D35 question

What is a cheap (and safe) way to get both tires spinning on my D35 (in a DD XJ)? I looked into welding spiders but most replies said not to with a DD. I can't really find any spools, and lockers are a little out of my budget for now. I know the axle is weak but I'm running 32s with stock gears (probably will regear once I get money). Thanks.

There are no safe ways to lock a d35, especially with tires as big as 32's. Guys with d35's and stock tires break axles shafts -on the highway-, open diffs.

If you want to roll locked, get a 8.25, 44, 8.8 or 9" first.

for the cost of gears and to get them installed i would be cheaper to swap in a stronger axle that already has the gears you want.

cal said:

Guys with d35's and stock tires break axles shafts -on the highway-, open diffs.

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That's a pretty extreme position. The truth is much less exciting.

To answer the OPs question, if you are not willing to install a locker, and you don't want to do a "Lincolin Locker", and you don't have a limited slip differential you could shim, well there really is not a cheaper or safer way to accomplish what you want.

As I understand it, Ford 8.8's out of an Exploder are the cat's ass. You get deeper gears, a stronger axle, and disc brakes; all for less than what you would spend on a lunchbox locker for your D35.

Zuki-Ron said:

That's a pretty extreme position. The truth is much less exciting.

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Its a good thing you don't get a vote, because I was telling the truth. I've seen it once in person, and heard about several others.

8.8 doesn't usually come with steeper gears, you have to really look to find one thats 3.73 or 4.10, most are 3.55 with occasional 3.07's.

But yes, thats not a bad rear end.

cal said:

Its a good thing you don't get a vote, because I was telling the truth. I've seen it once in person, and heard about several others.

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If Dana 35 equipped Jeeps suffer catostophic axle failures on the road, the NTSB would have made Jeep recall every single unit made between 84 and now.

Do you know of an axle recall that I am unaware of?:dunno:

how many hundreds of explorers rolled before the first firestone tire recall?

The best review of the recall process I've seen came from fightclub.

Take the number of vehicles in the field, A.

Multiply it by the probable rate of failure, B.

Multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, C.

A x B x C = X.

If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

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Probably not accurate, but probably more accurate than we would guess.

cal said:

how many hundreds of explorers rolled before the first firestone tire recall?

The best review of the recall process I've seen came from fightclub.

Take the number of vehicles in the field, A.

Multiply it by the probable rate of failure, B.

Multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, C.

A x B x C = X.

If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.


Probably not accurate, but probably more accurate than we would guess.

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Love that movie and im sure thats pretty damn accurate.

Also, when i went to pull my 8.8 there were 3 others with 4.10s and LS in them...

just my .02

i am running a detroit locked 35 with 4.10's and 31's. wheel it plenty hard and do NOT keep my foot out of it on the street.

on the other hand, i am also building a 44. trying to beat the ticking time bomb if you will.

tomcat said:

i am running a detroit locked 35 with 4.10's and 31's. wheel it plenty hard and do NOT keep my foot out of it on the street.

on the other hand, i am also building a 44. trying to beat the ticking time bomb if you will.

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When I blew up my 35 (open diff, stock gears, 32's, dirt road) I had an 8.25 geared and locked sitting in the garage, waiting on me to buy the front gears to go with it.

Good plan.

So far the Jeep has been fine on the street although I really need to regear with these hills, it's a dog. I was hoping I could figure out a cheap upgrade real quick because I plan on going to the desert over Halloween and want to make sure I don't get stuck in the sand. I'm not a sand person, my Jeep is built for the back woods trails.
I guess for the same price as the cheapest locker I could find (Powertrax no-slip or Lockright) an 8.8 might work although axles out here in CA seem to go for rediculous prices. If I was to swap in an 8.8 I'd have to figure out the ABS problem since my XJ has ABS and I'd like to keep it if I could. A friend said I might be able to find an adapter for the wiring so I can hook the 8.8 ABS to my Jeep ABS, but I've never heard of this.

xj ABS is not compatable with the 8.8, and you should really get rid of the ABS before it kills you when your wheeling. the ABS was the first thing i ripped out when i bought my xj, because it malfunctioned on my first wheeling trip causing my breaks to stop working and i almost bounced off a tree coming down a hill.