dana 35

question for all you axle nerds. my coworker has a rear axle(ya ya duh) on his 89 wagoneer and it has a drain plug that has a 3/8" socket wrench hole to take it out. my 94 cherokee dana 35 does not have that so i was wondering if that means it is a dana 44 or if its just an older model kinda thing. any help would be appreciated

compare what the diffs shapes look like. also, if it has ABS, it MUST have a D35

CROSBIKE said:

question for all you axle nerds. my coworker has a rear axle(ya ya duh) on his 89 wagoneer and it has a drain plug that has a 3/8" socket wrench hole to take it out. my 94 cherokee dana 35 does not have that so i was wondering if that means it is a dana 44 or if its just an older model kinda thing. any help would be appreciated

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89 Waggy is almost guarateed to have a D35. The D44 was all but eliminated around the end of the 1988 model year (MY.)

Still, check the pix given, you're either looking at a D35 (likely) or a D44 (long odds.) It will not, however, be a ChryCo - that showed up in 1991. The D35, however, hung on to the end of the XJ production life (with ABS - if you have a ChryCo, you do not have ABS. However, some non-ABS-equipped XJ's still had Dana 35s...)

As far as the plug goes, that's just a pipe plug. There are two general types of plug - "socket drive" (usually with a 1/4" or 3/8" square socket, up to about 1" NPT) and "square drive" - with a square drive nub. The plug you have can easily be replaced at the hardware store (if you lose it or it's rusted badly) with a plug in (I think) 1/2" NPT. I'll typically use brass - it won't rust to the steel cover.

The D-35 in my 91 MJ has a rubber plug....

It is, as you suspect, just an "older model" kind of thing.

MudDawg said:

The D-35 in my 91 MJ has a rubber plug....

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I think the rubber butt plug started when they changed to the c-clip D35. My MJ non-clip has a screw in plug and my ZJ c-clip has the rubber plug. The hole is also higher on the c-clip cover since the axle bearing are lubed by the gear oil. For that reason, I wouldn't advise swapping covers to get the metal plug.