Dana 300 worth the $

[akram]

Well my dad found another Dana 300 back at home for $75 negotiable. It'll cost about $100 or more to ship it depending on if he can work a deal with his company to motor freight it. If he does that it will be cheaper but take a lot longer. In your opinion do you think it's worth it. Considering what would have to be done to it and the XJ to get it to fit right. It's not twin sticked, stock 2.61:1 low. What you think? Would you do it?

[sevenslats]

If I had it to do over again, I'd prolly get a d300, stock orientation (pass output) and put a chevy front end in it.
Of course, that's partly due to the plethora of chevy axles compared to fords.

[akram]

Well the isuuse with that is I'm already in the midst of planning an axle swap but the front is a driver's side drop. How much was involved with putting the D300 in your TJ. Did you do all the work yourself or get a company to set it up? Your's is twin sticked right? I'm trying to see if it is really worth it. He'll probably go get it whether I want him to or not and leave it sitting there waiting for me to decide if I want it. He has three now but they are waiting to go into vehicles.

[sevenslats]

I bought a kit. flipped it to DSD, and included the twin-stick.
Took me over 7 months to do.
Honestly, the kit was really complete. even came with drill bits and taps. I'm just lazy and slow.
I bought my d300 from BadCo in Anchorage for $150, plus $40 shipping. he pulled it out of his yellow CJ the day before he shipped it.

[akram]

Was installing the kit difficult or just time consuming. How much are the kits. Well I guess I can just search that. What about modifying drive shafts, crossmember and such?

[Flawed]

Sorry to thread jack but what is the difference in the 231 and the d300? I keep seeing this conversion but don't know the benifits of it .

[sevenslats]

My crossmember holds up the transmission. no mods needed to replace the tcase.
The kit wasn't all that hard. I got tired while using the 5/8" tap for 6 holes. And it took me a few months to recover.
The kit cost $650. I needed new driveshafts because of the difference in lengths of the 231/300.

np231 is chain drive, aluminum case.
d300 is gear driven, cast iron case.
It's a strength upgrade. Also, the 4:1 kit is much cheaper for a d300. there's also innput and output shaft upgrades for the d300...

[akram]

D300 is cast iron instead of aluminum. Gear driven instead of chain. Mucho stronger. It is shorter than the NP231 which means a longer rear driveshaft for better angles. posted while geaff was posting.

So you didn't have to modify your drive shafts? That bumps it up a notch for me. Did you use the cloking ring also or just the flip kit? I know, I know I'm asking alot of questions but I'm on a sleep deprevation buzz right now.

[Flawed]

Thanks for the info.

[sevenslats]

edit clash.
I bought 2 new driveshafts. my rear was still the stock slip-yoke.
I bought a $60 clockgin ring. mostly so I wouldn't have to trim the tranny output shaft.

[akram]

Cool. Thanks for the first hand info. I'm going to half to think about this for a bit. I figuring roughly $1200 to do it. That's just a guess from looking a prices for the flip kit and such.

[sevenslats]

I never added it up. but that sounds about right.
tcase
flip kit
driveshafts
gear oil
loctite
I needed to fab a plate after relocating the shifters -- scrap metal
bearings pressed off/on -- $10
clocking ring
misc pipe fittings and hose for fill and vent tubes

[naturalbornmudder]

note to Mel: I have a Dana 300 clocking ring in my possession, if needed. Only if needed

[sevenslats]

Where'd you get it?
I got mine from Go2Guy on Pirate.
Great guy, shipped it before receiving payment because "I trust Jeep guys".

[naturalbornmudder]

I got it off of the velcro Jeep.

Edited post above.

[akram]

hmmmmmm. I'm leaning more and more towards this. I'll have to wait and see if my dad got it first. But If I do get it it will probably be 7 mos like geoff before it is done. Money is very tight esp with my plans right now.

[sevenslats]

velcro jeep. Ha.

[akxj]

i just paid $220 shipped for mine...they're becoming harder and harder to fine...check out the box4rocks on Pirate....7.1 to 1 once you all done...i'd say grab it what do you have to lose besides $75, you can probably turn around and sell it on pirate for $150....just a thought...

[akram]

well unfortunately by the time my dad got around to it it was gone. So now I just need to talk him out of one of his.

[Advent]

If you don't want to do the flip kit, Stak now makes a driver's drop housing out of billet aluminum that's stronger than the stock cast iron.

[TJVigilante]

It's also bigger so you'll need to clearance the tub or maybe put more of a bodylift, especially if you want a belly-up. Mel will have a harder time of it because he can't bodylift....he'll have to whip out the sledgehammer.

[akram]

No hammer for me. There is room for A d300 without modifying the body. Atleast nobody I've talked to has had to. It wont be happening anyways. Atleast probably not until I head back to WV for a visit sometime.

[TJVigilante]

The D300 case is smaller than the Stak case, isn't it?

[Advent]

From what I understand, the Stack is a *little* bigger. But not much.

It's major benefit is that the shifters actually come out the top in a driver's drop application. The strength doesn't hurt though.

[akram]

I'm not going to spend money on the housing. The stock D300 housing is strong enough. the D300 housing is slightly smaller atleast length wise for sure. THe only reason I was thinking of doing it was cause there was one available cheap.

[sevenslats]

I did it because twin sticks are cool.