Colorado adventures

These are the diffs I have, I see that they’re Dana but I don’t know which ones...



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JandDGreens

Adventurer
Since you are as new to the world of 4 wheeling as I was 5 years ago a lot of what we are trying to convay on these post are going to be way over your head right now. You also seem to be in the same situation I found myself in when I purchased my Cherokee, the previous owner did a lot of work on mine that gave it the ground clearance and look of being able to tackle the trails. But nothing to the axles, steering and cooling system to compensate for adding the lift and larger tires. The gearing and steering up grades are not cheap and they are the key to running bigger tires, if you go to 35"s you will end up over heating as you try to climb the mountain passes and also might break you axles because they are the weak link. Especially if the front is a low pinion Danna 30. (not that you can't get away with this axle but you are going to remote places and that would be where that can happen) Your rear axle is fine a Danna 44 would handle 35"s easy.

I think you might even benifiet dropping down to 31"s for a while like I did while you learn more about doing trails. You will have enough power to push them and it will be easier on your jeep.

I have also heard good thing about Northridge
 
Agreed, The identification tag has either fallen off or has been removed. I'm leaning towards it being removed, because it looks as if the seal has been replaced which could mean it's been regeared or just wen't into service. Typically if a service is required, the drain plug is all that's needed.

The death wobble on the other hand, can be caused by several factors.

Incorrect wheel alignment
incorrect balancing
Worn bushings
Bent or stressed components
Incorrectly mounted shocks
Incorrect shocks for your application
Incorrect lift components
Using lug centric wheels instead of hub centric wheels

One other factor worth mentioning, is that the Jeep's coils will sag or misalign over time. Note the revision numbers on the coil tags. The last couple of digits of the coils would be similar to this: 17AA, 17AB, 17AC or greater (front). Knowing the tag numbers can better help you learn if the coils are out dated. For instance, if your front coils read 17AA or 17AB as these are out dated and should be replaced. Sagging coils could contribute to the wobble.

Also, I'm under the impression that you purchased this wrangler used. Just another indication that the jeep has been used, well used or even abused. Locate any paperwork relevant to any installations or service to the vehicle as this would tell you what has been done. If no paper work can be found, one would have to take the jeep to the shop for an inspection.

Fastest I’ve went so far is 80mph in it and it drives very smooth, never death wobbled yet. And the only thing I could really see is the person that had this last put a lift kit on it, and put in rough country shocks, and sway bars.
 
Since you are as new to the world of 4 wheeling as I was 5 years ago a lot of what we are trying to convay on these post are going to be way over your head right now. You also seem to be in the same situation I found myself in when I purchased my Cherokee, the previous owner did a lot of work on mine that gave it the ground clearance and look of being able to tackle the trails. But nothing to the axles, steering and cooling system to compensate for adding the lift and larger tires. The gearing and steering up grades are not cheap and they are the key to running bigger tires, if you go to 35"s you will end up over heating as you try to climb the mountain passes and also might break you axles because they are the weak link. Especially if the front is a low pinion Danna 30. (not that you can't get away with this axle but you are going to remote places and that would be where that can happen) Your rear axle is fine a Danna 44 would handle 35"s easy.

I think you might even benifiet dropping down to 31"s for a while like I did while you learn more about doing trails. You will have enough power to push them and it will be easier on your jeep.

I have also heard good thing about Northridge

I’ll look into gearing and steering upgrades.
 

Happy Joe

Apprentice Geezer
Welcome to Colorado...Sorry I found this thread late.
I just skimmed the thread to this point but the axle gear ratio is how many times the driveshaft leading to the axle turns for each turn of the axle;i.e. 3.73 means the driveshaft (and the pinion that drives the ring gear inside the differential) turns 3.73 times for each turn of the axle shaft (and the ring gear).
Recommendation for gearing to drive 35 inch tires; it depends on many things including the torque & horsepower that the engine puts out as well as the overdrive gearing of the transmission...I haven't messed with JKs so I can only be very general help on this point (the tables posted seem to recommend quite low gearing for 35s so I would recommend more research).
As far as shops on the front range; I learned years ago to be highly selective and can't really recommend any (I do all of my own work)...
As far as bouncy it normally indicates insufficient shock damping (bounce up and down on the front/rear then jump off and watch the vehicle; it should continue down or up then only continue to the half way point if it does several bounces you need better shocks... very roughly; the damping rate needs to be matched to the spring rate (and vehicle weight at each tire) to avoid either a too harsh (too much damping) or bouncy (too little damping) ride.. adjustable shocks are therefore often recommended to avoid having to do research or buying multiple trial shocks..
Enjoy!
 
Welcome to Colorado...Sorry I found this thread late.
I just skimmed the thread to this point but the axle gear ratio is how many times the driveshaft leading to the axle turns for each turn of the axle;i.e. 3.73 means the driveshaft (and the pinion that drives the ring gear inside the differential) turns 3.73 times for each turn of the axle shaft (and the ring gear).
Recommendation for gearing to drive 35 inch tires; it depends on many things including the torque & horsepower that the engine puts out as well as the overdrive gearing of the transmission...I haven't messed with JKs so I can only be very general help on this point (the tables posted seem to recommend quite low gearing for 35s so I would recommend more research).
As far as shops on the front range; I learned years ago to be highly selective and can't really recommend any (I do all of my own work)...
As far as bouncy it normally indicates insufficient shock damping (bounce up and down on the front/rear then jump off and watch the vehicle; it should continue down or up then only continue to the half way point if it does several bounces you need better shocks... very roughly; the damping rate needs to be matched to the spring rate (and vehicle weight at each tire) to avoid either a too harsh (too much damping) or bouncy (too little damping) ride.. adjustable shocks are therefore often recommended to avoid having to do research or buying multiple trial shocks..
Enjoy!

That helps a lot thank you
 

Happy Joe

Apprentice Geezer
You are very Welcome!
There is are a couple of clubs in town that do regular runs near and far; you might want to contact one of them (I can recommend Colorado Four Wheelers, although I haven't been a member for more than a decade I expect that I will get back together with them in the spring...need to get this TJ trail ready first though.
If you need detailed info shoot me a PM; the server gives me an error message when I try to post an address/link..

Enjoy!
 
You are very Welcome!
There is are a couple of clubs in town that do regular runs near and far; you might want to contact one of them (I can recommend Colorado Four Wheelers, although I haven't been a member for more than a decade I expect that I will get back together with them in the spring...need to get this TJ trail ready first though.
If you need detailed info shoot me a PM; the server gives me an error message when I try to post an address/link..

Enjoy!

Sweet sounds good thank you. I’ll take a look at em.
 

Justincredible

Adventurer
Enter you vin # here:
https://www.jeep.com/webselfservice/jeep/index.html
click on "equipment listing" on the left.

It should tell you if you have 3.73 gears or 3.21. It will also tell you if you have a rear limited slip diff.

Do you have an auto or manual transmission? If auto, I would get a transmission cooler first thing.
After that I would get some sliders and an oil pan skid plate to protect yourself from rocks, trees, shopping carts, etc...
I would also consider some Max Tracks or other sand ladders to help you get unstuck if you happen to get in over your head (snow being a big one in CO).

Other than that I would say keep your Jeep as is, save your money, take it out, and learn your limits. Guaranteed you'll reach your limit before the Jeep reaches its.
As you become more comfortable offroad you will learn what needs to be replaced based on how you use it.
 
@WranglerWideJKU

Just to inform you that I crawled under the 017 wrangler yesterday to check for the diff tags.. and there wasn't any. The only thing my diff have is a white "x" on the cover matching up with a white "x" on the axle. Both front and rear axles have these small white X's on them. The only thing I can reason, is these mark that the line worked has correctly installed the requested gears, but then again my build sheets clearly says 3.21 removed, 3.73 added in the options etc. In other words, grab the vin and check the paperwork.

Will do, thanks.
 
Enter you vin # here:
https://www.jeep.com/webselfservice/jeep/index.html
click on "equipment listing" on the left.

It should tell you if you have 3.73 gears or 3.21. It will also tell you if you have a rear limited slip diff.

Do you have an auto or manual transmission? If auto, I would get a transmission cooler first thing.
After that I would get some sliders and an oil pan skid plate to protect yourself from rocks, trees, shopping carts, etc...
I would also consider some Max Tracks or other sand ladders to help you get unstuck if you happen to get in over your head (snow being a big one in CO).

Other than that I would say keep your Jeep as is, save your money, take it out, and learn your limits. Guaranteed you'll reach your limit before the Jeep reaches its.
As you become more comfortable offroad you will learn what needs to be replaced based on how you use it.

I have a manual, and I was planning to get front and rear bumpers as my next buy to protect my Jeep when the snow hits.
 

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