Will a Dana 30 work as the doner axel for Calmini SAS kit for an 01 X?

A buddy of mine just purchased a early 90's cherokee that has been turned into a fairly tough rock crawler. With his purchase he got a bunch of parts. One piece is a fully built Dana 30 Axel that he's offered to give to me if it will.

Please let me know if I need to provide more information about the Axel. I've been dreaming of SAS'n my X and I've been on the two year plan paying off my X and saving up for the kit. If this will work or can be made to work my saving goal is less and I'll be SAS'n sooner than anticipated.

Will it mate up to the kit? Don't know.
Would you want to? Hell no.
Why? Simple, a built D30 with chromo shafts will only ever be as strong as a D44 with stock shafts. There's a reason that most XJ (Cherokee) owners upgrade to a D44 for bigger (35-ish) tires, the D30s tend to break easily. The cost difference of building a D30 and a D44 isn't that much considering what you get when you build a 44.
You'd also have to make sure that the 30 is the same width as the 44 from the Waggy that the axle is supposed to come from (don't remember the track width of an XJ off the top of my head).

ETA: see if your buddy is willing to give you the axle to sell to some other jeeper that is starting to build up his/her XJ. Your buddy might say no, but that's the worst that can happen...the way I look at it, your buddy isn't going to use the axle for anything and if you use it on your X or he lets you sell it, he's still getting the same deal: giving you an axle to help you out with your build. My $0.02

I agree. Although the D30 is not that bad of an axle if you already have it in your rig (aka Jeep), then it works well. If I had one extra it would not go on the X for a SAS. Do like Chef said and sell it if he is giving it to you and build a 44. You could most likely sell it on colorado4x4.org quickly.
Shawn

Thank you for the advice. I'll see if I can get it from him and sell it, split the comission, and use the funds to help build a D44.

Plus, it's near impossible to match the 6 lug pattern in a D30.

A Dana 44 out of a fullsize wagoneer might be just the ticket. It is easily swapped with several 5 and 6 bolt patterns.

Be careful what year your donor vehicle is. Older front 44's are only 19 spline. They also may or may not have 297x ujoints. And that's what most people running d30's pop all the time. Ujoints.

The 44's with 19 splines were around only before the mid 1970's and you probably wont come across one. The D30 is a great axle if it is used for the correct application. A 29 spline chromoly upgrade with a selectable locker will work if you dont use tons of right foot. The key is always to go "a fast as necessary and as slow as possile."

My current project is a 94 XJ and have no plans to toss the D30. Now the Chryslter 8.25...well ill just have to see about that one!!!

Tim

PS- The calmini SAS is specifically designed for a certain axle....the engineers did the work for you already!

Hmmm, I beg to differ about the 19 spline years. I had a 44 out of a 79 F250 that was 19 spline. Either way, it's easy enough to check, just pull the shaft.

Also, one possible good thing about a d30 is the outer shaft is actually a unit bearing set. Which means it's all enclosed, very easy to change on the trail, should you break one. 3 bolts and it's swapped.