D30 advice

[October_V]

1990 'manche-4.0L-NP231-AX15

I am getting ready to inspect and diagnose my front axle while I slip a 2" lift over the springs.

I know I will need axle seals and will see if the axle shafts are scored bad enough to need replacement.

I'm going to take a close look at wheel bearings, u-joints, brakes, hoses, calipers, steering components.

What else should I keep an eye out for or if I get into trouble, what should I look ahead to for upgrades?

No junkyards in Juneau so it's all off the self replacement parts.

 

Thanks!

[foreman1063]

Look at the ball joints, CA bushings and axle vacuum lines while your under there. If your not wheelin it I don't think any upgrades are necessary, just replace worn parts and drive it. The only thing I'm doing to my front 30, that may be considered an upgrade, is replacing it with a non-disco hp30.

[xjrev10]

Look at the ball joints, CA bushings and axle vacuum lines while your under there. If your not wheelin it I don't think any upgrades are necessary, just replace worn parts and drive it. The only thing I'm doing to my front 30, that may be considered an upgrade, is replacing it with a non-disco hp30.

non disco 30s are the way to go for sure. later model axle shafts are better also, but if you end up with a non disco axle complete, you will already have them. find a axle, fix everything on it while driving your truck, then take a half a day and install the "fresh" axle and sell that disco.

[Eagle]

non disco 30s are the way to go for sure. later model axle shafts are better also, but if you end up with a non disco axle complete, you will already have them. find a axle, fix everything on it while driving your truck, then take a half a day and install the "fresh" axle and sell that disco.

Why should he swap in a new axle, and why is a non-disco "the way to go for sure?

 

He's doing a 2" budget boost, and the truck is riding on stock tires. Sure, the non-disconnect axle (if he gets one from a late model XJ) will have bigger u-joints, but the shafts themselves will be exactly the same ... not bigger, not "better" in any way.

 

My '88 XJ has 287,000 miles on the original front axle, with disconnect. I've run 30" and 31" tires on it, and wheeled it all over the northeast fro Maine to Rhode Island to the Mohawk Trail (Old Florida Road) in MA when that was still open, and Arizona/New Mexico. No axle problems at all.

 

The only thing I would suggest is to do the disconnect modification to lock it permanently in the connected position. My only 4x4 failure was on city streets in a heavy snow storm, when I couldn't get up a hill because the vacuum fittings on the disconnect had deteriorated and it wouldn't slide over into the connected position.