297/760 Joints

GubNi

GubNi

8 lug disc brakes?
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Jonesborough, TN
It's my understanding that TJ dana 30 and most dana 44 take the same ujoint. That's pretty interesting since most of the failures of my dana 44 was the ujoint. Anyway my real question is what is the difference in a 297 and 760 joint?

Also any reviews on the alloy usa chomoly joints? $47 shipped link
 
According to ECGS, the alloy usa joints are not the cat's pajamas. I got some chromos for my HP30 a while back, and they suggested to just get the 760x because of the problems people had with the alloy usa joints. I do remember him saying though that it could have been the owners neglect that led to premature failure. Also - those alloy usa joints are not recommended for street driving, whereas the spicers are. The spicer 760x has full circle clips, also. If you were really gung-ho about it, Nitro makes a 300M joint for $155... should be the same strength as a CTM - lifetime warranty - and it will fit a D30.
 
Shawn,

Yes D30 and D44 are the same joint. That is why I have said many times going to a D44 isn't a big strength benefit. Yes there are some benefits. I have the yukon joint that has been through a couple broken shafts. It has done well. The Nitro's, are decent from what I hear and the CTM's and Longfields are the hight dollar ones.

Oh yeah and the difference between the 297 and 760 I believe is trunion diameter, but I'm not positive.
 
hadfield4wd said:
Oh yeah and the difference between the 297 and 760 I believe is trunion diameter, but I'm not positive.
Click to expand...

The trunion is a hair bigger, but the cross of the u-joint is noticeably fatter on the 760.

This is a pissing match as usual on pirate, but a good read: http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=931621

All things considered, I have a truss for my HP30 to keep carrier flex down. It runs from the pumpkin to the passenger side spring perch. I think that it is on par with strength of a low pinion D44... maybe more with the chromos, minus the size of the balljoints.

Edit: I just read that you have a low pinion TJ 30. They're still pretty strong, but slightly less strong than the HP30 if you want to get closer to D44 strength.
 
Most all dana 30's befor '95 had smaller ujoints (spicer 5-260x), even old dana 44 used this joint (Some Early Bronco 44's and 44's from the 60's). The 44 joint was made larger (spicer 5-297x) and this stayed that way for years until '95-'96 or so when the TJ's and XJ's w/ dana 30's started having Dana 44 sized joints (5-297x). When Jeep developed the Rubicon model it was shown that the normal greasable 5-297x joint would not handle the increased torque multiplication so they developed the forged version with solid trunions which became the 5-760x. My experence with the 5-760x is that it is a good bit stronger than regular parts store 44 joints.
The strength difference now is the axle shaft diameter/spline count on a dana 30 verses a dana 44.
 
I am putting the spicer 760x under my 97 Dodge Ram w/ Dana 44s this weekend. Spoke with the guy at the 4x4 shop and they are supposed to be a bit stronger. They sure look thicker than the stock ones. I am going to try it for shits and giggles. Broke the passenger axle shaft stock u-joint last time wheeling. I will let you know how it goes. I run 35s on my truck.
 
Why the New Part?
We spoke with DaimlerChrysler's Development Engineer of Jeep TJ vehicle development, David Yegge. Yegge was one of those ultra-cool engineers that dreamt up the Rubicon Wrangler. He told us that the Jeep engineers realized that given the torquey 4.0L six, 4.10 gears, 4:1 transfer case low range, and front locker in the new Rubicon, they shouldn't be using the same front U-joint that's used in the front of Malibu Stacey's four-cylinder Wrangler's Dana 30. Spicer was asked to build a stronger U-joint, and the 5-760X is it.

Is It Better?
The cross of the 760 is cold-forged, while the 297 is hot-forged. The cold forging makes for a denser product. Yegge told us that under cyclical bench testing, the new 5-760X outlasted its 5-297X predecessor by 10 times. While this doesn't mean that the new U-joint is 10 times stronger, it does mean it's 10 times more durable. We had High Angle Driveline send us a few of the new joints for some real-world testing. Using stock Spicer shafts, we ran the new 5-760X in the short side of a Dana 44 and the old 5-297X in the long side. What we found was that in three different circumstances, when the axleshaft failed the new 760 joints survived and were able to be reused, while the 297s failed at the trunion.

Is It the Ultimate?
While the 760s are the deal of the century at about $20 a pop, they're still not as strong as the better aftermarket U-joints on the market such as those offered by CTM and the Ox joints from Drivetrain Direct. Would we put off getting CTM or Ox U-joints indefinitely? Probably not. Would we rush right out and replace our 297s with 760s? You bet.

This is what I found online at 4x4 magazine.
 
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