Dana 300 Question

I finally got my hands on a Ford T18 and have decided to get a Dana 300 to mount behind it for my 72 CJ5. Does anyone have any advice on this? I know there is a short shaft version, is this better than the long shaft? What about weakness? Are there any Dana 300 weaknesses I should deal with before installing the thing? Any info would be great. Thanks!

 

The short shaft is obviously shorter and thats better for a cj5 rear driveshaft. Keep in mind your adapter will add a couple inches also so you'll want to be as short as possible.

The only weakness I have really heard is the rear output being 26 spline and not 32 spline. I guess a few folks have twisted theirs off. Of course thats better than the 10 spline dana 20. Other than that people seem to swear by them or buy an atlas (or stak).

Good luck!

Kevo

 

The short shaft version is stronger than the long shaft. Reason is the short shaft uses a slip on speedo drive and the long shaft uses a speedo drive cut into the shaft. It's common for these to fail right there. There are lots of upgrades available to eliminate this problem. Most if not all 300's also used yokes with straps and threaded in bolts. I'd recommend changing these to a u-bolt style yoke as they are stronger. Other than that the 300 is a pretty strong unit. Not as strong as a 205 or an atlas, but still pretty darn strong. Nickmil.

 

Cool. Thanks for all your advice! I really appreciate it!

 

What about length? IIRC the adapter for a t18 to a d300 is about 3". In our world thats alot of lost driveshaft length. My dshaft with the t18 is about 14.75". And, with a 2.5" lift, I had to rotate the pinion up 6* to eliminate binding.

Karl