Dynatrac’s Trail Series Dana 60 Rear Axle

With our design needs, Dynatrac started working their magic and soon enough, a custom, super-stout Dana 60 axle s howed up at our off-road shop of choice, Xtreme Jeep in Tampa, Fl. Shipped via truck freight in a wooden box strong enough to ship King Tut’s sarcophagus, we cracked open the case, marveled at the impressive axle, and scrubbed in for surgery.

Installation / Fabrication

We started our suspension surgery by putting the Jeep on the lift rack, removed the rear drive shaft, and disassembled the Rubicon Express 3-link system. The shocks, track bar, lower control arms and brake lines were also removed and in less than an hour, the worn-out Dana 44 rear axle was on the floor.

When we ordered our axle, we opted not to have the track-bar or upper control arm brackets included as we would be making our own 4-link suspension. Given the type of wheeling I do, a triangulated 4-link suspension would fit the bill.. If , we had opted to order it with the correct brackets, and used the existing Rubicon Express 5.5″ Long Arm Kit, this would have been about a 2 hour project, tops – but we’re glutens for punishment.

With the new axle hoisted into place, were able to bolt in the lower control arms and shocks right into place – Dynatrac’s geometry and measurements were spot on. We did have to get a custom brake line to go from the OE Jeep connection point to the lower T-block though.

With the lower control arms and shocks loosely bolted in, we started tackling the triangulated upper links. Since the over- the-axle truss/bridge is designed for 3-link suspensions, there isn’t a lot of real estate to work with, but Rob Stapleton and the pros at Xtreme Jeep were able to fab up a set of brackets for our 4-link design in no time. With the 4-link brackets fabricated and welded into place, we set out to lengthen the existing Rubicon Express upper links. We used a set of Blue Torch Fab Works weldable threaded bungs for the new link-ends, and then lengthened the links.

After a few hours of fabricating brackets and lengthening the upper links, the rest of the axle installation was really very easy – easier than I had anticipated actually. We set the pinion angle (13 degrees), routed the air lines for the ARB air locker, and connected the brake lines. We did find out however, that there is a difference between a standard 1330 u-joint and a 1330 L u-joint, which meant our stock driveshaft wouldn’t bolt up. A quick call into Dynatrac and they promptly shipped out a new, matching yoke over night. This worked out perfectly as we had to trim a full two inches from our driveshaft.

The next morning we bled the brakes, double-checked all of our angles and handiwork, then re-torqued all of our bolts. Lastly, we changed the front axle gear set to match the new, steeper 4.88:1 gear on the new rear axle. It was now time for a test drive.

On and Off-Road Testing

Out of the gate, I noticed that our ’04 Rubi had quite a bit more pep, due in part to the new, deeper gear set. But the most pleasing part of the on-road test drive was that I didn’t notice anything. That is, the rig rode, drove and stopped as good as, or maybe even a bit better than our Jeep when it rolled off the show room floor. The modified 4-link suspension system built by Xtreme Jeep worked flawlessly on the road too.

After the on-road shakedown, it was time for an off-road beat down. We took our Rubi back to Casa de Matty and loaded the rig to the gills. 300 or so pounds of tools and spare parts stuffed into the large Tuffy cargo box, a full cooler, passenger, and my fat can added another few hundred pounds as well. We headed out to our favorite local rock course and proceeded to pick the hardest, undercut, axle-snapping lines we could find. Pedal to the metal, we never once had to worry about the engine torque coupled with the ultra-low gearing, as Dynatrac’s 35-spline axles were, and are, able to take anything our Rubi can dish out. We spent the rest of the afternoon banging and beating the rig, dragging the differential and axle tubes across huge rocks (See picture on left) and pushing the axle as hard as we could, but as expected, the Dynatrac Trail Series 60 axle never even flinched.

The Dynatrac Trail Series 60 axle will set you back somewhere between $3,000 and $5,500 depending upon how you outfit it, but if you have lifted your Jeep YJ or TJ, added bigger tires, lockers or deeper gears and are looking for an “upgrade replacement”, this axle will give you two things. One, a very easy, bolt-in upgrade, and two, true peace of mind that only the experts at Dynatrac can provide.