CloakedJK
Jeep Owner
After quite a bit of researching what axle to put in the front of my 2015 JKU Sport to get rid of the slightly tweaked Dana 30 I was running. I decided with the budget I had and the coming across a complete Dana 44 from a Rubicon with the internals that that was the route I would take. Once I got the axle it was disassembled down to a bare housing and I used a wire wheel to take it down to bare metal. I went with the Artec Truss System with the raised track bar mount. The welding of the truss took sometime, but figured it was better to take the time and weld it slowly then to risk bowing the axle tubes by getting them too hot. While doing the truss I decided to do the Duroflex Weld On Axle Bushing Kit, which went on without issue. Once the truss and bushing kit were installed the housing got a fresh rattle can paint job and we installed the new 4.88 gears and the E-Locker into the housing. For now it will run the factory axle shafts, until the budget allows for 35 spline RCVs and a new ARB locker for the front. Since I was going to go Hi-Steer anyways, I went ahead and upgraded to the Reid Knuckles, which raised the tie rod up out of the way more as well. The install went without issue and the only real challenge was getting enough droop out of the front end to allow the 4.5" Dual Rate coils to be able to come out, having just installed the 4 Link long arms made this task even more interesting. The axle has now been in the Jeep for around 3 months and is working great! A couple trips through the Rubicon now and not an issue yet. (Knock on Wood). I hope to add more photos once i find them, but here is the finished product!