Good evening everyone, I hope all is well.

I've been beginning to try to make my jeep a little stronger in the hope of one day running 37s or at least having more confidence in my 35s off road.

I've priced out swapping to a 44 and from my perspective there's no cheap way to do it without spending upwards of 3k and up.

I searched around some local junkyards and found a Rubicon 44 that was in a car fire. It's charred up a little, all the rubber bushings are melted out, and the locker wiring is all melted.


I would be able to get this axle for $1000. I'm pricing out parts to fix it and for all the parts are around $500 assuming that the locker is in good shape. Then I would be bringing the gears to a 4.88. Add a truss and C's also.

Is all of this worth it to get a rubicon 44 or should I just stick with the 30 for now?

I can't justify spending extreme amounts on a pro rock or similar axle ( I wish I could)


Thanks, mike

 

I would not waste my money on it. You are already close to what you could get a j8 axle for.

 

I agree with you, its right about the same price.

only difference being that this axle already has the axle shafts and locker, which I'm not sure how great they are to begin with

 

I wouldn't waste my money on a JK Dana 44 unless it was given to me. It really isn't that much of an improvement over the Dana 30. It's not a true Dana 44 on the JK, it's more of a Hybrid of a Dana 30/44.

Tubes are the same as the Dana 30, and all the knuckles. You get a larger pumpkin which is the biggest benefit if you're regearing, and a slightly bigger diameter axle and that's about it.

Anything that's been in a fire, you also have to be concerned if it lost any strength in the steal. Definitely not worth it.

 

Yep... pile on and say no to this. Although I disagree with the 'true Dana44' statement. Compare the JK D44 to the 'old time' 'true' D44 and you'll find that the JK D44 is stronger in almost every way.

On the JK D44, both the front and rear have larger diameter pinion shafts and pinion bearings with larger inside and outside diameters. The carrier bearings are slightly larger in diameter. The front axleshafts also used larger steering joints and have more beef around the joints and higher spline count.

Only point at which the older 'true' D44 might be stronger is the occasional application that used a 2.75"x0.375" tube whereas the Rubicon D44 is a 2.5x0.25 (which is what most 'true' D44s were as well) for the front. On the rear, the JK D44 is 3.15" compared to the older ones being 2.75".

 

I swapped from a D30 to a Rubi 44 few years back. There was one of those Rubi 44 vs. PR44 threads where I laid everything out in regards to how much I had invested in the axle. When it’s all on paper, the big x-factor is how much of the work can you do yourself? Can you weld on gussets, new bracketry, and truss by yourself? Can you regear it yourself? If you can’t, labor is what kills you. Even if you can, at the end of the day you STILL end up with an axle that is weaker than a PR44, and with a Rubi e-locker vs. a ARB or an Eaton e-locker. I think I ended up having ~$3100 in my front Rubi 44 which started as a brand new crated axle. That is after regear, gussets, truss, new shock and LCA mounts, and Dynatrac BJs. If you can’t do the work yourself, that cost shoots up to $4k or more. At that point you may as well pay for a PR44……..of course that is also the point that you’ll get others like Dirtman saying that money for a PR44 is just dumb, and if you spend that much you may as well spend a little more and get wider D60 instead…..and that makes a heck of a lot of sense really given the real upgrades that come with that.

Even if you could do the work yourself, my biggest concern I think would be the condition of that locker given the amount of heat it’s been exposed to in a fire. I sure wouldn’t buy that without opening up the diff and inspecting the internal wiring real good. Those wires that run to the locker inside the diff are pretty thin. If they got fried not sure they could be replaced.

If everything was in good shape, AND you could do all the work yourself, it might be an ok project…..as long as you realize that at the end of the day you’re not ending up with something that is monumentally better than what you have, only incrementally better.

I'd say $1k is quite a gamble for that. Even if the locker was in good shape, I'd shoot to widdle that cost lower.

 

For what it's worth, I just noticed Monte417 highlighted in a different thread yesterday, that you can now purchase and replace the magnetic part of the locker that the internal wiring runs to. Interesting -

RpmExtreme Jeep Rubicon D44 E Locker Magnet Assembly 2005193 :: RPM Extreme

 

Yep... this says it best.

 

Just thinking out loud here......could an auto fire heat that axle enough to possibly warp of of the axle tubes (even if it LOOKS straight), or is it not approaching those kinds of temps? That might be a dumb question.

 

Same thoughts here, but I'm doubtful. The axle is the lowest point on the Jeep...and it's not flammable. The flammable parts clearly went ablaze, but it's not like that axle itself was on fire. Plus since it's under the Jeep, it was probably subjected to the least amount of heat it could have been. If the fire was directly under the axle and was raging for a few hours...then that's a different story.