Beef up D30 for 35's?

I'm still contemplating whether to run 35's or stick with 33's when I get new tires. That said, if I do decide to go for 35's I'm wondering if the HP D30 is going to need reinforcement. It seems like the d30 can really handle some abuse for how small it is but I would really like to avoid bent axle tubes.

Means of beefing it up that I'm aware of are tube inserts, truss, C gussets, and alloy shafts and outers.

Anyone have experience damaging a D30 or beefing it up?

We've got a couple guys running 35s on D30s with no issues, but a couple of the JK guys have added gussets.

I assume some degree depends on how hard you beat on it. For most purposes, it should be fine, but if you plan on hardcore abusing it, it might be worth planning on adding a gusset later on. Can't hurt.

From what I understand from reading what Blaine on JF says, basically C gussets and axle sleeves are really just a waste on a D30. A lot of the hype came from the JK guys, because the earlier JK axles have been known to have problems with bending.

HP D30 are also much stronger ring and pinion wise. But I would definitely do chromos on it. Piece of mind.

Just a personal note, I've been beating on my Rubi 44 for a few years now pretty hard. Only center section is D44 rest is D30. Holding up more that fine. I put RCVs up front when I busted a U joint, but thats it.

For whatever it's worth, I've now been wheeling my HP30 for 3 years without issue. Including wheelies (MaBell), Old Florida Road, etc.. and it's been on 35s that entire time. There's also a Detroit TruTrac in the front. Never had an issue. I wouldn't hesitate to throw some chromos in it (like Janesy said) and just wheel it with 35" tires.

Ryan M wrote:For whatever it's worth, I've now been wheeling my HP30 for 3 years without issue.  Including wheelies (MaBell), Old Florida Road, etc.. and it's been on 35s that entire time.  There's also a Detroit TruTrac in the front.  Never had an issue.  I wouldn't hesitate to throw some chromos in it (like Janesy said) and just wheel it with 35" tires.

That's first hand valuable information from Ryan to help with your decision, he has been running a HP30 and hasn't exactly been easy on it.

I've been wheeling a low pinion D30 with 33's for years without any issues and some of the wheeling has been nasty.
I would not hesitate running 35's with a HP30.
I'm currently building a HP 30 and have Chromoly shafts, alloy Xjoints and a lock rite waiting to go in it as soon as i get some gears, when it's done I'll be running 35's also.

Good enough for me lol. Most of my research was turning up stuff for JK axles so that all makes sense now.

I ran a D30 with 34's for 5 years with no problem. Ask anyone, I am not nice to my jeep. I changed to a high pinon 30 to get more clearance for the drive shaft. Most breakage I see is i the axels. Do crome of RCV's and you will be fine

that guy from bleepinjeep on youtube runs 36" TSLs with a HP D30 and cro-mos. He wheels the snot out of his rig.

I am running 35's on my D30 for a while now 1 year and 8 months time frame. No issues but about 6 months into the 35s I had a TnT truss system installed since I was doing gears and lockers.