42 NOVEMBER 20194-WHEEL & OFF-ROAD 4WHEELOFFROAD.COM
COVER SECTION: GEARS, LOCKERS & AXLE BUILDS
WHAT
BREAKS
AXLES
NOT ALL AXLES ARE
CREATED EQUAL
BY Harry Wagner [email protected]
PHOTOGRAPHY HARRY WAGNERO
NE OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS WE GET IS
“What’s the biggest tire I can run on my Dana 44 front
axle?” At the risk of being a wet blanket, our answer
is “It depends.”
Beyond tire size, factors such as gearing, horse-
power, vehicle weight, and intended use have a huge
bearing on whether your axle will survive or not. Addi-
tionally, an “axle” is made up of several component s that var y in
strength. Those 35-spline chromoly axleshafts won’t do you much
good if the pinion gear break s before it can transfer power to the
shafts. As a rule, bigger is better when it comes to everything from
the ring-and-pinion to the axletubes to the wheel bolt pattern.
Note, though, that you lose ground clearance as you add a larger
ring gear, so you might need to run bigger tires to regain ground
clearance, and that can negate some of the strength gains you get
from bigger axles.
The lighter your vehicle is and the less horsepower it has, the
more likely a smaller axle will live under your vehicle. Gearing is
more complicated, as too tall an overall gearing means you must
use momentum and can shock load parts, but lower gearing from
the transmission and transfer case puts more torque into the