I noticed the other day on craigslist a pair of dana axles (off a jeep I think). Are they a standard width (dumb question I know but I have never dealt with swapping out axles)? Just curious what to look for when judging if they would fit the disco. I was just curious. Sometimes fun to ask questions that don't deal with the problems my disco is having lol. I have to dream about possibilities for that distant day when I don't have to put all my time and energy into keeping her running.

 

It depends on which Danas they were, 30's, 40's, 60's, etc.

Given enough time, tools, money, you can change anything.

The diff and axles are plenty robust until you add big tires and ask it to do crazy stuff, even then, there's plenty of aftermarket bolt-ins that'll get the job done.

luck,greg

 

Even though they are not super strong, I like the full-float design of the rover front and rear axles. The biggest prob when swaping axles would be the rear would have to be offset also. Not many 4x4's run off-set rear axles.

 

Yeah I think dana only makes one factory offset axle and thats a dana 60...i could be wrong. the next biggest thing to look at is the width also. If there out of a jeep your better off sticking with what you have there a lot stronger every thing but the spider gears(nothing a locker wont fix)

One nice thing about jeep axles is you will have an almost infanite choise of wheels and backspacing options to make them work.

Another big thing is unless its a fairly new set is that they are drum brakes in the back and most are gonna be leaf spring also so you gotta worry about changing that stuff around

 

Interesting guys. I don't think I would ever be looking at swapping axles as I don't do any offroading hardcore enough to need too but it is interesting to me look at options as others often talk about it and that is one area I am completely ignorant. Someone want to give me a crash course in lockers and want they do?

 

They lock up and give equal power to both wheels. Detroits and such have centrifugal clutches that automatically lock up when you spin, and ARB air lockers use air to manually lock them. It is like locking your transfer case, only on each axle. If you have lockers on both axles and lock your t-case, you will have 100% power at each wheel. with everything unlocked, you can still get stuck spinning one wheel.

The reason for open diffs like we have is to save tires. If both wheels turn at equal speeds and you turn the truck, one of them is going to slip. I welded the diffs in a samauri and gave it to my grandpa to replace his 4 wheeler and he drove it in town for a long time. It would eat front tires on pavement.

Oh, and you have to swap diffs to get lockers, but you don't have to change axles, they are the long bars that transmit the power out to the hubs. They can break, so people put HD ones in to take the extra torque.

 

You wouldn't really gain much by swapping to Dana axles. By the time you have them custom built for the application you have more money tied up in the axles than you would spend to upgrade the diffs and axle shafts in the factory axles. Going with anything less than a Dana 60 you lose the advantages of full floating axles that your factory axles have so IMO it doesn't make sense.

 

This should help some.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc

FWIW, Salisbury axles that are/were available on Land Rovers were essentially DANA 44's

 

that video was great. What do the lockers do to the differential?
Essentially its like temporarily reverting your live axel back to a fixed one?

 

So now it all makes sense. If you lock your diff but have a slipping tire all the power is transferred to the slipping wheel. If you have lockers in addition then you lock the entire driveline and diffs and there is no transfer of power. You get all your power to all 4 wheels all the time. Is that right?

Thanks for the link antichrist. I remember seeing that one once before on here. That was a good refresher. Thanks guys.