I was wondering, could one swap a dana 30 over to passenger side input for Zuke applications?  It seems like its just a matter of taking out the tubes, moving everything from one side to the other, aligning it and welding it back up.  Open knuckles, plenty of strength for 33" tires with any Zuke 4cyl or 35's with upgraded axle shafts. OH, and don't forget about the tons of jeep Dana 30 Axle upgrades out there.  Not to mention that you can't take 10 steps in a junk yard without tripping over a dana 30.  So why hasn't anyove done this?

You could do it, but it's the amount of work involved that stops people from doing that.  It's easier to find a front end that drops on the passenger side to start with rather than doing all that work.

Jeep guys (mainly) frown on people putting any effort into a Dana 30 because in jeeps they don't offer enough strength to run 33's with a locker without risking breakages.

Feel free to do it, but count out your labor hours, tools necessary to do it, and complexity and let us know.

just get a waggy axle (75-79) ... pass drop and 60.5" WMS (stock kick is 58")

other pass side drops will work but waggy axles are plentiful and generally cheap.

Or find a toy FJ front end.  That should work too.  More beef than a 30.  Could use a minitruck front also.  that is only 55 or 56" wide though.

I thought the stock Suzuki axles were about
the same strength as a Dana 30, in which case
what would be the point of the retro ?

just get a waggy axle (75-79)

What's a Waggy?

Heep Wagoneer

How does a dana 35 compare to the strength of stock samurai axles/trackick axles?

How about a dana 35 turning a 33" with a locker from a 4.0L on a TJ/CJ/YJ compared to a 1.6L samurai turning 33"s on samurai axles?

Just curious.

a d35 is just about equal in strength to stock kick/trac rear
a d30 is just about equal in strength to stock kick/trac front

IMO

The funny part is D35's make dandy front axles...but the only application for that was the 90ish to 97 Ford Rangers and 90ish to 94 Explorers.  It's the Twin Traction Beam setup.  D44 sized joints, 27 spline axles, reverse cut r&p, bigger bearings than modern penny pinching engineers would give them and they stand up to some good abuse under built Rangers, Explorers, and BII's.

How much of this translates to Jeep rears?  About nothing.  That's why I smirk when Jeep guys go, "oh, you have a D35 under the front?  Sorry."