locking a d30

I know guys who've run a locked D30 with 35s and little to no problems. It's all in how you wheel. Some people break shafts unlocked on 33s. I'm pretty sure at least one guy on here has wheeled with a locked D30 on 37s. Ujoints will be your biggest problem, if you can do the upgrade to TJ shafts and run the 760x joints you'll have better luck.

FWIW, D30 shafts are easy to change (at least for one-piece shafts) so just carry a couple spares and keep the bolts you need to remove lubed with anti-sieze. With some practice you can easily swap a shaft on the trail in under 20 minutes, including the time to jack it up. That's going to be my solution. I'm running 35s now and will be installing a locked HP30 "soon".

What rear axle do you have? If you still have a D35, that'll break long before the D30 does. Swap that out with a 8.8 or D44 (guessing 8.8s should be easy to find in junkyards now thanks to C4C). Plus, both of those axles will have stronger gears.

Jerry summed it up well.
There are several including me that have or are running 37's on a D30. Is it smart? Not necessarily but if you know how to drive it correctly, you'll be ok.

TIPS:
-Don't do things like let the tires bounce while holding the throttle.
-Keep the tires straight when under a heavy load. Sharp turns and heavy throttle are hard on u-joints.
-Avoid doing a recovery by pulling in reverse (except with a winch).
-Run alloy shafts and good u-joints.
-ALWAYS have spare shafts ready in your Jeep and know how to change them quickly.

Although it's on my list to switch out, my poor lil' HP30 has been beat hard but always gotten me home. I say go for it and just use your head off road. Good luck.

Quote from GSE Nick

yeah think im going for it. i found a super good deal on a Detroit. altho not what type i want. but hard to pass up on the price. how are they on the beach and snow? etc. and yeah i have stock d35, but i have an 8.8 im redoing in my garage

Having the front locked on the beach is great.

Snow and ice will be a different story as having both front wheels spinning means it will affect your steering ability.

I've got an Aussie in the front with a D30. No problems so far (knock on wood). I recently swapped ujoints for the newer 760's but that was more of a proactive measure since I was still running the original 10 year old ones.

Quote from KnoxRents

Jerry summed it up well.
There are several including me that have or are running 37's on a D30. Is it smart? Not necessarily but if you know how to drive it correctly, you'll be ok.

TIPS:
-Don't do things like let the tires bounce while holding the throttle.
-Keep the tires straight when under a heavy load. Sharp turns and heavy throttle are hard on u-joints.
-Avoid doing a recovery by pulling in reverse (except with a winch).
-Run alloy shafts and good u-joints.
-ALWAYS have spare shafts ready in your Jeep and know how to change them quickly.

Although it's on my list to switch out, my poor lil' HP30 has been beat hard but always gotten me home. I say go for it and just use your head off road. Good luck.

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Hah! That's funny!

x2 on 37's btw....I say go for it, just use your head instead of your right foot.

He's right about the reverse pulls, Zeke blew out a ujoint doing a fairly gentle reverse pull. 35s on a HP30 and I believe 760 joints. So the front is only for being recovered or winching. Anything else I use the rear hitch and full throttle.

Oh I know its true!! Believe me! I'll let Bill elaborate!

that pic looks familiar, that was a chromolly shaft by the way, and for the record, I think it was broken before I could take my foot of the clutch....it snapped very easy....only shaft i have ever broken on that jeep though.

Quote from vbquick1

Oh I know its true!! Believe me! I'll let Bill elaborate!

Actually, I still feel guilty about that.

SLOPAR spotted me into an abyss and I was dumb enough to listen. Sean was nice enough to try and pull me out and the above axle shaft was the casualty. My Jeep was lower than the tow point on his Jeep so as he pulled it gave the front tires a crazy amount of traction. Even if he wasn't locked, the combo of that stress and 37's was going to snap something.

Ahh no big deal, didn't effect the day....if I remember right I owe you one for the Jeff Gordon style ride back to the office for a pitman arm. Live and learn....I won't do that again.

Quote from KnoxRents

SLOPAR spotted me into an abyss and I was dumb enough to listen.

It always comes back to me on that one huh? As far as locking a Dana 30, as others have stated just use common sense with the go pedal and you will be fine. I converted to alloy one piece shafts with an aussie locker in my YJ on 33s and rocked that for 3-4 HARD seasons without issue.

While detroits are nice and so on, I would just look at either and Aussie or a Lock-right. No need to spend big bucks on the locker and having to reset the gears and all. The aussie and lock-right are just pop em in in place of the spider gears and you are good to go.

Quote from KnoxRents

SLOPAR spotted me into an abyss and I was dumb enough to listen. Sean was nice enough to try and pull me out and the above axle shaft was the casualty. My Jeep was lower than the tow point on his Jeep so as he pulled it gave the front tires a crazy amount of traction. Even if he wasn't locked, the combo of that stress and 37's was going to snap something.

thanks for the explanation on that. i've done recoveries from front plenty of times *cough*Ian*cough* and i've never had problems, so i was wondering...

I ran a lockrite with 35s and 37s and never had any issues with it. I even exploded a stock shaft once and it never damaged the locker. As far as I know Solomi is still running my old front d30 and its still holding up.

Quote from BBD

weld the spiders up

not in the front if you dont have selectable hubs!

And x2 or whatever it is now on a lockright. I have installed many and they work great. I exploded a whole D30 a couple years back but still use the same lockright from that diff in my Jeep.