Daughter's 95 YJ has 9" in rear with detroit, she now wants a detroit in the front, I read verying opinions on the YJs Dana 30 and putting in a detroit locker, I understand if I put one in my CJ and unlock the hubs, no locker problems, but what about the YJ with it's vacum, some one said the YJ always has one axle engaged or something like that, and I also read that something changed with the 95 YJs D 30, passenger side solid axle? So what's everyones opinion, I'd prefer to here from YJ owners with detroits in front, or just opinions on Dana 30 with detroit, I don't want to here about axle swaps, or Currie/Dynatrac options. Thanks.
The driver's side axle on the YJ is always "engaged", but with the transfer case in 2H there is no load on it. I don't know whether the axle can drive the pinion in this situation, but even if it does it won't cause problems. It will just cause the front drive shaft to turn. This isn't exactly what you want for highway commuting, but if your daughter's YJ is mainly for offroad (and why else would it have two lockers) then you should be fine.
That's my opinion, but you should probably talk to someone who has done this, before trying it yourself.
I have the detroit EZLocker in my D30 (in a CJ5) and I leave the hubs locked all of the time. I can't remember the last time the hubs were unlocked because anytime I unlock them, I turn around in less than 20 miles and lick them again anyway. I decided that unlocking the hubs was highly over rated.
When your YJ is in 2WD, the front will never know that a locker is installed.
It won't be a problem. My brother has a YJ with a locker in the front, and he has no problems at all.
I'm certain that you have used your CJ on at least one occasion with the front hubs locked and the tcase set to 2HI. I drive my CJ like this all of the time, I mean A-L-L of the time. The only "problem" is that it tends to be noisy at parking lot speeds when I pull into a parking spot. Depressing the clutch and rolling into the spot makes everything quiet ...
Ya I don't worry about unlocking hubs most times as mine is 99% for off road it is just to the off road and back on weekends, I only unlock if I am going to be driving around town. A freind here has a lockright in the front of his YJ and has no problems but I just thought I would ask anyway. At $409.00 for a D 30 detroit we can't go wrong for what it will do, I remeber when I first got my rear detroit it was like the difference between a 2 wheel drive and a 4 wheel drive, maybe even more so. Anyway I wont worry about her, will order them both on Monday.
The YJ passenger side, 2 piece inner axle is disconnected when in 2WD. With an open diff, this means the driver side axle rotates only the spider gears, not the ring, pinion, and drive shaft. With an automatic locker, you will still have zero steering feedback in 2WD, but the driver side axle will now turn the front shaft causing a slight increase in noise and a slight decrease in fuel economy.
Installing an automatic locker up front is not recommended if your daughter will rely on 4WD to navigate snow-covered roads. A gear based limited slip (Detroit Truetrac) or manual locker (ARB, Ox) is preferred.
A Detroit is stronger than a 'lunchbox' locker that fits inside the existing carrier, but note that ring & pinion need to be set up ($$$) when replacing the carrier and a 'master rebuild' kit to replace bearings and shims is recommended. Lunchbox lockers can be swapped in or out in a matter of minutes in the driveway.
With the addition of a locker comes increased risk of breaking the relatively weak 5-260x axle joints found on most pre-1996 Dana 30s. Such breakage most often occurs when the steering wheel is hard over and or the front end is spinning fast and suddenly finds traction. Later Dana
30s have stronger 5-297x joints. The vacuum disconnect housing is limiting when considering options to convert to one-piece axles with stronger joints. When wheeling with locked 260 axles, it is a good idea to carry junkyard spares and know how to change them.
Having a locked front end can make tight turns on the trail difficult. If you keep the YJ D30, consider installing a cable disconnect that replaces the vacuum mechanism. This will allow your daughter to disconnect the locked diff while in low range. Buy one for $200 or make your own:
If this operation is performed correctly, and the axle was set up correctly in the first place, the pinion depth and pinion bearing preload will not change. For this reason, it is possible to change the carrier without disturbing the pinion settings. In my experience, once you get the carrier bearing preload and gear lash set, you are good to go. Of course, a prudent mechanic would check the gear contact pattern before driving off.
You do need shims, and you might want new carrier bearings, unless you have the bearing puller to get the old ones off the old carrier, but the master rebuild kit is not necessary.
Yes, you are correct. Pinion does not need to be reset and one therefore does not need all the bits in a master kit. Still, installing a lunchbox locker is easier than replacing the carrier, and less expensive for a DIYer who is otherwise afraid to mess with side bearings & shims.
I'm not sure why you would want a Full Detroit in the front axle, the front does not carry the same loads as the rear, and the Detroit EZ Locker or the PowerTrax Lockright should do the duty fine. The affect on the front axle is the same in terms of the questions you asked earlier, but the cost is less and the reliability is on par.
From everything I read online the 95 YJ is the change year and has a one piece axle and 297 Ujoints, her ujoints are deffinately bigger then in my 81 CJ7. As for set up and install kit, all gears are new and there is a guy up the road that according to all in town is the gear install king, he charged her $50.00 to put the detroit in the rear, of coarse that was her taking the
3rd member over to him, but I think he does them for about $100.00 Canadian.. We get one 6" snowfall a year so that isn't a consideration, as for lockright she went through 3 of those in the rear end and finally went to detroit. I've talked to her about a cable dissconnect on the front to get rid of vacum.
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