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D35 upgrade question

C

codyyy

NAXJA Forum User
Location
San Diego, CA
I've been told I shouldn't dump any money into my D35, but I haven't broken it yet and I don't think I should fix/replace something that isn't broken. I plan on regearing it soon though. My question is however, in case I ever do break something, would it be worth it to throw chromoly shafts in? I'm guessing that's the first thing that would break, and it isn't much money to upgrade from what I've seen. It's a DD and has 32s on it, I might step up to 33s after I wear these out though. From what I hear of the strength of this rear end, everyone says it is weak but some people say it is good only to 31s, and some people say they've ran 33s no problem. Thanks.
 
nope, not worth it. its not even worth the cast that it was built out of
 
for the love of god, dont do it

have you looked into the price of gears?

pickup a 8.25, preferably 29 spline, thats like $150 added to your upgrade's cost, and its NOT a polished peice of chit
 
shafts brake, and are easily replaceable.... you run into ANY problems inside the center chunk, and your entire re-gearing budget just went down the drain...

ive NEVER broken a dana 35 ANYTHING... ive also never replaced as much as a brake pad on ANY dana 35.

the 8.25 is drop - in, and readily available, DO NOT put any money into the 35..
 
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Problem is I still wanna keep my ABS. The 8.25 wouldn't work, the 44 would with some fabrication, however 44s are expensive. Plus chances are no matter what rear end I get I'll have to rebuild the brakes too, further adding to the cost.
 
then do what you want, but noone on this site is going to tell you that its worth it
 
dont be a puss, you live in socal... what do you need abs for?

44's arent expensive, unless you pay someone to pull em for you.

(ive bought 3, at around $150 each)

gears are gonna cost you $400-500 installed for the rear end, your not saving money by putting them into an axle that will break on 33's... its not a beer bottle, you cant take the chunks and get some coins back, once its broke, its BROKE.
 
Unless you never wheel or tow with your rig, you'd be money ahead in the long run to upgrade to an 8.25 or D44. I think some of the newer XJ's had an 8.25 with ABS but I'm not sure. The cost to beef up a D35 to be reliable is much more than getting an axle that is already strong. There's got to be an option to keep your ABS.
 
there is a 44 ABS thread on here, recent too.

go this route, and then stop worrying about it ever again.

build it up over time. invest money in that instead of the 35. axleshafts are $15 a piece at my yard, grab a set of spares when you are hunting for the 44. in fact, pull the shafts from the grand cherokee that you are pulling the ABS disk brake setup off of... shafts need to come out to pull the brake brackets anyway.
 
The only two options I've heard are the D44 ABS conversion thread on this site, and one person mentioning how he heard somewhere you could use ABS on an 8.8 if you know what teeth to shave down.
I'd like an 8.25 because they are much more popular. Every time I hit up PYP or Ecology down here they never have the 44. I don't think I've ever even seen a 44 under an XJ in real life.
Plus those places and some people know how rare they are and want as much profit as they can get. I called up Hard Rock 4x4 down here once and they wanted something like $950-$1100 for a D44 PLUS my old rear end. What a load of crap.
I can regear my axles for free just about, just gotta buy the parts.
 
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The answer to the upgrade D35 question: No.

Get some spare shafts. I'm usually parting out a Jeep or 2 and for my running buddies, I tell them, "Free - If you pull them." Don't pay much more than that. . .

A "Super 35" will hold up to 33's but it's a lot of money and a poor investment. Got a buddy here with a 1 for a TJ (4.88's / Detroit) - Figure $1200 in parts plus gears and labor and he can't give it away for $350. Heck, a stock TJ D35 is worth $250 to a repair shop!

The guts would have cost the same for a "Super 44" and we'd have had people jumping all over it at 2-3 times that price.
 
I wouldn't dump into buying a Super 35, frankly I don't even see why companies make that kit.
Now I'm starting to wonder if/how I can adapt my ABS to work with an Explorer 8.8. One of my MI friends says he gets 8.8s a lot for cheap or knows where to get them. I could probably track down one with 4.10s and regear my 30 for 4.10s and be alright, although I'm still wondering if I should go with 4.56s. 4.10s would return my Jeep to factory ratio.
 
codyyy said:
I wouldn't dump into buying a Super 35, frankly I don't even see why companies make that kit.
Now I'm starting to wonder if/how I can adapt my ABS to work with an Explorer 8.8. One of my MI friends says he gets 8.8s a lot for cheap or knows where to get them. I could probably track down one with 4.10s and regear my 30 for 4.10s and be alright, although I'm still wondering if I should go with 4.56s. 4.10s would return my Jeep to factory ratio.
Click to expand...
If you plan to go with 33's in the future I suggest 4:56 or even 4:88.
 
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