Bro of 06 H3 axle build

[06 H3]

I picked up Nicks JK axle today...I think some thought it was mine when I posted it up on facebook but I dont have a D44 front axle...yet. lol This is my first real axle build and Im excited! It will be a bit slow with school and work going on and I am going to finish the last few things on the spring over first but it got shipped here last week so it was time to pick it up and take an initial look at what I have to do and some challenges we may face.

The goal is to run 38's. The JK he has isnt a rubicon so he has the Dana 30. Id say 35s are in the safe zone and 37s are pushing it. I would say the 30 is somewhat like our front diffs...you may run into issues with 37s. Some believe the 30 is more stout then the 44 in the JK because some have cracked and bent the axle tubes on the 44 where that hasnt been seen as much in the 30. Either way you are getting a bigger ring gear and an overall bigger axle. At first I was concerned with the idea of running 38s on a 44 but I spoke with a guy at the gatekeeper on john bull. He has a similar setup to my brother, He had the rubicon though. 4.5in AEV lift (exact lift my brother is running) plus he had cut fenders and a 1in coil spacer to run 39s. He was on built 44s...The 60s are so damn expensive. While you can get a complete bolt in sensor happy dana 60 it will run you over 5k. FORGET THAT! So he searched for a guy upgrading to 60s to buy his used 44. He bought this 44 used from a guy who had it as a second axle and was going to beef it up. He had already stripped it of everything except the upper control arm mount. He was going to build a 44 then decided to go with a dynatrac because he wants to run bigger stuff. So he included heavy duty shock mounts and LCA mounts, a TNT axle truss and EVO sleeves. He already drilled holes into the axle, now it just needs plug welds. This would be easy but AEV uses their own brackets which complicates stuff. AEV works hard to keep a nice ride for the JK. It rides nicer then it did stock. Stock ride handling SUCKED! So now I am trying to see what I can do with AEVs brackets and this truss as I want everything to keep the same geometry it has now and continue to ride nice. I am sure JK guys have had this issue and solved it so I am gonna search over there but I wanna share my first axle build.

Everything was included minus axle shafts. So the plan is chromoly shafts, swap out the 4.10s for 5.13s then with the sleeve, truss and we will get some C2 gussets from evo and have a built to the max 44 and run 38s.

Here is two videos of the beginning of the build.

[video=youtube;pOIWv4E2jp8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOIWv4E2jp8&feature=channel&list=UL[/video]

[video=youtube;uBMYp4T15ZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBMYp4T15ZY&feature=channel&list=UL[/video]

 

[Scarsman]

Awesome! Sounds like a fun project. Can't wait to see it installed.

 

[mudbug]

Can't wait to see the build.:corn:

 

[06 H3]

I havent been updating it but so far I have cut off the UCA mount that needs to be removed for the truss and plug welded the entire short tube and the lower holes of the long side tube. I did wait and space out the welds to not overheat and cause warpage. Over the weekend I hope to start tacking in the truss. After that I will start installing the 5.13 gears.

After the 5.13s I will add in C gussets to prevent the inner C's from bending, then my brother needs to buy some shafts and I will install them. The housing should be very stout. The main problem with these are bending, all this will prevent that. The only failures I can imagine here is an axle shaft or a ring gear. I doubt either will happen though, with some upgraded shafts and a good set of gears there shouldnt be issues. As much as we want to go with 5.38s I feel its better to stick with 5.13s.

 

[4speedfunk]

So what transfer case are you using?...(realizing that the JK has the diff on the wrong side for use in the H3).

 

[06 H3]

The stock t case...this isn't for the H3. This is for the JK. I decided to put a thread here because I know we have some JK guys on here. A good amount of JKers think spending 5000+ on dana 60s is necessary but I think with some common sense and a built 44 you could run 38s successfully. I did teach him a lot of what I learned from the so cal guys so seeing he wheels a solid axle rig like an ifs rig and is gentle he shouldn't have issues

 

[4speedfunk]

Understood...my bad. I saw "06H3" and just assumed it was for your rig.

BTW...screw the $5000 aftermarket axle! You can totally build your own for much less. Go for it.

 

[06 H3]

And that's the plan :Hans:

I plan doing something with my front end just not sure what yet. I want 37s bad but not with 4.56 gears.

I eventually become a part of the bebe, recon and 4 speed group but I'm not there yet

 

[4speedfunk]

I got big news for you, when that time comes.

 

[06 H3]

What if I wanna know the news now? Lol

 

[06 H3]

Got some more work done today!

Finished all the plug welds, then lined up the truss. The C's had to be at 5 degrees downward and the truss had to be at zero degrees. Once I used the angle finder I tacked it in and started to weld. This takes a while because of all the downtime. There is so much surface area to weld you dont want to warp the axle housing so you weld one section at a time and let it cool then do the other end let it cool and work your way through each spot. During the down time I decided to help my brother with his electrical mess. With a 40in LED light bar, a 10in LED light bar, two dually D2's, and 2 KC lights along with a locker on the way the electrical mess had to be cleaned up. So here is the progress...

LED light switches

KC switch, future locker switch and 2 more switches open for future use.

Squeaky hanging out in the street with zero attention :whaa: She needs some attention but my brother has been haunting me to help him get his **** done. Once the axle is done I am taking a break and turning my attention over to squeaky for some fab work, TLC, and some new parts.

The Truss isnt finished but I hope to finish it this weekend. Our local 4 wheel parts has usually been a pain to deal with but this time they were super helpful. My brother purchase 4.88 gears for his D30 and D44 about 9 months ago. He never installed them and were still in the box, he called em up and let him do a direct exchange for a 5.13 gears D44 front and D44 Rear. After the gears are done it will be time to weld on the lower control arm mounts and install the axle shafts. Then its time to ditch the 35s and jump up to 38s!

 

[Expendable]

Sweet stuff! lookin good! I love fabricating!

 

[4speedfunk]

What if I wanna know the news now?

Cat...Bag...SAS kit...coming soon.

 

[Schwarttzy]

Just putting my 2 cents out there, I think putting sleeves in the axle tubes and a weld on brace from T&T is excessive. People run 35's all day on factory Dana 44's, and with the EVO Mfg 44 Magnum Sealed JK/TJ Axle Sleeves and EVO Mfg C2 Axle Gussets you should easily be able to run 38's, as long as you guys aren't jumping it.

If I have to guess your weakest link will be the axle shafts, then the u-joint, and finally the gears because 5.13 is a hella high gear ratio in that axle. SO I would get some super axle shafts from RCV Performance and the just carry the tools to replace a u-bolt on the front drive shaft and I'm assuming that you replaced the factory crap drive shaft, but if you haven't... the 38's will.

 

[06 H3]

The driveshaft has already been upgraded when we did the lift. The whole point is to be excessive lol. The 44 on a JK is known to bending so we wanna insure that it won't happen. The gears aren't really a concern either. Guys run 40x15.5 in tires on super low backspaced rims and 5.38s on really tough trails and they will break em but after extreme abuse. So the gears should be fine. No 3.5in backspacing no 40s and 5.38s I'm not worried. The shafts worry me seeing that he isn't going with rcvs. There too expensive so hopefully he upgrades later, for now he's going with chromolys

 

[Schwarttzy]

for now he's going with chromolys

I from my experience just save the money and have some junkyard specials with you, it's what I did and it worked great. Of course I had a ZJ and could grab XJ shafts at any junkyard for cheap. Then once you got the cash get the RCVs.

Gearing and the backspacing shouldn't have an affect on each other.

 

[06 H3]

Gearing and backspace do have an affect IMO. Backspacing is putting more leverage on the vehicles components and a 3.73 gear is less susceptible to breaking then a 5.13 due to tooth count

Can anyone correct me if I'm wrong?

 

[Schwarttzy]

It should only put more leverage on the axle housing, the hub, and ball-joints but shouldn't bother the gears in side.

 

[06 H3]

The gears wouldn't be bothered one but the bigger tires do put stress on components and that's why we are preventing the bending of the tubes and C's first. When the balljoints are out he can upgrade the balljoints. Not sure about the hubs. Running 38s on this axle shouldn't be an issue...

 

[cgalpha08]

We just dont want this to happen lol

 

[06 H3]

LOL!!! I sent that to my brother the other day!

 

[06 H3]

Truss is in. Pulled off the diff cover and starting the 5.13 gear install. Not sure if I am going to do the whole install myself or not. My buddy with the backlash gauge moved to Thousand Oaks (about 45min from me) and is starting up his own shop so hes been busy. If I dont do the whole gear install myself to keep costs lower for my brother I will pull the carrier out and put the new ring gear on and then let hooper's rear ends do the pinion and finish the rest of the install with the shims and backlash gauge. For the rear axle I will probably do the install at my buddys shop on the weekend when hes closed and then pull the front driveshaft so we dont screw up the T case and then install the new front axle. We are making progress!

 

[4speedfunk]

Would you happen to know if they sell that track-bar bracket separately? I fabbed up something very similar for my H3 SAS, and it sure would've been nice to find such a critter.

 

[06 H3]

I think they do...ill look it up for you. I know that was an added option to the truss and they just weld it on before shipping it out if that's an option you want. You can probably buy just that piece

 

[06 H3]

bumping it! So the axle just sat for a while in the garage as my brother and I were finishing up the semester. Now we are on break and want to get this thing under the heep before school starts back up in late january/early february.

So with that said, my buddy with the backlash gauge isnt local anymore and id have quite the drive to get it. The backlash gauge is over 500 bucks and I dont have that money. I went down to a shop called blackstone jeep shop which is less then 10 minutes from me to check out what he would price it at for him to just install the gears. $150. Sweet! So we threw it on the rack and went down there.

I wasnt sure what he would say when I drove up in a muddy H3 but he was totally cool! He actually used to have an H3 and an H2 but now has a jeep commander as a daily driver and a sweet YJ on 37s for wheeling. He seemed happy to see that I wheel it. :thumbs:

Nick picked up some stock axleshafts for cheap as hes staying on 35s for a while. They arent worn enough and he doesnt have the money yet. Later he will buy upgraded shafts and the keep those as spares.

Not sure what he will do on an Hummer but if all goes well he will be my gear guy until I buy a backlash gauge.

After we get it back it will be time to burn in the shock mounts, LCA mounts, C gussets, install the axle shafts and seals, hook up the locker, new ball joints and install the bushings into the UCA mounts then pull the out the D30 switch over the knuckles and hubs and then test it all out. Hes stoked to finally be getting a locker. I have wheeled for over 2 years without one and would never go back, they make a world of difference.