4 Wheel & Off Road – October 2019

24 OCTOBER 20194-WHEEL & OFF-ROAD 4WHEELOFFROAD.COM

COVER SECTION: JUNKYARD SPOTTERS' GUIDES

O

F ALL THE POSSIBLE COMPONENTS THAT CAN BE PULLED

out of a junkyard and used to make major upgrades to your 4x4,

axles are arguably the best. They are easy to inspect and easy to

pull, and best of all they’re usually pretty easy to identify.

Most 4x4s come with adequate axles for a stock application,

but once you throw bigger tires and a locker into the equation,

the stock axles just won’t cut it with many platforms. There

are all kinds of possibilities for upping axle beef, from using^3 ⁄ 4 - and 1-ton

axles in^1 ⁄ 2 -ton trucks to cross-pollinating better designed axles from a dif-

ferent make or model into your own 4x4. Junkyards usually sell complete

axle assemblies cheap compared to other components, and if you’re lucky

enough to find one in good shape with the ratio you want, the cost of an

upgrade often isn’t much beyond the price of the axle itself.

Below you will find the specifics on identifying popular axle donors, and

in a few cases how to identify axles that you’ll want to steer clear of, when

searching for axle upgrades for your 4x4 project.

JUNKYARD

AXLE

SPOTTER’S

GUI DE

GEMS FOR MORE

AXLE BEEF

BY Trenton McGee

[email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHY TRENTON MCGEE

AND VERNE SIMONS

DANA

DANA 30

Identification: Roughly square-shaped

differential cover with rounded corners

and 10 bolts, 9 inches wide.

Specs: 71 ⁄ 4 -inch ring gear, 27-spline

axles, 2.73-5.13 gear ratios, standard or

reverse rotation.

Found In: Front of various Jeep and

International applications, plus various

IFS versions.

The Good: The Dana 30 is stronger than

it really has a right to be considering the

light-duty construction and lightweight

specifications. Most Dana 30s can handle

a moderate tire size increase and a locker

with judicious driving, and numerous

upgrades are available, including a

30-spline upgrade for several applications.

The Bad: At the end of the day the Dana

30 is a lightweight axle and doesn’t last long

with a heavy foot and hard use. Later-model

housings are prone to bending with hard use.

Notes: Widely used from the 1950s

through 2006, the Dana 30 had various itera-

tions, both driver- and passenger-side drop,

and standard as well as reverse rotation.

DANA 30

DANA 35

Identification: Oval-shaped cover with

10 bolts, 10^5 ⁄ 8 inches wide, rubber fill plug.

Found In: Rear of 1987-2006 Wranglers,

1984-2001 Cherokees, and 1993-2004

Grand Cherokees.

Specs: 7.62-inch ring gear, 2.73-4.88

gear ratios available, semifloating.

DANA 35