Dana 30 disc brakes?

[dngrous_Jeep]

I've got a 77 CJ5, and I want to eliminate the drum brakes on the front axle, and swap to disc. What would be the easiest/cheapest way to accomplish this? I've heard things about swapping just the brakes, or should I shop around for an entire axle, and just swap the ring and pinion?

I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to axles, so bear with me please.

[PavementPounder]

You can do either. Some people choose to swap in WT axles in order to keep wider tires off the springs. The lockouts that came with NT's are stronger, so that would be an advantage of just changing the knuckles-out. You may even be able to find some of the 78-79 big rotor setups.

I would look inside the diff of this CJ that has been sitting for years before you make any decisions.

[Haggar]

yeah, pretty much what pavement pounder said.

I did this on my 1975 CJ-5.

For me, I got a 1981 CJ-5 parts jeep, and swapped the complete knuckles and axleshafts over to the 1975 Axle. The 1975 axleshafts work, too, but there are some small differences to the dust seal area, so I used the 81s and kept the 75 for spares.

Realistically, thats your best bet, if your axles are good. There are some years you can grab just the brackets and swap them, but they are getting rare, and whole axles are cheap.

Up to sometime in 81, I believe, you have the stronger lock outs. They bolt to the hub with 6 bolts. Later narrow tracks and all wide tracks use the 5 bolt hubs which are weaker.

But, as mentioned, if you don't know, pop the diff open and inspect to make sure the gears are ok first. There might be water in there rusting them up.