Future upgrades

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
Like everyone else here, I have a couple of upgrades I want to do. Both will have to wait until I go back to work and have the funds though.

1st: I want to upgrade my front Dana 60 axles. I keep hearing about this brand and that brand. Also different warranties.
I want something that is as near unbreakable as can be had. Chrome Moly inner and outer. 35 spline outers and what?? type U-joint. Any info on types and who has the best price's will be helpful

2nd: I want to four link the rear of My Jeep. I am very tired of getting on an obstacle and it starts jumping up and down like a pogo stick. And I will be the first to admit, I know nothing about the geometry of running the links. Angle of uppers and lowers, distance between the two and so on. So, when I get to that part I will be bending a lot of ears I am sure. But any and all comments are welcome.
 
upnover said:
Like everyone else here, I have a couple of upgrades I want to do. Both will have to wait until I go back to work and have the funds though.
1st: I want to upgrade my front Dana 60 axles. I keep hearing about this brand and that brand. Also different warranties.
I want something that is as near unbreakable as can be had. Chrome Moly inner and outer. 35 spline outers and what?? type U-joint. Any info on types and who has the best price's will be helpful
Click to expand...
From my vast expertise as a web wheeler, the Long CV's are about as tough as it comes, and the lifetime warrentee isn't bad either, I think maybe 2-3 have broken in the year or so he's been selling them. The guy on pirate with the Titan on 46's that liked doing burnouts beat the shit out of them for 2 years before he broke one, and I think he was running an early version.
1850 for a full set. Free shipping.
http://longfieldsuperaxles.com/
upnover said:
2nd: I want to four link the rear of My Jeep. I am very tired of getting on an obstacle and it starts jumping up and down like a pogo stick. And I will be the first to admit, I know nothing about the geometry of running the links. Angle of uppers and lowers, distance between the two and so on. So, when I get to that part I will be bending a lot of ears I am sure. But any and all comments are welcome.
Click to expand...
Again, web wheeler here. Everything I've read says to make sure you watch your roll center. It has more effect on stablity in off-camber situations than anything. To low and you will be very tippy/lean alot, to high and your rig will stay level, but there will be no warning before you go over.
Also, get familar with this, The link calculator. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=204893
 
X2 On the longfields, they willl be my next upgrade on the red jeep. they are 300m on the shaft and 4340 chromolly at the bell. I have already done the 300m in the rear so as soon as tax time comes, the longs are gonna get ordered. they have come way down on price too.
 
my next upgrade is having enough money to actually go somewhere and wheel. that would be sweet.
 
Long's for sure. Some guy I know has them and loves them. He said the hardest thing is getting the boot over the CV. If you got the jack I'd go that route.

As for the 4-link, you're going to love it. I did mine a few years back and haven't thought much about it since. If I was you I'd run the 5/8"x 3/4" heims (if you run heims). They have more meat around the head than the 3/4"x3/4". If you don't have much knowledge of angles and what not I'd suggest a BTF package. The crossmember mount and tabs are already angled to accomodate the needed angles. I went this route and couldn't be happier. Just my $.02
 
Csudman...sorry im not trying to hi-jack this thread but i was curious as if you know what a "low roll center" is vs a "high roll center" would be in numbers? My roll center right now is 29" according to the calculator( this is my first time attempting to build a 4 link). I am just getting started on my 4 link, the reason i ask is because i want to make sure that number is right before i start building things. Thanks...and again sorry im not trying to hi jack the thread.
 
wheelNC94GC said:
Csudman...sorry im not trying to hi-jack this thread but i was curious as if you know what a "low roll center" is vs a "high roll center" would be in numbers? My roll center right now is 29" according to the calculator( this is my first time attempting to build a 4 link). I am just getting started on my 4 link, the reason i ask is because i want to make sure that number is right before i start building things. Thanks...and again sorry im not trying to hi jack the thread.
Click to expand...

I have never built a 4 link, but I've done a lot of studing on it in the preperation for my rig. Honest answer here. Take a screen shot of your link numbers, post them in newbe 4x4 on pirate. Post them all here.

29" could be great or it could be horrible, depends on your COG, vehicle height, tire size etc...

CJ
 
upnover said:
Like everyone else here, I have a couple of upgrades I want to do. Both will have to wait until I go back to work and have the funds though.
1st: I want to upgrade my front Dana 60 axles. I keep hearing about this brand and that brand. Also different warranties.
I want something that is as near unbreakable as can be had. Chrome Moly inner and outer. 35 spline outers and what?? type U-joint. Any info on types and who has the best price's will be helpful.
Click to expand...

I am no expert on this matter, but I do follow some threads on this subject on PBB.

For high end U-joints, it seems like the two big players are CTM or Longfield.

For shafts it seems like you have the following options:
Yukon: Several threads on PBB about bad lots of shafts and failure occuring, redesign due to failures, not fitting through the knuckle etc without grinding.

Alloy USA: Seems there was a thread on PBB not to long ago about a bad batch of shafts that folks got and were experiencing failures. Word was that they were stepping up though and correcting the problems.

Superior: Never heard any bad reports of shaft quality, fitment or failure. Only problem is actually getting the parts if the vendor you call doesn't have them on the shelf. There have been multiple threads on PBB about people waiting 3,6,9+ months for shafts and getting the run around on ETA.

http://longfieldsuperaxles.com/

http://www.ctmracing.com/
 
Chip athough I understand your "near unbreakable" want, it isn't worth it. Here's a combo I think you'd like ...4340 yukon shafts with 35 spline outters and spicer 806's (pretty sure that's the number), and a good set of drive flanges. I've battled with this unbreakable axle thing for awhile(by the way it's a rockwell with big shafts). I'm not a rockwell guy though, so for tons you have to think about the entire axle, not just the shafts as with a rockwell. If you buy the longfeild CV's and drive flanges, guess what you'll break? RING GEAR...expensive, pain in the ass to fix, and game over for the weekend. I've broken one front hp60 ring gear in a situation where my 4340 shafts and spicer joints didn't. That tells me if I buy the Longs and start beating on stuff because I'm no longer worried about axles, my ring gear is probably going explode. If I ran a lp60 in the front I know I'd be worried about it's strength in relation to the shafts. I've broken just the spicer joint doing a front dig with no damage to either shaft, a quick cheap fix. This has been my experince and the experience of just about eveyone who I ride with on a regular basis( you know where,how,and what we ride). We all run yukon stuff because it's cheap, warrentied, and easy to get. I've twisted the splines on one in the past 18months, that's it.
 
good info....I also have broken a front hpd60 5.13 ring and pinion and I have also broke many a 5-806x spicer u joints up front too.

I am still going to longs but I agree with the ring and pinion being the weak point now. Hopefully my cryoed 5.13 out of gregs buggy will hold up to it. we shall see.............
 
I say if you are worried about the ring and pinion go with bigwoodys idea, if not then go alloy usa shafts and longfield joints. alloy usa has a ten year no questions warrenty even with longfield joints, and the longfield joints have a lifetime warrenty. Just my opinion though. I also don't have experience with yukon so I don't know their quality or warrenty.
 
Thanks for all the input, Mr. Stone that makes a lot of sense. While my driving style is a lot different than yours, I am breaking stuff. Last break was a U-Joint. One of the Advance type that is greasable. Fubared both inner and outer shafts in the process. The outer showed signs of twisting splines already, so it was just a matter of time for that. This break was at a low gear high RPM with it turned deep to the right.
So yeah I think I would do good to have a weak outer link.
 
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