2014 Jeep JK | Currie Front Axle Swap and Re-Gear
It happens to the best of us. Sometimes we simply run out of talent and go a little bigger than our equipment can handle. Other times, our needs push the limits of where the present stage of the build is at and known weak links get pushed to the forefront. ‘Doing it for the Gram’ can lead to expensive consequences, as one of our customers found out recently. A little too much hang time at the dunes lead to some great pictures, but a sad state of the front end. All too many of us are familiar with the dreaded ‘JK Smiley Face’. The truth is, the factory axle housing on a JK is barely adequate for a street driven Jeep running small tires and no lift, let alone a Jeep with tires over 35”, a lift and being driven hard.
Cue up Currie Enterprises…a long time leader and innovator in the Jeep market. Probably best known for their Anti-Rock sway bars and rear ends, they have a full line of steering and suspension for Jeep JK’s and TJ’s, and a virtually limitless selection of crate axles ready to swap into your application. Since our customer already had a JK Rubicon, he chose to go with their replacement Pro Rock 44 housing. Currie has made significant upgrades both to the axle tubes as well as the forgings for the knuckles and center section. Tube diameter and tube wall thickness on this housing are increased to 3” OD, with a .375” thickness, an increase of 200% from the stock 2.5” x .250” wall tube. Additional webbing on the inner C’s for the steering knuckles keeps the ball joints perfectly aligned, while thicker webbing and material on the center section ensures the ring and pinion maintain a tight mesh even under extreme abuse off road. This housing comes spec’d ready to accept all the factory internals from a stock Dana 44 including the factory E-locker, knuckles, brakes, unit bearings, ball joints and shafts. A swap to Synergy HD metal on metal ball joints rounded out the complete package.
The original housing was bent so far, that the original shafts were damaged beyond the point of being re-usable, so the decision was made to upgrade to a set of RCV replacement shafts. RCV is a name known well among the racing crowd, for being the ‘last axle shafts you’ll ever buy’. Their shafts are 100% USA made, feature lip-less sealing technology on their CV boots and are made from high strength steel alloys. The biggest benefit to changing out U-joint axle shafts for CV’s is in steering behavior. As a U-joint spins, it actually briefly speeds up and slows down cyclically. Anyone who’s ever driven something with 4wd on a high traction surface has felt the steering wheel ‘saw’ back and forth, and effect usually amplified by steering angle. As the angle increases, a U-joint’s strength decreases. A CV experiences neither of these adverse behaviors, and due to the superior materials in RCV’s shafts, they represent a complete solution for both strength and better driving characteristics. Their shafts also feature a lifetime warranty.
At this point in time, our customer also decided to re-gear his axles for better performance and to get the RPM range back into the PentaStar’s power band. Because the PentaStar isn’t known for tremendous low-end torque, and does spin up very smoothly, a 5.13 ratio was chosen. This will keep the engine perfectly in the power band with the 35” tires our customer is running, and help the power be very easy to modulate on the trail. Revolution Gear and Axle provided the complete gear install kit, which included Koyo bearings in their full install kits. Their unique business model allows them to deliver competitive prices on top quality gear sets, and their packages make ‘1-click’ shopping much easier by taking all the guess work out of selecting the right front and rear ring and pinions and bearing kits. Whether you’re looking for a simple re-gear, or a axle swap, we’re your off road parts source!
