Dana 30 Swap

i have a few questions regarding a '72-'75 dana 30 swap into a 1960 cj5.

what driveshaft will i need for the dana 30? will a dauntless V6 driveshaft with small U joints fit the dana 30 yoke, or will a Fhead front driveshaft with large U joints fit the dana 30 yoke? or do I need to get the dana 20 transfer case front output yoke and driveshaft, then shorten the driveshaft? or will a dana 25/27 yoke fit a dana 30?

are the dana 30 axle tubes the same diameter as the dana 25/27? in other words, can i use the stock dana 25/27 spring plates, or do I need to grab the '72-'75 spring plates along with the dana 30?

 

You will need to change the yoke on the transfer case to use the new drive shaft (or at least I did). Not sure about the Dana 25/27 driveshaft. Mine had a 2 piece shaft with a carrier bearing to clear the exhaust and since I changed to dual exhaust I eliminated the 2 piece drive shaft with the carrier bearing and went with the stronger one piece drive shaft from the Dana 30. I did have to shorten it for my Jeepster though.

You will also need the spring plates for the Dana 30 as the ones from the 27 will not work. The hopusing for the Dana 30 is larger than the Dana 27 and the old spring plates will not fit.

-MM

 

The small v6 yoke will not fit on the dana 30 so you will need to change to the large yoke on the transfercase. I used the front driveshaft from a 77 cj5, same one I got the axle from, shortened the front shaft about 2 1/2" if memory serves.

 

ya chuck, took about a year off on the jeep cus things came up, but i've always had my eyes open for deals. i found a dana 30 powerlock with 4.88 gears in like new condition for a steal, so i picked that up. i was planning on rebuilding the 27 front axle, but now i'm going for the dana 30 swap since i got the goodies for it.....

when you say the shock pins are on the opposite side on the dana 30, do you mean the pins are inboard the leaf springs, or outboard like the dana 25/27 but on either the front or rear of the sprong plates (can't remember if the 25/27 is on the front or rear....

so it looks like i should get the spring plates, driveshaft (gonna have to shorten it), and dana 20 transfer case front output yoke from the donor i find the dana 30 from. but is the front output yoke on the dana 20 the same spline count as the front output yoke on the dana 18???? i sure hope so.

thanks for the input so far. i'm sure there's others out there with some more thoughts on it.

 

Chuck are you sure, I could never find a small yoke for the dana 30 and the one from the 27 wouldn't fit without me doing machine work.
If you change the transfercase to the large one (4 cylinder model), you will only have one U-joint size for both driveshafts instead of a small front and larger rear. YMMV

 

the ideal situation for me would be to take a 4 cylinder dana 25/27 yoke and put it on the dana 30. my transfer case is a 4 cylinder model with the large yoke and my driveshaft is from a 4 cylinder too. this was i would be able to run my stock 1960 driveshaft and have the same size U joints on both front and rear driveshafts. does anyone know the yoke spline count on the dana 25/27 and the yoke spline count on a 72-75 dana 30?

so mike, are you saying that dana 30's you've seen have the same size yoke as the 4 cylinder dana 25/27?

chuck, you are running a dana 30 with the large yoke? is it the same size as a dana 25/27 4 cylinder yoke?

 

Yes the large yoke on the 4 cylinder model transfercase is whats on the dana 30 at least mine was. The spline count on the dana 30 is like 24/26, something like that and the one on the dana 25/27 is like 10 splines or so. I simply put the larger 4 cylinder yoke on my transfercase to match my dana 30.

 

that would be great. i found a dana 30 and will most likely pick it up in a week or two. i already have the large yoke tcase and large yoke front driveshaft. if the dana 30 yoke is the same i'll be home free. thanks mike.

 

update....

i found a dana 30 front end from a 1973 cj5. as was your experience mike, the yoke does accept the same size U joint as what was used on Fhead cj5's. i was relieved to find that to be the case. I can use my existing dana 18 output yoke and stock front driveshaft.

the axle tubes are indeed a larger diameter than the 25/27, so I need 72-75 dana 30 spring plates and U bolts.

the dana 30 i got has the warn full turn premium hubs on it, complete with 11" brakes, steering stabilizer and draglinks. and the guy threw in the matching dana 44 rear complete with 11" brakes and rear driveshaft - all for $100!!! i need to regear and replace all bearings and seals, but can't go wrong with that deal....

 

:iagree:
excellent deal !
the larger U-joint was used on CJs from 1941-1986 (maybe even longer)
only exception: V6 front driveshaft with smaller u-joints.
so there is very broad coverage

 

The 25 uses a 10 spline yoke I believe, it's coarse anyway. The 27 uses a fine spline yoke and won't interchange with the 30 or the 25 as the depth is different. Path of least resistance is just to change the tranfer case yoke to match whatever is on the 30 which is most likely the larger one that takes a Spicer 153x U-joint. Nickmil

 

When I swapped the 27 out of my V6 70 Jeepster for a 73 Commando D30 I just swapped the yokes. It went right on. The drive shaft bolted right up, etc. Besides a short amount of slip from having a 4" Alcan lift I had no issues.

 

Problem with using a 27 yoke on a 30 is the 27 yoke is deeper. It's possible for the nut to not have full engagement of the threads on the pinion shaft. That's why it's not recommended. The yoke on the left is the 27 large u-joint yoke. The one on the right is a standard 30/44 yoke. You can really see the depth difference between the two. The 25 yoke is the same height as the 30 and 44 but coarse spline. Some early 30's and 44's were also coarse spline. Nickmil

 

D20 yoke fits on a M18 T-case and it's a match with the D30 yoke. That's how I did mine.