[reagd]

I just faced this with the rear axle.

In my case I wanted an upgrade from the Dana 35 so I bought a junk yard Dana 44HD.

The way I see it:

Swapping Whole Axle Assembly:
Pro - Easy to do
Pro - Probably not too much $
Con - You take a risk with used hardware

Rebuilding:
Pro - You end up with all 'new' internals
Con - Not easy to do (setting backlash etc)
Con - Probably more $, depending what all needs replaced.

There are tons of Dana 30 front ends out there, you might be able to find one with few miles on it to lower the risk. O will allow you to look nation wide, most places should give you mileage and gear ratios.

Get a good data point on a used axle then weigh the cost/risk and go from there.

Good Luck,
--CSMDakota--

Finally, just got into some solution. I've been googling for some nice threads about axle assemblies glad I found this one.