It seems every other thread has some hate towards the Dana35 somewhere in it. Some explained, some just random hardheaded bs. Well, lets try to compile all the stories and happenings with the axle here. Both good and bad.

No reasonless bashing





I have just this little bit of hate towards my dana35. Last night, while putting on new shocks, my friend was screwing around with a can of WD40. And aimed it towards my face to see if the straw was in the correct position to spray. He ended up spraying it towards my face, and I flinched and headbutted the axle tube. The tube isn't bent, but I have a damn knot on my forehead now.

 

Just got my 98 Grand so I don't have much experience with it yet. But as soon as the guys I work with found out I bought it they told me to trash the 35 and the 30 and go with Dana 44's I don't really know what could be so bad about them?

 

Its not a story from me but my buddy runs a D35 rear with stock gearing and 35's on his YJ, and I saw him spin all 4 tires in mud in reverse at 5000rpm and then have the back end gain traction, shoot us backwards out of the mud pit , and then come to an abrupt stop... And nothing exploded!

 

Ive not had any problems with the 8 XJs that Ive owned that had Dana 35s, but I dont worry about the rear end in my 87 with a 44, or my 96 and 99 with their Chrysler 8 1/4s. I do worry about my 84 with its 3.73 geared 35 rear and 31in tires, even though its powered by that "awesome" GM2.8V6. Ive seen Dana 35 rears hold up well under hard abuse with High output 4.0 liter and 5 speed turning 35in Goodyear MTs, and then see Dana 35 rears take a crap with 2.5 four bangers and P215/75r15s.

 

I have posted pics of shafts from mine when I ran 33s. I wouldn't run a 4 banger on 29s with one again.

 

Without a doubt the 35 is the weakest rear end in a XJ, but.....
Ya see posts all the time where someone is wanting to swap out their 35 cause they heard it was weak and everyone replies with its junk swap it.
Im going to say that most of the people who swap them out would have never had any trouble out of them. Then again some could swap in Dana 60's and still tear them up.
i dont think ive ever seen anyone who replied to a post with a "its junk swap it" reply ask the poster what they do with their XJ before they give them that advice.
I had a neighbor with 35's on his XJ for years with a dana 35 and he never had any trouble from it.
But, it was his DD and it never saw the trails other than a fire road here and there. It saw 1000's of miles with no problems.
I had a 35 in a 90 with 32's and it never gave a bit of trouble and went everywhere I wanted to go with it till I sold it.

Would I rather have a 29 spline 8.25, 44 or 8.8 in mine? Oh he^* yeah.
Would I spend any money swapping a 35 of mine out that wasnt broken? Nope.

It all depends on what you use yours for and how hard core ya want to get with it.

 

My 89 has a welded rear D35, with 4:88 gears,
And 36in TSLs. I dont have any issues with it,
But it dosent see much time on the street, just off road.

 

Well Said!!!

 

was filling up last night when this kid on a harley comes over and says "sick jeep! bet that thing goes through anything!" i then explained the time i hydrolocked it and water was over the hood (back when i was on 30s ) and he says damn do you have the D35 rear end? i was like um no no way it could handle 35s. he then proceeded to tell mw about his tj on 33s open/open that went through 4 D35 rear ends in the 2 years he owned it ...

 

ya my 86 had a Dana35 rear with 4.88 and i ran 38.5 boggers no problem. ya it was offroad only and ya i had the 4 shooter and never had problems other than overheating alot. i would mud bogg her all day long

 

true i bought my gas tank from a guy who has an MJ on 35s and a locked D35 with 4.56s and he hs only blown out one but it gets trailered. he swears by it.

 

but in reallity i really need to get some rockwells