Dana 30 Truss

[Root Moose]

Here's some pictures of the trusses I built for my Dana 30 for the XJ. There's two versions of this; this one is the first one that I didn't use in the end.

Why a truss? Dana 30s have a reputation for being both weak and strong at the same time. In theory, the ring and pinion is close to the same strength as a normal low pinion Dana 44. But, can the bearings and such support the same loads? I don't know. From the Dana 30 failures that I've seen in pictures in various places on the web it looks to me like there may be some flexing occuring on the long shaft side where the shaft comes into the housing. There are a couple images of the housing itself breaking in this area. If you compare a #30 housing to a #44 housing it does look pretty thin in comparison.

So, I figured I'd hedge my bets and build a semi-JeepSpeed style truss. It's cheap to make (steel and welding rod) but a little time intensive. If I had to do another one of these I'd likely just buy a pre-made truss from TNT Customs. I wouldn't bother with the one from Mako since they are pretty chintzy looking.

We all know what a bare 30 housing looks like I guess?



First I mocked it up with some cardboard cutouts.





Then cut the steel to shape and welded it together slowly to make sure it didn't bend the axle tubes. There is a special process to use to weld to cast iron as used in the differential housing. I'll update this from my notes when I get a chance but the gist is to heat to ~500 degrees and then weld as per usual. Also you need to make sure you let it cool very slowly with a welders blanket or similar. In my case I used a hand propane torch and gave it a blast every 45 seconds or so for about a minute. I did this over the course of about twenty minutes or so.



And yeah, the holes are just for bling.

I ended having to do this twice. When I got this axle (bare off JK) I didn't bother to check for the carrier bearings caps in the diff (left the cover on). Finished the axle and started getting ready to take it to West Carleton Auto for the differential install and sure enough no caps. Yes, I felt like a big dummy after that. You can't just add bearing caps and expect things to be good. I wasn't interested in getting some blanks made and getting it all line bored properly. So, I started over and revised the design a little (see next post). Thankfully #30 housings are a dime a dozen.

[Root Moose]

<Reserved for version two truss>