Almost Alloy Kit Review

[curbdog17]

I purchased the Almost Alloy Kit from Iron Rock Off Road.
I am putting them in a 98 Jeep Cherokee XJ with a 79 Ford Dana 44 axle with 5.38 gears, lunch box locker and 36" tires, powered by a stock 4.0 motor.
http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/Merch..._Code=IR-S_AAK
The kit came with 8 of these plates

I also purchased new Spicer 5-760 U-Joints.

Full Circle clips from Napa.

I had a set of stock Dana 44 shafts machined to accept the full circle clips.

The U-Joints installed like normal, remember to put the clips over the u-joints before installing them onto the shafts.

I put a little extra grease into the caps because I was going to be welding near them and did not want to burn too much grease out.

First I tacked the plates on and made sure they would fit inside the steering knuckles OK.

They were tight but did seem to just fit.
I welded the Almost Alloy Kit on in steps, just a small bead at a time. With a few minutes between each weld to give them time to cool.
After installing the shafts back in the axle the welds were hitting the lower ball joint nut. I had to grind the weld smooth.

Now I have just enough room to spin the shaft in the axle housing.

The passenger side had a different type of ball joint in it and it required some grinding so it would not make contact with the plates.





I will report back when and how the system fails.

UPDATE
So yesterday (Sept. 1 2012) my front axle shaft broke. I was bound up in some rocks and the drivers side stub shaft broke.
The U joint still feels very good and the "Almost Alloy" plates have seemed to hold up fine.

[Freak]

How are you going to service a warn u joint? what's the point in full circle clips if you are going to weld a plate on the outside of the yoke?

[boggin-machine]

looks like more trouble then it is worth.

[curbdog17]

Originally Posted by Freak

How are you going to service a warn u joint? what's the point in full circle clips if you are going to weld a plate on the outside of the yoke?

I have never serviced a u-joint, they always break first, and the point was to strengthen the ears of the shafts, I have stretched these before and the caps get very loose and sloppy when this happens. The full circle clips will keep the caps in place.

I have never seen a review on this product before and was and still am a little leery about how it will perform. Time will tell. I will post when and how and what fails in the front axle when something happens. But I will not be wheeling again until late winter/early spring 2012.

[curbdog17]

Originally Posted by boggin-machine

looks like more trouble then it is worth.

It was not difficult to do, the worst part is waiting for things to cool during the welding process. If I break a lockout instead of a U-joint or the ears off the shaft it will have been worth it to me.
We will see what happens.

[wadey]

Im interested to see how these work out for ya. I was interested in these a few months ago but everyone here steered me away from them. But I wasn't sure why, they strengthen the weak ears of the d44 and cost way less than chromos.

As for failure my money is on either a lockout or a ujoint

[hosejockey4506]

Originally Posted by boggin-machine

looks like more trouble then it is worth.

x2 this looks retarded

[curbdog17]

Originally Posted by wadey

Im interested to see how these work out for ya. I was interested in these a few months ago but everyone here steered me away from them. But I wasn't sure why, they strengthen the weak ears of the d44 and cost way less than chromos.

As for failure my money is on either a lockout or a ujoint

I think it was your thread that brought these to my attention. After searching around on the web I found a few threads with people asking about them but no one with any real world usage ever posted anything about them, So I thought i would do a review.

[Mr. Beefy]

I never broke the ears on my 44 shafts... I broke the inner at the yoke once and at the carrier once. Never the ears, I think the ears break when your turning too hard and on the throttle, mine broke with the wheels straight and the hammer down

[curbdog17]

The passenger side had a different type of ball joint in it and it required some grinding so it would not make contact with the plates.


I should be taking the jeep out within the next few weeks. I will report back after that.

[snocross2xtremes]

I'm interested to see how this works....

[buttercr125]

Originally Posted by snocross2xtremes

I'm interested to see how this works....

X2....I just swapped a 60 in mine but curious as to how well these work. I have broken countless Dana 44 shafts and U-joints.

[mschaffer66]

So what exactly does do besides insure you can never replace your u-joints again?

[snocross2xtremes]

Originally Posted by mschaffer66

So what exactly does do besides insure you can never replace your u-joints again?

I have seen tons off d44 failed due to loss of a cap or snap ring...

[mschaffer66]

Originally Posted by snocross2xtremes

I have seen tons off d44 failed due to loss of a cap or snap ring...

I totally get that and obviously this fixes that problem. But what do you do when you need to replace the joint? Or do you just say fukc it and get a new shaft set. Or do you just get nutty with your grinder?

[curbdog17]

Originally Posted by mschaffer66

I totally get that and obviously this fixes that problem. But what do you do when you need to replace the joint? Or do you just say fukc it and get a new shaft set. Or do you just get nutty with your grinder?

Nutty with the grinder. I don't think it will be too bad to cut them off. And in the past I have always broke u joints before I had to replace them.
Time will tell on this one.

[jerm97xj]

I installed a set of these on my dana 30 hp in my xj last summer. I have 33mtrs and a lunch box locker. I have not broke a shaft since. I just installed 4:88s so I will see how they hold up now. I did not burn mine in as heavy so when the u joints do freeze up I can grind them off.

[joe_jeep]

i can see the point, sort of. why not just weld the caps to the ears in a few different areas?

[CheapThrillB2]

Through expierence I havefound that with stock shafts and full circle clips will stretch the ears/wobble the holes. When I tried this on both my d35 and d44 shafts, after X amount of time the caps no longer fit snug in the holes. By allowing the caps to turn in the softer metal of the stock shafts damages them. I have tack welded my caps since and have had no issues.

[curbdog17]

Originally Posted by CheapThrillB2

Through expierence I havefound that with stock shafts and full circle clips will stretch the ears/wobble the holes. When I tried this on both my d35 and d44 shafts, after X amount of time the caps no longer fit snug in the holes. By allowing the caps to turn in the softer metal of the stock shafts damages them. I have tack welded my caps since and have had no issues.

I had stretched the ears in my last set of shafts to the point that the caps would fall out when turned upside down.
I am hoping that this keeps it from happening again. I have an odd ball dana 44 and have trouble finding shafts. I need these to hold up a bit longer.