US vs import made chromoly axle shafts

Liv2Ryd · Sep 1, 2020

Looking to upgrade my stock 06 TJR front/rear axle shafts. I'm running 35's and 5:38 gears. Do a fair amount of rock crawling and getting into more blacks now that my TJ has the proper gearing and armor. Got a quote from Opie at Revolution (great guy) and he offered two rear options shown below. Besides the warranty (lifetime on the US, 10 years on the import), what else would the US made shafts offer for the extra $$. I prefer going US made if there is a known quality benefit but Opie said they both are built using the same materials and mfg processes. I understand its a different story for the front shafts since the u joints are beefier on the US made versions. Its not so clear on the rears if the warranty is the only benefit. Anyone care to share their experience?

rasband · Sep 1, 2020

I think for the reasons you mentioned, it’s not imperative for the rear. I have the discovery rears and USA fronts (both new within the last few months).

Some folks may have direct experience with the discovery rears but given the composition it seems hard to justify nearly double the price there for me as I’m building toward 35s.

L J · Sep 1, 2020

I have the US fronts and import rears but only because the US rears were OOS at the time. The US big joint fronts are where it matters qualitatively.

Liv2Ryd · Sep 1, 2020

Thanks guys. I'm thinking of going imports rear and US front too. Makes sense $$ wise. Now to decide on RCV fronts or Revolution. Leaning towards Rev but some of the guys in my club rave about the RCV's.

Westtown Willy · Sep 1, 2020

I don't know if there's truly any difference between the US & Import given that they're both the same material & size, but I'd still lean towards the US made stuff regardless though, just a personal issue, it's only a couple hundred bucks difference. When I did my Dana 35 I didn't have the choice, it was only the imported non-chromoly stuff available due to the now well known Dana 35 issues with chromoly. Had there been a US made non-chromoly rear shaft available at the time I'd have probably gone with that, even at twice the price.

rasband · Sep 1, 2020

Liv2Ryd said:
Now to decide on RCV fronts or Revolution. Leaning towards Rev but some of the guys in my club rave about the RCV's.

I really like that if my U-Joints give up the ghost on the trail I have a hope of fixing them.

However depending on your build, some people can leverage the RCVs added arch (I think @toximus 's build is one of those). He'd have good input on the tradeoffs and documented a ton in his build thread.

Steel City 06 · Sep 1, 2020

Liv2Ryd said:
Thanks guys. I'm thinking of going imports rear and US front too. Makes sense $$ wise. Now to decide on RCV fronts or Revolution. Leaning towards Rev but some of the guys in my club rave about the RCV's.

I have the Revolution shafts and would do RCV if I had to buy again, though it isn’t a strong preference. With the Revolution shafts, I had to do a good amount of grinding to the ears to be able to fully steer without binding.

The U-joint also creates a surging feeling when turning tightly in 4WD, which, like the grinding, is only a minor annoyance.

toximus · Sep 1, 2020

If I brought a spare (I don't), I could replace an RCV CV ball in less time than a ujoint. It just takes a few wacks of a hammer to take them apart. After you've done a few and know where to hit the "mystery" of them goes away.

My theory is that the constant velocity of the RCV doesn't break traction every revolution like a ujoint could. I'm not really sure if that's a true benefit in the real world.

RCV also has provided me with very good, fast, and knowledgeable support.

The issues start when you don't keep the RCVs greased. Grease them every oil change and you'll be fine.

If you can get them for the same or similar price, I'd go RCV every time. There's nothing wrong with good ujoints either.

Vinman · Sep 1, 2020

toximus said:
If I brought a spare (I don't), I could replace an RCV CV ball in less time than a ujoint. It just takes a few wacks of a hammer to take them apart. After you've done a few and know where to hit the "mystery" of them goes away.

My theory is that the constant velocity of the RCV doesn't break traction every revolution like a ujoint could. I'm not really sure if that's a true benefit in the real world.

RCV also has provided me with very good, fast, and knowledgeable support.

The issues start when you don't keep the RCVs greased. Grease them every oil change and you'll be fine.

If you can get them for the same or similar price, I'd go RCV every time. There's nothing wrong with good ujoints either.

Do you just hit the zerks with a bit of grease every oil change or pull the boots off and grease?

B00mb00m · Sep 1, 2020

toximus said:
If I brought a spare (I don't), I could replace an RCV CV ball in less time than a ujoint. It just takes a few wacks of a hammer to take them apart. After you've done a few and know where to hit the "mystery" of them goes away.

My theory is that the constant velocity of the RCV doesn't break traction every revolution like a ujoint could. I'm not really sure if that's a true benefit in the real world.

RCV also has provided me with very good, fast, and knowledgeable support.

The issues start when you don't keep the RCVs greased. Grease them every oil change and you'll be fine.

If you can get them for the same or similar price, I'd go RCV every time. There's nothing wrong with good ujoints either.

Good feedback thanks, been going back and forth about RCV or not in future.

mrblaine · Sep 1, 2020

rasband said:
I really like that if my U-Joints give up the ghost on the trail I have a hope of fixing them.

One can hope. Realistically, not a chance in hell of getting a joint back in the yokes in any usable fashion after a broken joint failure. That and the main reason they break is the cap gets spit out from an elongated yoke hole.

toximus · Sep 1, 2020

Vinman said:
Do you just hit the zerks with a bit of grease every oil change or pull the boots off and grease?

Just the grease fittings. On my LJ they're on the outside of the ball, on my wife's TJ I have to unscrew the manual hub end caps to get to the fitting.

toximus · Sep 1, 2020

B00mb00m said:
Good feedback thanks, been going back and forth about RCV or not in future.

I certainly wouldn't replace beefy ujoints if I already had them.

rasband · Sep 1, 2020

mrblaine said:
One can hope. Realistically, not a chance in hell of getting a joint back in the yokes in any usable fashion after a broken joint failure. That and the main reason they break is the cap gets spit out from an elongated yoke hole.

I should have included that! Unfortunately I experienced that this year, so I guess just carry spare shafts if possible. My break was fortunate, it was after all the obstacles and getting out without the 4th shaft was fine.

B00mb00m · Sep 1, 2020

toximus said:
I certainly wouldn't replace beefy ujoints if I already had them.

Agreed not as long as they stay together.

mrblaine · Sep 1, 2020

rasband said:
I should have included that! Unfortunately I experienced that this year, so I guess just carry spare shafts if possible. My break was fortunate, it was after all the obstacles and getting out without the 4th shaft was fine.

One thing we do to save space is carry both inners, 2 joints, and one stub shaft. Install the joints in the inners, tape the caps in place with snap rings. When you break, assemble the stub onto the side you need and go.

Jerry Bransford · Sep 1, 2020

One more thing to keep in mind is that once you upgrade the front inner & outer shafts to a hardened alloy like 4340, the odds of breaking a u-joint go down to almost nil. It's not usually the u-joints that break first, it's the ears on the shafts that either stretch or break which releases the u-joint to spin around and break as it spins. Once you get hardened ears on alloy shafts they hang onto the u-joints securely enough that u-joint breakages pretty much stop.

This shows where one my my original non-hardened OE front shaft ears broke. Never another front u-joint problem after converting to 4340 alloy shafts from Warn (no longer available).

Liv2Ryd · Sep 1, 2020

Thanks for all the input. I've learned a lot in the short time I've been wheeling thanks to all the great resources on this forum. I'm curious as to what become the "fuse" when I switch to upgraded axle shafts?

Steel City 06 · Sep 1, 2020

Liv2Ryd said:
Thanks for all the input. I've learned a lot in the short time I've been wheeling thanks to all the great resources on this forum. I'm curious as to what become the "fuse" when I switch to upgraded axle shafts?

I believe it’s still the shafts. Unless you go to a Super 44 kit and install 33 or 35 spline shafts, at which point the ring and pinion might fail first. But then there’s the Jana K4...

mrblaine · Sep 1, 2020

Steel City 06 said:
But then there’s the Jana K4...

Dumbest idea ever for a TJ 44. If you need that gear set to stop breakage, then one of two things is true. You either have a shit gear setter or you need a bigger axle.

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