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My Dana 35 exploded.

M

mattbred

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Canada
The Dana 35 in my '89 Cherokee exploded yesterday on the highway. Just shifted into fifth right outside of town, doing about 100 KPH when I heard a KABANG! followed by thump thump thump thump. Shit. Pulled off to the side of the road and walked home. Got the jeep back to the garage today and found that things weren't so nice in the diff..

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The pinion gear is mostly gone, shredded into bits. Took out some of the ring gear, and part of the housing. It still had plenty of oil in it, I guess it was just over stressed from 397,000KM of abuse. Goodbye, Dana 35, you served me well.
 
Damn 35s are junk, only going 397,000 kilometers!
 
matttaylor1976 said:
quick question for you, was that an lsd? I have a carrier in the garage that looks identical, and was told it's an lsd. Nobody else seems to think so.
Click to expand...

I was told it was an LSD when I bought it from the guy. I don't know how to recognise them though.

I'm going to try and find an 8.25 to put in it. Anything with low KM's basically that requires little/no fab work.
 
D44's aren't bullet proof either. I would go 8.8 or if money is a issue, go with a 29 spline 8.25

Here is a bullet proof D-44, unfortunately its not as bullet proof on the inside. This happened to a local wheeler last weekend on his Rubi

damdiff3.jpg
 
Wow! So contrary to popular belief 44's are not worth their weight in gold.

8.8 or 29spl 8.25 : If you plan on doing discs on the 8.25 it might be cheaper in the long run to go 8.8

Rig specs? Lift? tire size (current and desired) Gear ratio?
 
matttaylor1976 said:
quick question for you, was that an lsd? I have a carrier in the garage that looks identical, and was told it's an lsd. Nobody else seems to think so.
Click to expand...
Definitely an LSD - a Trac-Lok to be specific. Or is it a Trak-Loc? I always forget :looney:

You can recognize them because the carrier is more cylindrical, with flat ends, while a regular carrier is more rounded on the ends.

mattbred said:
I was told it was an LSD when I bought it from the guy. I don't know how to recognise them though.

I'm going to try and find an 8.25 to put in it. Anything with low KM's basically that requires little/no fab work.
Click to expand...
Make sure you get one with the right gear ratio and you're golden! You will need new U-bolts.

If I may ask... what size tires were you running?
 
I don't really want to upgrade because I was recently in a rear end accident (3 weeks ago) and insurance might write my jeep off. This rear end explosion happend at a bad time.

It's currently got no lift, and 235/75/r15's on it. Never wheeled it hard, but I drove it hard on pavement. Not looking for discs either, just a basic axle. I'd even go 27 spline 8.25 if I can't find a 29 spline.

Oh yeah and the ratio is 3.07, which might be hard to find at the junkyard.
 
3.07 on a manual equipped XJ with a 4.0 engine.
 
Quick question, is it possible to gut the rear differential in any way, and run the jeep in FWD?

I don't want to spend any money on the XJ until insurance figures out what they want to do with it. If they write it off and take it from me, then this will be $150 wasted. if I can gut the diff in a way that no gears spin, but the axles stay secure (I know nothing about diffs) then I can continue to run it in FWD. If I'm able to keep the jeep, I'll throw in a newer rear axle and upgrade my springs.

Possible?
 
mattbred said:
Quick question, is it possible to gut the rear differential in any way, and run the jeep in FWD?

I don't want to spend any money on the XJ until insurance figures out what they want to do with it. If they write it off and take it from me, then this will be $150 wasted. if I can gut the diff in a way that no gears spin, but the axles stay secure (I know nothing about diffs) then I can continue to run it in FWD. If I'm able to keep the jeep, I'll throw in a newer rear axle and upgrade my springs.

Possible?
Click to expand...
You have differential coverage???
 
mattbred said:
Quick question, is it possible to gut the rear differential in any way, and run the jeep in FWD?

I don't want to spend any money on the XJ until insurance figures out what they want to do with it. If they write it off and take it from me, then this will be $150 wasted. if I can gut the diff in a way that no gears spin, but the axles stay secure (I know nothing about diffs) then I can continue to run it in FWD. If I'm able to keep the jeep, I'll throw in a newer rear axle and upgrade my springs.

Possible?
Click to expand...
Possible if the spider gears haven't been wrecked. Pull the cross shaft out of the carrier, take out the spiders, pop the axleshafts out, remove carrier, unbolt ring gear from it and discard (or keep as a trophy / paperweight), reinstall carrier into housing, reinstall axleshafts and c clips, reinstall spiders and cross shaft. Fill er back up with oil and let it go... try to get all the fragments of metal out of the housing, make sure there isn't any hiding behind the pinion or in the bearings back there.

Try and keep the side gears from coming out while you're unbolting the ring gear, the easiest way is to reinstall the spiders and cross shaft as soon as you get the c clips off the axleshafts while removing the carrier.
 
D35.....What is it good for absolutely nothing!


why not just let them total it, then buy it back for the couple hundred? That would be an interesting mod making a FWD cherokee, but realize that the front axle is driven by the chain in the T case. It will stretch it out prematurely.

Good Luck!
 
I fixed a 1997 Wrangler that had nearly the same thing happen to it for under $500. I got a junkyard ring and pinion, new bearings, and seals for the D35.

It was a pretty fun learning experience, as I had always been afraid of setting up a rear end. In all it was pretty easy, but my neighbor is a 75 year old former Chrysler tech and State Highway Patrol mechanic. He walked me through the whole process, but I think I could have managed on my on.
 
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