With what Eddie said here I can understand it. (Just using your comment, not commenting you perse)
With the R&P being the only real difference between a D44 and a D30, I will take my chances with the D30. A quality set of axles and a quality R&P will help the D30. Additional strengthening can be added if the user wishes. Also, most of the breaks I have heard of on this subject have mostly been the 5:13 ratio. It has also been said that the Pinion is small and the Ring is thin compared to a 4:88 lets say. I firmly believe the way the vehicle is driven also has a major factor in breaking stuff. Eddie breaking a Dana 60 probably wasn't from him and his wife running to the mall real quick to get a new pair of shoes. He wheels his Jeep smartly (most the time), but he is also traversing some big stuff. If any of you have watched the Heartland videos, you can clearly see that there are some places that they were not exactly crawling over stuff. It was hammer down and hope for the best. That is the type of stuff that is going to create breaks. Hard angles on certain things will cause breaks even in a slow crawl. Watched a guy on youtube back his JK up on a tree stump and completely destroyed his passenger front U-Joint and axle. He was creepin it up there too. Some of you guys on here are looking to run big stuff. Not everyone wants 37 - 40" tires. Certainly not everyone wheels as hard as the next Jeeper. Everything about this axle debate is completely subjective and can be approached from many different angles. I like to take my Jeep out and enjoy it, crawl through a bit of nasty to get to scenic areas. I wheel smartly, if it looks too ugly, then absolutely I will find a way around it. I never plan to run a tire bigger than a 37. For my uses the D30 will fit my needs. The D30 is also cheaper to fix. A PR44 is pretty expensive for the average person to just go out and buy, then factor gears, axle shafts, lockers...etc. I think the D30 gives your average user a very good platform to learn how to use the vehicle off road and if a break occurs, they can fix it relatively cheap. It also allows a said user the time to save up for something larger if they so choose. Like I have said before, not all of us are building EVO 1"s and Moby's. Hell even Rubicat is built pretty stout. That's more than most of us will really ever need. Some of you have forgotten that there are those out there that don't intend to go big. I also believe you are taking away a said person's confidence in what they already have in their rigs from purchase. They are afraid to go enjoy it because they read threads like this. Yes, it is an informative part of learning about the Jeep, but automatically just saying if you run a 35-37" tire you are going to break. It may not be the case for every person. :twocents: