Cj5 73 Axles Dana 30 And 44 Buying Guide?

Hi All, As if I don't have enough headaches, I am looking at some pretty cheep 19 73 Dana 30 and 44 axles for my 1966 cj5. They have drums on them now (they look pretty rough) but thought this might be a good opportunity for me to refurbish these over the winter and upgrade my existing 27 and 44 with 9" drums all around. What should I look for? Any buying tips would be great! Thank you! Cheers,D

 

The rear 44 will be a center diff and won't work in your Jeep with the stock 18 transfer case.
The 11" brakes are a good upgrade as is the front 30 but the gear ratios likely won't match your rear.

 

Available ratios are 3.73 std and 4.27 opt. Might match ... The brakes from the rear axle will bolt on to your existing rear axle.

I would look under the covers. Water and rust or broken gears or metal chips would be bad. The optional limited slip was the Dana TracLock, which was a pretty common option. Parts for the 11" brakes are widely available and cheap. Get the parking brake cables too if they are available.

 

Depending on what condition the centered rear 44 is in and what the asking price is, it might be easy to flip and pay for the work on the front. That's a sought after axle for the 70s AMC guys.

Keep an eye on your front shaft length and the output yokes on your Spicer 18 tcase and Dana 30. Seems some components do not require swapping yokes, some do. I went from Dana 25 and F134/T90/S18 to Dana 30 and it all went in ok.

I swapped my D30 to 5.38 and installed a TrueTrac. Good luck!

 

Great time to get rid of the noisy 18 transfer case and go with a 20 while you are swapping in axles. As said above, most likely 3.73 gears. Don't ever buy an axle without pulling the covers and inspecting the gears. 11" brakes stuff is really cheap. The backing plates alone are the only pieces not being re-popped and are going for $40-50 a piece now.

 

thanks guys!!! So opening the covers - check (makes total sense). Brake cable also good idea. So I need to check my existing ratio to make sure it matches the current D44 rear. I will google images about inspecting the gears but how do I visually tell the two ratios apart? Thank you, as always an education.

 

Just checked other threads and inspected my rear axle. I have two tags. One about limited slip lube and the other reads 5:38. So doesn't sound like the D30 would work without lots of rework.

 

5.38 gears are really spendy for a dana 30. If cheap enough, it is still worth getting for the 11" brakes

 

5.38 is very common with the F134. All my early 5s have been 5.38. It is a nice gear range for plowing with the FHead. Mine push a full hydraulic 6' Meyers rather well.

You'd have to swap the D30 to 5.38s to match your rear or swap in a D20 tcase to center your rear and use the new D44. I like the offset with the stock S18 tcase. I swapped to D30 and regeared it. It's not a bad job.

Easiest path is to keep the stock setup and just rebuild em, though. My steering was shot and my front could have used a rebuild, so I opted to go with Saginaw and the D30 and rebuild that.

 

Yep. I plow all the time with it so I guess the 5:38 is a great ratio to have. Other than that darn oil leak that I hear dripping in my SLEEP there is nothing wrong with my current set up. Although I do have the double tie rod setup that I want to change to a single. The covers to the diffs are louvered - not sure if that tells us anything and they are 50 bucks a piece.

 

I opted for a cover that lets me drain fluid without removing it.

Where's is leakin' from?

 

Darn bell housing - at bottom. Had the rear main seal replaced last fall and the shop went through the oil pan so the pan gasket was also re done. I have read lots of stories about it. Not sure if I just live with it or what. So... the leaking is sort of giving me pause when it comes to putting any more work/money into it other than whats essential. As for the axles - my thought was really about refurbishing them slowly more out of hobby and brake upgrade rather than necessity. Thanks for the feedback!!

 

If I was able to do an unrushed overhaul, I'd prolly find a set of spare axles, D27/offsetD44, and redo em with 11" brakes. The whole bit. Clean em up, rebuild em, paint em, etc.

Then swap em on to your working chassis.

I've heard horror stories about the rear mains. Mine are ok. I've been lucky so far.

 

Thanks jrob. That's a good idea too! I might go that rout. Glad you rms has been good to you! Cheers.

 

You can always look at the edge of the ring gear. The tooth count is stamped there. For example, "41 11" is 41/11 = 3.73. "47 11" is 47/11 = 4.27.

 

ah - awesome - thank you