A testament to the Dana 44 reliability

[AmosMoses]

Just watched a video last night from Ozark overland adventure on YouTube about the owners, Matt I believe is his name, blue jtr. He goes over alot of his mods and the vehicle history and issues he has had. Hes had like 4 sets of 37" tires on his very heavy jtr and has not done any major upgrades to his drivetrain other than axle shafts. This guy has put over 100k miles on his jtr and wheeled the crap out of it with very minor issues.

I was just impressed, especially seeing where all he wheels and what the truck has been through. Even more impressed he's been running 37's this long with no failures.

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[Bandit’s Lair]

I believe he’s on 38’s now and has done a regear if I’m not mistaken. Be that as it may, still speaks to the reliability of the equipment when used properly. I watch that channel a lot as well. Way better than any of the reality tv bs or whatever is on my regular programming.

 

[AmosMoses]

I believe he’s on 38’s now and has done a regear if I’m not mistaken. Be that as it may, still speaks to the reliability of the equipment when used properly. I watch that channel a lot as well. Way better than any of the reality tv bs or whatever is on my regular programming.

Yea, and hes running the latest Patagonia tires with 5.13 gears I believe. Very good channel.

 

[SeaSharp]

I watch that channel as well. Love the frenchies! His new Ross Monster is next freaking level.

 

[StarsMojave]

On the flip side, Trail Traveler had his new Rubicon X on the trail and went through a low area and broke his front axle at the FAD which is not really a functioning device from what I understand.

 

[tysongladiator]

Maybe I should do a video on mine. I have 197k on mine. I wheel it pretty hard. I also travel, camp, tow, and haul with it. I'm on my third set of 37s as well. Actually been on 37s for the last 127k miles. I've had wheeling damage as well. I frequently tow a 24ft trailer with my tractor too.

Now... ya got me thinking about making a video! I'm backwoods, weird and not that exciting, but I think I can make it work.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Maybe I should do a video on mine. I have 197k on mine. I wheel it pretty hard. I also travel, camp, tow, and haul with it. I'm on my third set of 37s as well. Actually been on 37s for the last 127k miles. I've had wheeling damage as well. I frequently tow a 24ft trailer with my tractor too.

Now... ya got me thinking about making a video! I'm backwoods, weird and not that exciting, but I think I can make it work.

You make it, I'll watch it. I don't think you are weird or unexciting - you speak to the common person in ways anyone can understand. Go for it.

 

[imallcrawl]

To be quite honest, I don't watch any YouTubers that are cringey. The second I hear "What is going on guys!..." or have pink or purple hair, I click off the video . When I had my JKU I did subscribe to AutoEdits, he was very good at tutorials and responding to my questions.

Regarding the Dana 44s yeah they're pretty awesome and can handle quite a bit. I've seen people on D30's with 37s doing some light wheeling as well:


...and same guy upgrading to 38s:


I guess it all depends on the driver too, if you wheel hard enough even a well built D60 will break:

 

[tysongladiator]

You make it, I'll watch it. I don't think you are weird or unexciting - you speak to the common person in ways anyone can understand. Go for it.

Don't tempt me with a good time. Lol. But I appreciate that my friend. If only one person watches it, I'm ok with that.

And I guess you do, kinda, have a point. I guess it's easier to speak to the common person because I am a common person. Sometimes I pretend as if I'm taking to myself. And sometimes I am talking to myself.

Maybe this weekend I'll do a 6yr, 197k mile review. We'll see.

 

[Idlethunder]

Don't tempt me with a good time. Lol. But I appreciate that my friend. If only one person watches it, I'm ok with that.

And I guess you do, kinda, have a point. I guess it's easier to speak to the common person because I am a common person. Sometimes I pretend as if I'm taking to myself. And sometimes I am taking to myself.

Maybe this weekend I'll do a 6yr, 197k mile review. We'll see.

I‘d love to see you do a 6 year review. You helped me with a sector shaft brace install a couple years ago and your videos are informative and easy to follow. If you make one, please let me know!

 

[professorkx]

On the flip side, Trail Traveler had his new Rubicon X on the trail and went through a low area and broke his front axle at the FAD which is not really a functioning device from what I understand.

I’ve wheeled with Trail Traveler in Moab, nice folks. Now that I’m retired, I need to reconnect and do some wheeling with him.

I watched the video and the axle didn’t take a hard enough hit to break…and yet it did. No excuse for such poor engineering.

on my 2024 Rubicon, it has the factory elimination plate. Not sure why, but not sad that the disconnect wasn’t installed during the factory build.

 

[professorkx]

I've seen people on D30's with 37s doing some light wheeling as well:

after I installed a Hemi and auto in my 40 year old son’s 2007, he installed 37 inch tires, but only had the 30 up front with 5.13 gears (if I remember right). He broke the ring and pinion 2 times on the dirt road to my place during the snow. He’s pretty easy on the throttle, so I surmised that the big pot holes caused the damage when a front wheel hit one, as it’s pretty common to see passenger type rigs along the side of the road with one wheel pointing at a weird angle after hitting a big hole.

good thing his Dad can setup gears, but he sold it and bout his Gladiator before we installed Dana 60’s. he has 5.38 gears in his gladiator for better towing.

 

[AstroZombie]

My cousin have an XJ he made into a mudder to do Poker runs in upstate NY. I think in the end he had 35's on the stock drivetrain. sadly that was all that survived before he had to set it to the crusher. The NY rust just got to the body. They did transplant a K5 blazer body onto it for shitsngiggle. He now wheels a TJ X on 33's and tracloc lockers (i think) has and no issues at all even with teh C-clip 35.

 

[tysongladiator]

My cousin have an XJ he made into a mudder to do Poker runs in upstate NY. I think in the end he had 35's on the stock drivetrain. sadly that was all that survived before he had to set it to the crusher. The NY rust just got to the body. They did transplant a K5 blazer body onto it for shitsngiggle. He now wheels a TJ X on 33's and tracloc lockers (i think) has and no issues at all even with teh C-clip 35.

I've seen the results of the NY rust. Almost bought a Comanche once that had lived most of it's life in NY. Seemed like a good deal until someone told me to look underneath. I was in shock.

 

[tysongladiator]

I‘d love to see you do a 6 year review. You helped me with a sector shaft brace install a couple years ago and your videos are informative and easy to follow. If you make one, please let me know!

Oh wow! Glad I was able to help. See.... Ya'll are the reason why I love this forum.

Btw, I still have the MC sector shaft brace installed and it's still working great.

I think I might have to make it happen. 6yrs is a long time and a lot of changes with many bumps and bruises along the way. I'll have to organize a little for that video. Lol

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