Is an EB dana 30 any good for SAS?

[jaysend5.0]

I found a potentially FREE dana 30 from an early bronco. It is complete from drum to drum, and has all steering linkage to the pitman arm.

I have been looking for an EB dana 44 with disks but this is temping.
I want to put it in a 5.0 powered 2000 ranger with ~35-37" tires.
Should I keep looking or would the d30 be a good start?

 

[dman726749]

keep looking...a 5.0 and that size tire will kill that d30 in no time

 

[svande8952]

I concur, drum brakes are no good either.

 

[Robb]

FREE dana 30 from an early bronco.

Yep, that is about the going rate for them these days.

 

[jaysend5.0]

Well good thing I didnt cart it home.
Thanks for the quick responses.
The search continues...

 

[RockRanger]

I will break trend and say yes you should have picked it up. Here are my reasons.

1. Its free. free stuff is good.
2. I believe warn makes kits to put the larger dana 44 ujoints in the dana 30s so you will now have the same size axle joint as a dana 44. maybe stock 44 shafts will fit right in Im not sure though.
3. Finding a dana 44 already with the diskbreaks will be hard as it was an option for only a few years. Here is a kit that i belive will make the dana 30 diskbrake and when you get a 44 you can move the parts over to it. http://www.tomsbroncoparts.net/cgi-bin/broncocat/2430.html
4. you can do the swap now instead of waiting till you finally find the 44 axle. this will allow you work out some of the bugs you may have with the setup quicker.
5. you can setup the front end with the 30 and make sure you are happy with that setup. Maybe you will have problems and relize even if you had a 44 it wont work.
6. It is free and even it you dont use it you can take it to the scrap yard and get a few bucks for it from them.

 

[ohe_boy]

Would it be a good idea to put a Dana 30 in a 94 Explorer?

 

[Con Seann3ry]

Would it be a good idea to put a Dana 30 in a 94 Explorer?

Yeah, as long as you're not going to go any bigger than 33s.

 

[CodePoet]

IF it's the HP d30 you'll be ok.,...it's about as strong as a lp d44. Keep looking though, i'm about to buy a hp d44 and it's not breaking the bank

cp

 

[ohe_boy]

I believe its out of a 66-67 EB. I've been looking for a 78-79 EB D44, but have no luck so far. I am offered the D30 but don't want to spend the money if its going to break. I just want to go back to wheeling.
I won't be going bigger than 33's anytime soon but I plan on putting lockers in them. Will it still hold my 33's?

 

[RockRanger]

you will be looking for along time for an EB44 out of a 78 or 79. They stopped making EB in 77.

 

[ohe_boy]

oop sorry about that! I didn't mean to put the EB in there!!!

will a D30 locked handle on the explorer with moderate wheeling? Actually not sure what type of wheeling level this is on, compared to the mainland, but my TTB D35's R&P broke!!

 

[RockRanger]

the dana 30 will be a differnnt width then the 44 that you are looking for. So if you swap axles later down the road you will have to rework the suspension. Depending on how you wheel will depend if it will brake or not. My girlfriend has a dana 30 front in her jeep cj7 on 33"s with a 100 plus to one crawl ratio and I feel it is more then adiquate for her. She doesnt drive with alot of throdle and would rather pull a winch line then try to bounce up something really hard. Me on the otherhand If I had the 260 ujoints in a similar built setup I would probably brake them as I would push it farther and harder. I believe they make a setup where you can put dana 44 shafts in a dana 30. your ring and pinion will be weaker but it all depends on how you wheel.

 

[ohe_boy]

hmmmmmm.... Well I have been pushing my X and bouncing it over obsticles which was the reason why my R&P broke in the first place.

 

[RockRanger]

low pinion in the front is weaker then a high pinion in the front. you may be better off finding a 44 if you want to thrash pretty hard on your truck

 

[ohe_boy]

even with a locker?

 

[james t]

Stay away from the EB D30....... its the worst 30 ever made. Free doesnt mean a thing since you will have to spend money on it just to get it driveable. They are drum brakes, low pinion, and have really weak shafts/ujoints. No one makes an upgraded shaft for them anymore either. You would have to swap discs on it just get your rig moving and that alone would be like paying someone $400 to load your dishwasher.

I know its free, but if you want to go with an EB front hold out for a 44. I gave one away a few months ago and see them all the time for $50-150 in drum brake version.