I actually want to upgrade to 44's, both front and back so that i have a less chance to break my jeeps' "legs". I was at another thread, can't remember which one, where someone posted all the different axles w/ pictures....I'm by no means a gear head, but i'm learning...I got this rig a little over a year ago and have turned myself wrenches...but I don't think I have the skill to fix gears/bearings since this is my DD. The only reason it's going to cost my $800 is that I'm upgrading my gears to 4:11's both front and back.

 

First I am a mechanic, just retired thats all. No shop anymore and no reason for one. My source runs one of the most successful 4X4 shops around here. Doing pretty good for someone that stupid.

Ahh the flexing well I never plan on having my jeep have one wheel 4 feet higher than the rest.

So you saw a Tj with a broken axle. Big deal I've seen several Buick's lots of Chevy's some dodges some import pickups a ranger once an exploder a cousin had etc.
They're called manufacturers defects. it happens to every make of vehicle

And last. You really should try traveling outside the US sometime. Not everything is as cheap as you guys get stuff for.
Even with our dollars at near par the bearings (pinion carrier and axles) ARE $300 CDN with my trade cost at a jobber. Now add at least $200 for labor at a shop rate of $65 an hour.
Sure I could get some booger eating back yard moron mechanic to do that for less but then I get what I pay for. NOTHING

In a nutshell it all comes down to you as some guru of offroading not liking that someone like me is challenging you on your info.
You have conveniently skipped over the part where I said MOST of us reading this forum will never do some of the stuff your doing with your jeep.
What angers you most is you know I'm right. MOST of us can continue to use our jeeps as DDs and occasionally do some mild off roading AND never break our trusty D35s
You do no one any help newbie or veteran alike with the blanket statement that the differential they run is just a time bomb waiting to break.

Why don't you use all that knowledge you have and do something good with it.

To Stan. You know you could get the 44s with the 411s in them for that kind of money. Just have to search hard
Their are some here who believe that the D44 isn't any better than an 8.25. Apparently the axle shaft diameter is smaller.
That argument does not take into account the metal the shaft is made of and it's tensile strength. Do a search on axles tests. Someone posted that a jeep magazine did tests on what it took to break the axle in several styles of differentials

If you are going to be wheeling really hard with very large tires, I'd start to look at other options along with aftermarket axles.

 

Wow, Who lit the fuse on your tampon?

I haven't conveniently skipped over anything friend, nor am I angered by any of your comments. You're entitled to your opinion just like everyone else on this or any other forum.

You Sir, really need to sit back and consider what is being said. Repairing or replacing a D35 axle is not money well spent....regardless of the end use. D35 axles are prone to breakage simply because they are weak. There are far better axles in virtually every junkyard on either side of the border. A little shopping around and anyone can swap in a better piece of equipment for a minimal investment.

If a guy or gal is having problems with, or broken a D35 repairing or replacing it with another one is foolish. A better replacement axle can be had for far less money (U.S or Canadian) than most shops will charge to tear down and rebuild a D35.

Don't knock all of use shadetree mechanics. Many of of us are just as knowledgeable, and in many cases even more so, about our rides than some of the "pro" mechanics out there.

I disagree that most of the people here never wheel their rigs off-road, quite the opposite actually.

Guru? Far from it.

Offended that you disagree with my advice? No, just a bit frustrated that you seem think that your answer is the only correct one.

So in closing I'll simply say that I disagree with your assertion that keeping a D35 is a wise move.

 

Fair enough.
Got any idea on how to get some Miller Genuine Draft up here?
They want $45 for 24 in bottles. Don't you you just love socialism?

 

im having the same noise and i was told its my ring and pinion so im waiting to replace the gears. but ya i agree toss the dana 35, the 8.25 is ok but i put a junk yard posi 44 under my jeep for under $300 and its a much stronger axle. so you might want to think about that

 

Actually the whole myth of the axle snapping in the d35s comes from the Wrangler guys, prolly because for the weight difference; xj: 2832 lb yj: 3785 lb.

 

And did you guys notice that in the link FrankZ posted all the broken axles are c-clip?
I must investigate that....

 

I blew 5 dana 35's in under a year, in the same truck. it never got wheeled, and never got taken to the strip. it was just driven daily...my style (pedal to the metal)

there's over 260hp in front of that, and I also blew 4 ax5's in that time span...


that said, I've NEVER broken a dana 35 axle shaft...but I still have all of my spares, and I bring with a set of non clip and clip axles with for friends. I've had to swap d35 shafts with buddies on the road, on a simple road trip.

the typical thing that breaks on them is the ring and pinion. hell, one drive home, on the interstate, the 35 threw half the ring gear teeth and half the pinion teeth through the cover...and that was 200miles after I installed it and inspected it, and it did it for no apparent reason.

I'll NEVER install a dana 35 again...but I'll sure as heck do my best to destroy them.


to the guy with the "bad" 8.25...that is a 29 spline axle. put it up for sale, it'll sell for $150 or so even with bad bearings.

 

it's not so much that your not knowledgeable, it's the fact that the way you express your knowledge is in a demeaning way...
in a nutshell it would have been fine to say "that money that you're going to be spending on the d35 can probably be better being put towards a different rear... the chrysler 8.25 29 spline would be a better rated rear and is said to be much stronger and if you search you could probably find a d44 for that money from a junkyard... if your just using it for a daily driver repairing your d35 would work but this would be a great time to upgrade..."
everything you said was pretty accurate, just how you say it sparks peoples "Fuses on their tampons"...
I see this a lot in forums... most of the time the guy has tons of technical knowledge but doesn't know how to express it without coming off as being an "all knowing *****"....
Frank, I'm not saying that you're an ***** but really, it makes newbies and even some experienced guys gun shy to post because of responses like yours...

 

Isn't that strange?

 

you need to be alot less touchy and buck up and take people's advice for what it is, without getting offended.

he is correct that a dana 35 axle is a POS get-u-by axle. I won't even put one in a daily driver anymore...a buddy fried one with a 4 cylinder just daily driving it

 

not really. the ring and pinion are the weakest part.

 

and frankz reply:

he didn't even address the question...

and this guy must have got the special edition super duper strong d35 that you guys must have missed out on...

Go figure that you and frankz both replaced your d35's with stronger axles... over the years it seems that when something breaks the person or people who it breaks on speaks out about how crappy they are... do you guys realize how many d35's are out there ( now think about that for real, most people don't have the money to upgrade their rears just because someone says that they are garbage. if you go out and buy a used jeep with 100,000 miles on it I bet the d35, if it was equipped with one is still under there... wow, it lasted 100,000 miles, lucky previous owner...) and how many get wheeled pretty hard and don't break... sure, there are stronger axles but there are plenty of people who wheel these or use them on daily drivers that never have a problem... i've heard people say "I bought a Michelin tire and I had a blow out... I'll never buy another one again..." think about that statement...

I won't comment on this thread again but to close it out, yes, I do think it would be a good time for the op to upgrade and yes there are plenty of stronger axles he could buy for the same money he was going to spend on the repairs of the d35 but if he chooses to repair it would I wouldn't belittle him... the d35's have lasted in more jeeps than we can imagine for well over 100,000 miles...

and jeepcoMJ, touchy has nothing to do with it... just reading posts that are written by the higher authority guru's that start off by just saying "get rid of this and buy that" but with no explanations until someone speaks up about it... that's what gets me...

 

Wow.....done here.

 

dana 35's typically last just fine on a daily driver. but at the same time, they can fail.

when you get into larger tires, it's not a question of if it will fail any more. it is when it will fail. you may never have an issue, but at the same time, you're statistically more likely to destroy a dana 35 by adding a lift and larger tires, then you are running that d35 on borrowed time.

now, swapping in a factory dana 35 that cost you $50, to replace a dana 35 that blew up or had bad bearings, that's a justifiable reason to just replace it. hence the reason I replaced mine 4 times before I swapped to a d44. mine were free, they were from parts vehicles I scrapped out.

if you are going to pay anything to repair a dana 35, I would gladly question your intelligence on the matter, or at least suggest that you probably didn't do your research, and don't have the quality of knowledge on the subject of a dana 35 that almost every other person with a lifted/modified xj has obtained, through their own experience, when their axle failed because it was not designed to take the stress that it was given.

the dana 35 is a daily driver axle, and even then, a 4.0 makes TOO MUCH power for one.

to question those facts is somewhat less than intelligent. To criticize Frankz on the quality of the knowledge he is sharing with you (read knowledge, not opinion) is insulting, both to him and to yourself. fact of matter is, both frank and I are right about the issues with a dana 35.

that's not saying that some people don't get lucky.