Dana 30 and 44 question.

My cousin and I got into a debate the other night about the max tire size you can run on a dana 30 front and dana 44 rear in my '73 CJ5.

From the site I've gathered anything much larger than a 33" on the dana 30 is iceberg water. He seemed to think 37's were the largest I could go.

I'm iffy about anything larger than my 33's, so please someone help me put this debate to rest

 

Unless your cousin is shelling out the bucks to back up his opinions, I think you're on the right track. You can beef up the axles in the 30, but it's definitely your weak link. 37's? Only if he's paying the bills.

 

Depends on how your going to drive it, depends on the tire, depends on the terrain. If you plan on wheeling it hard even the 33s push the envelope of what a 30 can handle. Also, not all 33s are built alike. There is a huge difference both in size and traction between a super swamper bogger and an all terrain. It is also entirely possibly to explode a 30 with 29 inch tires. Dana 60s are not the end all cure all either. I was at a buddy's place yesterday. His jeep is sitting in the drive way with an exploded hub on a dana 60.

 

Another vote for 33”

 

33 if you drive hard. With some upgrades to the 30 then 35s. I see some TJ guys running 37s on a 30 but usually they are fairly good at changing axle shafts, carriers. R&Pgears.

 

I'd vote 33"'s but like everyone said there are lots of variables. I have however built a lot of 44 fronts for people running 33"s and larger after they got tired of repairing their 30's, 25's, 27's, etc. Nickmil

 

I've had good and bad results with 35's on a D30. I've run some difficult trails with no problem and grenaded axle u-joints just by sliding into a creek bed off of an icy snow bank. While the axle shafts in a 30 are quite a bit larger in diameter than a D27, the u-joints are about the same. That appears to be the real weak link in the 30. If I had known about the u-joint size before I bought the 30 I would have waited and bought a 44. At this point I'll probably do the Superior axle upgrade. For now I carry spare u-joints and shafts. If you drive nice they'll hold up well with 33's. I had 33's on my old D27 for many years and ran the Rubicon and harder trails and never broke anything!

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I figured as much with the D30. I'd like to go to some stronger wide tracs, but at the moment I really don't do anything extreme wheeling(trail riding with a cold beer in hand is the most adventure I see), though I'd certainly like to at some point.

As we all know, bigger tires certainly help in thicker situations(in addition to looking cool) but I can't really justify anything bigger than 33" as I've yet to been stuck. Now I know what's in store for me should I decide to go larger, and my cousin owes me a 6 pack of beer. Thanks for all the input fellas

 

I've got 35" swampers on my D-30, and it ain't broke yet.
OF course the fact that I just bought it recently and it hasn't seen a good off road session yet might explain why......

I already plan on upgrading to a D-44 setup in the front...Too bad I bought my Jeep a week after the largest 4x4 swap meet in the western WA State area! I saw a bunch of them, now I can't find one for sale anywhere!