Dana 35C and the Detroit TrueTrac

I was in the process of replacing my worn out Trac-loc with a Detroit Truetrac and found an anomaly I thought you all should be aware of. Since the Dana 35C is a C clip style axle the axle end play is controlled by the cross pin. The Detriot TT uses a button to do the same thing since it uses a helical gear driven diff. Once I got the backlash set I slid in the new axles and found .062" between the button and axles. After a phone call to Eaton I found that Dana made these diffs/axles with two different cross pins, one that measures .687" and one that measures .718". I ran out to the garage, measured the cross pin out of the old axle and sure enough, it was .718". I asked Eaton if they could just send me the correct button and the response was "No, we don't make one." Stellar customer service if I do say so myself. :rtm:

Anyway, I just brought the supplied button in to a local machine shop and had them make me one at .718" out of some 4140 stock and all is good, but that was an unexpected expense and it was not cheap.

Forewarned is forearmed. I hope this helps someone.

Note taken, don't put money in a Dana 35!

facepalm!!!, i cant really help either but to say up the 35

The "C" in D35C stands for "custom" and does not mean its a C-clip axle,good info though!

whitexj98 said:

Note taken, don't put money in a Dana 35!

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Lol, excellent point but this is my daily driver and I wanted to keep the four wheel ABS. Tires larger than 31x10.5 are not in the plans.

RCP Phx said:

The "C" in D35C stands for "custom" and does not mean its a C-clip axle,good info though!

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You are 100% correct, my error. They were shipped incomplete to Chrysler hence the "C" for custom.

There is a c-clip eliminator kit available. Or an older non-c clip would work.
As far as ABS. the tone rings can be installed on other axles as well.

8.25 + ABS: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73521&page=2

D35+locker= :explosion

Johnnie Walker said:

There is a c-clip eliminator kit available. Or an older non-c clip would work.
As far as ABS. the tone rings can be installed on other axles as well.

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True, but I'm on call 24/7 and telling them that I'm at the boneyard under a jeep won't fly. I have one weekend off every 5 weeks. Everything I do pretty much has to be at my front door.

Talyn said:

8.25 + ABS: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=73521&page=2

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That is an excellent write up Talyn! Like I said though, being on call like I am makes it very difficult to dig up the parts I need. I'm going to pick up a Strange Engineering Dana 60 for my BB Duster project this Saturday from a friend and it's a big risk, even though I'm the boss. It looks really bad to my guys to refuse call outs when I expect them to be Johnny on the spot.

jeeperjohn said:

D35+locker= :explosion

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It'll be fine in my application, no rock climbing or mudding and axles have been upgraded 1541 alloy (all new bearings and seals of course). A TrueTrac isn't really a locker in the traditional sense either.

I built a nice engine for this and when I went back to sea level this past summer I was ticking off 0-65 times in the mid 6 sec range easy (according to my cell phone stop watch). My intended use for this is only trail riding to get to my favorite fishing/camping/shooting spots, hauling the dogs around, etc. Like I said, it's really just a daily driver.

Ramcharger said:

I was ticking off 0-65 times in the mid 6 sec range easy (according to my cell phone stop watch)

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this is more evidence that cell phones are clearly not precision timepieces.

the detroit TT is a glorified limited slip is all it is, heard exactly that from multiple people who have experience with them. your totally safe on the d35 with the TT especially if you only go where you mention.