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View Full Version : What do you think of these front 44 housings..



Jim311
01-08-2006, 11:14 PM
http://www.4x4groupbuy.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=40_96&products_id=2449&osCsid=fadbcb4f2e39927b96d3e76aa53acba5



I guess a straight swap for a ZJ? You'd have to set it up with your own gears and whatnot, but it seems like you could do that pretty cheap. Thoughts? Obviously it's not going to be a whole lot stronger than a 30, but it still seems like a reasonable price for a pretty decent upgrade in strength, no?

ptownTSI
01-08-2006, 11:24 PM
why not just get a Dana 60 ford front axle and put a 14 bolt in the back.

i paid $450 for my front axle +220 to ship it. 1988 kingpin hp60.

yee haw!

Jim311
01-08-2006, 11:30 PM
why not just get a Dana 60 ford front axle and put a 14 bolt in the back.

i paid $450 for my front axle +220 to ship it. 1988 kingpin hp60.

yee haw!


Send me a link to a 60 front that bolts right in and costs 550 bucks.

ptownTSI
01-08-2006, 11:45 PM
i just dont see why you would pay 575 for something that still needs knuckles, gears, and some form of locker, or a carrier and a lunchbox locker.

search around for an hp44 from a ford and see if you can snag it for like 300 or so. gears are $150 from porc and $100 for an install kit, then get a locker of your choice. you will need to switch to 8 lug wheels, so do the d70 of 14b rear at the same time.

Cue-Ball
01-09-2006, 12:01 AM
I have to agree with ptown.

Look around for a used HP44 that is COMPLETE, forget the $575+ gears, knuckles, carrier, brakes, etc. etc.

Jim311
01-09-2006, 12:06 AM
i just dont see why you would pay 575 for something that still needs knuckles, gears, and some form of locker, or a carrier and a lunchbox locker.

search around for an hp44 from a ford and see if you can snag it for like 300 or so. gears are $150 from porc and $100 for an install kit, then get a locker of your choice. you will need to switch to 8 lug wheels, so do the d70 of 14b rear at the same time.


Because your time and effort is worth something? I don't give a shit if you find a 44 for free lying on the ground, you've still got to regear it, put a locker in it, and probably put new bearings and shit in it too, not to mention weld on your own brackets. Not to mention not everyone NEEDS a front 60 much less a 400 pound 14B rear.

LouisianaZJ
01-09-2006, 12:21 AM
rubi 44s are shit

end thread

hp30 will be just as strong (practically), puts the DS higher up, more clearance, and is $500 cheaper

Jim311
01-09-2006, 12:29 AM
rubi 44s are shit

end thread

hp30 will be just as strong (practically), puts the DS higher up, more clearance, and is $500 cheaper


Is that what it is.. a Rubicon 44 housing? :smt062

ELLLLLIOTTTTT
01-09-2006, 12:37 AM
. Not to mention not everyone NEEDS a front 60 much less a 400 pound 14B rear.

only intelligent thing said so far. ptown needs to go back to JU street freaks. :D

97trxuszj
01-09-2006, 01:18 AM
for 575 I would find some alloy shafts and a locker and gears and build up your 30 check out the article in the new Jan/ Feb edition of JP magazine, on ultimate dana 30 frontend. like said not everyone needs the beef of a 60 this 30 build will allow for 35's and alot of abuse "check it out"

LouisianaZJ
01-09-2006, 01:34 AM
most likely it is the rubi fake 44. i am 90% sure. note the UCa mont is cast into the pumpkin and is stock width. i highly doubt they narrowed, sandblasted, and welded in a UCA on an 44 and sellling for $570. possible, yes, likely, no

ptownTSI
01-09-2006, 05:23 AM
so you are going to upgrade to something with Dana 44 ring gear and keep EVERYTHING else the same. same knuckles, same shitty u joints, same crappy hubs...

Jim311
01-09-2006, 10:08 AM
so you are going to upgrade to something with Dana 44 ring gear and keep EVERYTHING else the same. same knuckles, same shitty u joints, same crappy hubs...


Me personally? Doubt it. I'd upgrade to alloys and not have the weak 30 R+P at least. I'm not planning on buying this.. I just thought it was an interesting option personally. It's soooo time consuming to build brackets and set them up on an axle right. This would save you the time, and even save you some money considering if you were to buy a bracket kit for a 44 it'd run you like 300-400 bucks.

Swamp boy
01-09-2006, 11:21 AM
IF you decide to do it.. Make sure you get some kind of Axle brace or something to strengthen those weak axle tube.. That definatly looks like a Rubi 44 to me... I would bet money on it..And in that case would make it the Dana 30 tubes with the 44 houseing... Making the tubes crap....

Anyway.. Thats not a horrible deal.. But most of the guys on here, myself included, would just swap in something else.. And do the work ourselves..

Bolt up is not what we are looking for.. If it where we wouldnt drive these damn things.....:D

Cue-Ball
01-09-2006, 12:00 PM
for 575 I would find some alloy shafts and a locker and gears and build up your 30 check out the article in the new Jan/ Feb edition of JP magazine, on ultimate dana 30 frontend. like said not everyone needs the beef of a 60 this 30 build will allow for 35's and alot of abuse "check it out"

I read that article a couple of times actually, made me feel ALOT better about the HP30 I am building.

OverkillZJ
01-09-2006, 12:12 PM
this 30 build will allow for 35's and alot of abuse "check it out"

Don't count on it! I'm an HP30 fan, mine did me well for a couple years. But eventually, on 35's, if you give it "a lot of abuse" - that ring gears goes snap, crackle, pop!

It makes a real nice paper weight though.


EDIT: if you don't lock it, I could see it lasting on 35's, but you'll still blow ball joints if you wheel semi hard.

Cue-Ball
01-09-2006, 12:15 PM
I hear you Matt.

I plan on a lockrite one of these days and hopefully I can be somewhat soft on it but I am sure it will need some routine love and attention.

ptownTSI
01-09-2006, 11:50 PM
Me personally? Doubt it. I'd upgrade to alloys and not have the weak 30 R+P at least. I'm not planning on buying this.. I just thought it was an interesting option personally. It's soooo time consuming to build brackets and set them up on an axle right. This would save you the time, and even save you some money considering if you were to buy a bracket kit for a 44 it'd run you like 300-400 bucks.

dude and people give me a hard time for being a newb. this is mallcrawlin. weld your own shit. what do you need a bracket kit for. hack it off your D30. you said you dont want to do it, but its a bad option for anyone IMO.

575 for that housings + 200 for axle shafts + $$ for knuckles (280 at a dealer each, alot less used say $75 each)+ gears + locker. you still have to run your d30 craptastic hubs, and shitty brakes.

dude thats alot of freakin money.

go to a junkyard, get an HP44, narrow the passenger side tube, buy one custom axle for that side, torch off your mounts, and weld it up. you can get gears/master install from PORC for $250.

no more shitty-small-time-barely-make-it-for-stock brakes, you get your 44 ring gear, and stronger everything. :D

ATL ZJ
01-10-2006, 12:16 AM
This would save you the time, and even save you some money considering if you were to buy a bracket kit for a 44 it'd run you like 300-400 bucks.

Uhhh, from RE or a similar company maybe... I am running Rocklogic lower link tabs that came cut, predrilled, and are 1/4", for around $30 for 4.. You can make a truss over the pumpkin in a couple hours, and run the mount for your upper off that, or even cut the mount off your d30 and weld that on if you were lazy.. Then all you really have to worry about is some form of a tracbar bracket and a mount for a steering stabilizer if you think you'll need one.

Since waggy 44 fronts can be had at yards for ~$100 with knuckles and bearings, I don't see that as being a good deal. Maybe for someone who can't build anything for himself or hates working on his Jeep, but I don't see you fitting that profile.

Jim311
01-10-2006, 12:43 AM
dude and people give me a hard time for being a newb. this is mallcrawlin. weld your own shit. what do you need a bracket kit for. hack it off your D30. you said you dont want to do it, but its a bad option for anyone IMO.

575 for that housings + 200 for axle shafts + $$ for knuckles (280 at a dealer each, alot less used say $75 each)+ gears + locker. you still have to run your d30 craptastic hubs, and shitty brakes.

dude thats alot of freakin money.

go to a junkyard, get an HP44, narrow the passenger side tube, buy one custom axle for that side, torch off your mounts, and weld it up. you can get gears/master install from PORC for $250.

no more shitty-small-time-barely-make-it-for-stock brakes, you get your 44 ring gear, and stronger everything. :D

I'm not saying *I* personally am going to do this swap. I won't be getting rid of my 30 anytime soon, I just thought it was an interesting option that I hadn't even seen anybody post before, that's all. Some people have more money than time, others more time than money. Just another solution...

Jim311
01-10-2006, 12:46 AM
Uhhh, from RE or a similar company maybe... I am running Rocklogic lower link tabs that came cut, predrilled, and are 1/4", for around $30 for 4.. You can make a truss over the pumpkin in a couple hours, and run the mount for your upper off that, or even cut the mount off your d30 and weld that on if you were lazy.. Then all you really have to worry about is some form of a tracbar bracket and a mount for a steering stabilizer if you think you'll need one.

Since waggy 44 fronts can be had at yards for ~$100 with knuckles and bearings, I don't see that as being a good deal. Maybe for someone who can't build anything for himself or hates working on his Jeep, but I don't see you fitting that profile.


Well, you could always pick up the guts from a junkyard 44 for CHEAPs, no? You'd still end up regearing and locking it anyway, not to mention putting in new bearings and shit. I know how to weld and I'm a reasonable fabricator, but it's still time consuming. Either way, I'll be partying with my D30 till she pukes! :smt040

ptownTSI
01-10-2006, 04:36 AM
jim i really just dont see a benefit unless you were getting the housing off a Rubi 44 already with the gears of your choice. THEN i could see someone with a broken D30 picking it up.

MC
01-17-2006, 01:54 PM
It is indeed a Rubicon 44 front

You can get a ford high pinion front but you will need to retube it as the cast triangle flanges on the for the radius arms are part of the housing and the tube does not go through them. It can be done

Ruby 44 fronts are notoriously weak in the axle shafts. Superior and Alloy both make replacement axle shafts out of heat treated chromoly. Everything else on the dana 44 section is stronger than a high pinion 30!

To keep it street legal and simple a rubicon dana 44 front is a awesome bolt in and you can use 30 spline inners from any 44 cut down and your outer shafts from your 30 or get chromo ones. I am installing a ruby front and dana 60 rear very soon in my mallcrawler

MC
01-17-2006, 01:55 PM
We have a extra housing for sale on ebay right now $540

Cody
01-19-2006, 08:47 PM
the thing most people are breaking on d30's are the shafts. Obviously there are some BJ and ring gear failures--but most of it is shafts and the d30 uses/can use the same shafts as a 44.

ptwon--where did you find a 450 dollar kingpin 60?

Cody

Taz
01-24-2006, 12:55 PM
search around for an hp44 from a ford and see if you can snag it for like 300 or so.


hmmmmm.........good friend of mine has a HP44 w/ discs and a 9" laying around in his yard. he's asking $300 for teh set, but i bet i could get them both for $200 if i talked him into it enough.

Cue-Ball
01-24-2006, 12:58 PM
t's a good deal.

Swamp boy
01-24-2006, 04:28 PM
Sounds like a bad Idea...


If I where you I would Pm me his address and tell him I will give him $400...:D

ATL ZJ
01-24-2006, 05:44 PM
Well, you could always pick up the guts from a junkyard 44 for CHEAPs, no? You'd still end up regearing and locking it anyway, not to mention putting in new bearings and shit. I know how to weld and I'm a reasonable fabricator, but it's still time consuming. Either way, I'll be partying with my D30 till she pukes! :smt040
Um, you're the one that started this thread asking about 44s... :rolleyes: :flipoff2:

Jim311
01-24-2006, 10:27 PM
Um, you're the one that started this thread asking about 44s... :rolleyes: :flipoff2:


And?


:flipoff2: