Fit Problem w/ 2014 Rubicon Axle & 2007 Knuckles

[aermotor]

I recently dropped a front Rubicon axle from a 2014 into my 2007 Non-Rubicon and ran into an interesting fitment issue. It appears the axle U on the 2014 shafts (and possibly earlier?) were slightly redesigned larger and flared out to be stronger I guess? I compared them to my friends 2007 Rubicon and they look quite different.

Anyway, the fitment issue came when we put the shafts through the knuckles and went to attached the hubs. The hub bolt's flange sticks out further than the end of the knuckle and was contacting the U's not allowing them to spin. Bad. After doing some research online, everywhere I'm seeing is saying that the knuckles and bolts are the same from 2007-2014, so I don't really know what is different on the 2014s that would allow these to fit.

The only thing I can think of is that the knuckles and hubs have the bolt holes offset a bit more to allow for the larger size, but I really don't know. I ended up 'machining' down the massive flanges on the hub bolts so they don't stick out further than the knuckle and now everything clears just right. But I'm still interested if anyone knows what the differences actually are.

Attached are some photos of what I did to fix the issue.

 

[JKAnimal]

I ran into this issue when I installed an older set of Dynatrac Pro Steer ball joints. It appears the casting number you have matches the casting number of the thicker one. Thankfully Dynatrac fixed this clearance problem in their ball joints but it looks like there are some other issues with this casting.

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?...nt-Interference&highlight=dynatrac+ball+joint

You can see what I did to fix the problem. Hopefully something like this works for you.

 

[Manvan]

If you get new bolts from the dealer, the flange diameter on the bolt is smaller. I chucked the bolts in my battery drill and held them against my side grinder. Instant lathe. I put the new style Dana axles in my D30 and had the same problem. Best use a good set of ball joints with recessed grease zerks also. There is no room!