I am curious if axle sleeves are really worth it. It makes sense to me that they would reinforce the housing as it is filling the gap between the shaft and housing. I don't believe it will help with the torque on the axle from control arms where people such as trail bud have seen the housing break. Also do the tubes sit on the axle shafts where there will be more heat/friction? Also if i broke an axle shaft how much would t he sleeves make it a pain to remove those? I believe that's all the questions that came to mind so far. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Maertz

 

The axle shaft is not in contact with the axle sleeve, so there would be no increase in friction. The sleeve does not entirely fill the gap between the housing and the shaft.

For me, I saw it as a relatively inexpensive upgrade that could help prevent something getting damaged and having a costly repair.

 

The sleeve gives more thickness to your axle tube so the do not flex...

For example this is not the real numbers because I don't know the real axle tube thinkness and sleeve thickness......
Would you rather have 1/4inch or 1/2 inch tubes.

 

Isnt that what gusseting does though so why not just gusset the housing put stronger axles in and call it good.

 

its really easy to bend the axle tubes with a truss. The sleeves are a simple effective solution to strengthen the axle tubes

 

First off bending an axle housing is not "easy" for 99% of people. I would invest the money and get shafts first. Go through and tell me how many people you can find who have broke or bent their housing. Minimal compared to shafts and other parts.

 

Sleeving refers to reinforcing the axle tubing and comes in two forms. Internal sleeves are inserted into the axle housing and increase the "thickness" of the housing between the housing and the axle. Some manufactures of internal sleeves are: Rock-Slide Engineering, Poly Performance, Tereflex, Iron Rock, EVO, and Nitro. I believe all but the Nitro require holes to be drilled in the housing then plug welding the sleeve to the axle tubes. The Nitro is pressed/(pounded) into place using friction of a precision fit.

An alternate method is to sleeve the outside of the housing. Rock Slide Engineering has an outer sleeve kit. This increases the "thickness" of the axle tube by adding material to the external or outside of the tubing.

Gusseting refers to the reinforcement of the "C" part of the axle(knuckle) and is typically installed on the lower and upper sections of the "C". There are two options for these as well. Solid flat (and thick) gussets are available through Rock Slide, Terraflex, JKS, and Pure Jeep. The other option is metal that is formed into a "U" shape and is welded in place on both sides of the "U" or "C" section. This style can be obtained through, Poly Performance, Iron Rock, Nitro, and EVO.

Trusses (reinforce the entire axle tube assembly and are welded to the "pumkin" and each side of the housing) are available from Pure Jeep and Artec.

Hope this helps clarify

KG6SLC aka Eugene

 

Yes it does so let me rephrase my question would gussetting and trussing make the axle just as strong as sleeving?

 

Gussets do not have any effect of axle tubes. A truss will help the tubes like when you sleeve the axle. If your getting into the debate what's stronger sleeve vs truss, it depends on so many factors.

 

I really didn't want to start welding and sleeving my axles right off the hop in a 2013 Jeep but everybody I talked to said with 35" tires and up if off roading its a good idea. So I ordered both a full gusset pkg and sleeves. 3 gussets for each side and two different length axle tube sleeves $312. I ordered heavy duty upper and lower ball joints as well $250.