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Hello all,
My Cummins 4BTA powered Jeep Wrangler project has been in planning for a long time, and the work will begin shortly. Before it does, I really need your advice and expertise with the choice of axles. This is similar to the other active thread, but I want to introduce fuel economy into the equation.
My Jeep will be primarily street driven, but I want it to be a dual purpose rig. So far I have the motor and a NV4500 transmission. The transfer case will be an Atlas II but I have yet to buy it since I don't know if I will have a driver's or passenger's side differential.
I intend on running nothing smaller than 35" tires (like a BFG AT) for the street (since all I can find are 4.10 ratios) and interchanging between 37" swampers for the trail. So far at a junk yard, I found a really nice Dana 70 (I believe) rear end with disc brakes and 4.10 gears. I also found a million other 1 ton rears like sterlings and other Dana 60's/70's with drum brakes (not very desirable in my opinion) and some nice axles from a newer Dodge Ram 1500. If I go with the disk brake 70, I would opt for a Dana 60 front axle.
This issue has been on my mind for weeks and I can't decide! :rasta: As much as I want my Jeep to be totally bada$$, will I really need a Dana 70 rear and Dana 60 front? Yes, I want reliability and durability, but wouldn't that come at a cost to my fuel mileage with all that weight? Those are some HEAVY axles! I think there needs to be a compromise here...
Let's face it, most of us swap in the 4BT for it's economy and torque. I am no different - I want the economy everyone else talks about - around 30 mpg or higher! Would this motor be powerful enough to move these heavy axles and tires with ease or would it simply bog it down and use more fuel?
My other thought was to use 1/2 ton stuff like the Dodge Ram 1500 axles I mentioned (Dana 44 front, Chrysler 9.75 rear). I figure this would still be strong but would be a lot lighter too.
So in the end, how much will the added weight of heavy duty axles affect economy? Please, if you have any suggestions, comments, or advice to offer me I would greatly appreciate it - I'm starting to get sick of arguing with myself!
uke:
Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance for your help.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark H
My Cummins 4BTA powered Jeep Wrangler project has been in planning for a long time, and the work will begin shortly. Before it does, I really need your advice and expertise with the choice of axles. This is similar to the other active thread, but I want to introduce fuel economy into the equation.
My Jeep will be primarily street driven, but I want it to be a dual purpose rig. So far I have the motor and a NV4500 transmission. The transfer case will be an Atlas II but I have yet to buy it since I don't know if I will have a driver's or passenger's side differential.
I intend on running nothing smaller than 35" tires (like a BFG AT) for the street (since all I can find are 4.10 ratios) and interchanging between 37" swampers for the trail. So far at a junk yard, I found a really nice Dana 70 (I believe) rear end with disc brakes and 4.10 gears. I also found a million other 1 ton rears like sterlings and other Dana 60's/70's with drum brakes (not very desirable in my opinion) and some nice axles from a newer Dodge Ram 1500. If I go with the disk brake 70, I would opt for a Dana 60 front axle.
This issue has been on my mind for weeks and I can't decide! :rasta: As much as I want my Jeep to be totally bada$$, will I really need a Dana 70 rear and Dana 60 front? Yes, I want reliability and durability, but wouldn't that come at a cost to my fuel mileage with all that weight? Those are some HEAVY axles! I think there needs to be a compromise here...
Let's face it, most of us swap in the 4BT for it's economy and torque. I am no different - I want the economy everyone else talks about - around 30 mpg or higher! Would this motor be powerful enough to move these heavy axles and tires with ease or would it simply bog it down and use more fuel?
My other thought was to use 1/2 ton stuff like the Dodge Ram 1500 axles I mentioned (Dana 44 front, Chrysler 9.75 rear). I figure this would still be strong but would be a lot lighter too.
So in the end, how much will the added weight of heavy duty axles affect economy? Please, if you have any suggestions, comments, or advice to offer me I would greatly appreciate it - I'm starting to get sick of arguing with myself!
Thanks for reading my post and thanks in advance for your help.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark H