Weak link in dana 30s

A buddy of mine has a 360 in his CJ, He still has the cheap 5 bolt aluminum lockout hubs and two piece rear axles, He currently has 33s, but wants to step up to 35s. It likely that he will run what he has until he breaks it. as has been the case in the past. - Anyways, After the 5 Bolt Lockout hubs, Whats the weak link on dana 30s with decent power and big tires hooked to them? Is it the axles or the tubes or the pumpkin or knuckles? Or is the whole danm thing?

He does not want to sacrafice ground clearance, and I'm trying to be prepared, because Im the engineer/mechanic on hand. Is there anything I should be watching for?

Jesse

i ran a 360 in mine with 4:56 gears comp 268 cam 650 holly 36 and 38 swempers on it and had no trouble till i took it apart and found 2 chiped ring gear teeth as long as he does not do burnouts on hard ground it should hold up good and i ran mud bogs with it and launched @ 3000 rpm and 2 gear lol

If its not being jumped, the housing and tubes should be alright. Otherwise, it will need to be braced- with loss of ground clearance. After the five bolt hubs, the weakest link is the axle joints or the spyder gears- a toss up. Aftermarket alloy axles with the larger 5-297X style joint and a powerlock will take care of that. As to the R&P, if the ratio is too low (high geared), it may sheer of the pinion shaft, if it is too high (low geared), you increase the liklihood of stripping teath off. Setup is CRITICAL for gears operated at or in excess of their capacity. No mater how well setup, the life of the gears will be shortened by larger tires and/or high power. The higher the ratio (lower geared), the less contact area there is to the gears, therefore the PSI loading increases, increasing fatigue rate.

in other words dont do 5 grand nutral drops :lol: :lol: :D or like they say if you cant pay the price dont play the game lol

good 'nough. hopefully it'll be fine for now. It usually fine untill he gets a little excited "Give'er the mustard m'boy!"

Jesse