I agree Robert, there are better ways to engineer an off road vehicle, but I'm not sure how different I'd make it from the Rubicon if I wanted to sell it to a mass market, with plenty of those people interested in bragging rights instead of what works on the trail.
The lift thing being a "have to" change based on crappy clearance of the diffs though? Don't you have to anyway, regardless of what drive train you have? If you swapped axles in your Jeep, to something with more clearance, could you do the Hammers a lot easier on 33" tires? Would you not have wanted 35" tires? Aren't there plenty of other things besides hitting the diffs? Why do people want the D44 instead of the D35 if you can put shafts that are stronger than stock D44 shafts in it and have better clearance with the D35? It's the same way of handling the D30 and swapping in alloy shafts, isn't it? Also, if you're willing to put in alloy shafts and indestructable u-joints anyway (since some people are going that route here) why not do that with the D44 and then what becomes the weakest link? Is it the r&p of both the D30 and D44, or is it something else? And the two D30 and two D44 ring gears breaking...doesn't the rear axle usually do more of the work off road? Had the front axles been D44s, maybe those two front axle ring gears wouldn't have broken.
There is always a weakest link in a stock vehicle. That's why we mod what we buy. The stock suspension being a weak link is something that would have to go anyway, so I don't care if it would hold up to my use. Obviously a stock D30 won't hold up to most people's use, or the Warn kit wouldn't be so popular. Some people that buy the Rubicon will buy it for bragging rights, not for wheeling. Then they'll sell it when there is something "better", or they're bored.
I was told specifically by the product engineer that broke more than one D30 the reason behind the Rubicon having a D44. They broke D30s (like I said in the beginning I don't know specifically what parts) in testing because it was a weak link, so they asked Jeep to upgrade the front axle to a D44 in hopes to keep warranty claims to a minimum. I've known the guy for quite a while and believe him. Doesn't mean anyone else has to though. No one believed me when I started talking about what became the Rubicon a year or two either
I'm still hoping they come out with a "Rockcrawler Edition" with a high clearance D30/D35 combo, no lift needed, just alloy shafts front and rear!
Edit: BTW, I should say I have nothing invested in what they use, and therefore don't see this as an argument as to what is right and wrong between any of us, just a friendly exchange. I'll probably end up with D44s front (RC) and rear (standard cut) with 33-spline shafts...so what, right?
Áron O'Proinntigh is ainm do
[This message was edited by Ace! on February 22, 2002 at 09:48 AM.]