up with what you propose...at least maybe long enough til prices for the 44's come down

 

I think it's very reasonable. I have no personal experience, though there are those that do here. Where you may have some concern is if you throw a lunchbox locker into the stock carrier with 5.13's and 35" tires and crawl rocks regularly...someone here exploded their stock carrier with this setup...I think you'd be safer with a complete aftermarket unit in there be it a LSD or Full Locker assembly like ARB, Auburn ECTED etc. The stock d30 carrier is going to be the weakest link with chromoly shafts and a lunchbox locker.
I installed a Detroit TrueTrac gear driven LSD in my d30 and I find this carrier to be of a much higher build quality...actually machined from heat treated steel vs the cast peice of garbage the stock carrier is.
But your proposed plan with chromoly shafts, sleeves, gussets, even a good selectable locker would make a pretty sturdy setup...and I know there are guys running a ton of Aussie lockers and the like in there diffs, but the stock carrier like I mentioned is going to be the weakest point....well other than Ujoints of course

 

Good advice. I am probably going to (eventuallY) be getting the Super 30 kit that is on Northridge's site. It upgrades the stock 27 spline to 30 spline, includes Cromo shafts, heavy duty u joints, an ARB locker, Timken bearings, new axle seals and shims. I figure that, along with a EVO sleeves and gussets, and the control arm skids, and it will be plenty strong. Its more expensive but its still less than a 44 or a 60. Especially when you consider that some of these upgrades would carry over to the 44 (locker, sleeves, gussets, maybe even cromo shafts.)