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M35 super Eliminator kit?

spdyracer

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Florence, KY
I know I'll probably get a lot of (get a 8.25 or dana 44) replies but I was wanting to get opinions on this kit. I have a 98 with a d35 rear and was looking for options to upgrade it. First i was thinking about going to a d44 but i keep hearing there hard to find. Then I thought about a 8.25 but the thought of still having a c-clip rearend I'm still not crazy about. After looking around I found this kit and it got me thinking, I could keep my rearend i already have and upgrade it to a non c-clip 30 spline shaft with a arb locker for $1,600. Wandering if anyone has used this kit to upgrade the d35? I have a 4.5" rubicon express lift with 33" tires and have no plans at all to go any bigger with the lift or the tires. Most of the driving is road driving and probably going off road 8-10 times a year. I'm thinking if the kit would hold up to what i have then i might go with it and save me the trouble of hunting down a d44 or 8.25. Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
its a D35, c clipp or not its simply junk, you may upgrade the shafts but everything else is still junk, a 8.25 or 8.8 are both great upgrades, and ive never heard of a c clip failing or breaking
 
You could get an 8.8 build it with a cclip eliminator and still come out ahead vs that price. Dump the D35 there is a reason it is called a "turdy five" the thing is a piece. My smaller 28 spline 8.8 has never smoked a cclip been wheeling it for over a year now. Thats using the stock LSD, brake pedal and gas as a locker. They are tough axles. Everytime I go wheeling with my XJ, D35 and my bias 33's it makes me nervous as hell the axle already picked up a clicking like its skipping teeth :/ Doing anything to those axles is not worth shit.
 
The reason why C-Clip rears are not favorable, is that the D35 in most Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers (Except XJ 84-86 for sure, and early 4.0L models) had C-Clips. The C-Clips never fail, the axle would break and the axle would walk out of the housing. The D35 Axle tubes are also the weakest of the available axle types in a Jeep.

Axles which retain their axles via bearings at the hub and a retaining plate are generally preferred because if you brake the axle, it will not walk out on you.

That said, many Super35 kits were sold, and there are many upgrades for the D35, with the exception of a bearing retainer kit (unless you go to a full floating kit with lockouts).

Corporate 8.25 axles are cheap, and though they are also C-Clip retained, are not as prone to breakage. The Ford 8.8 uses bearing retainers, and is also cheap enough.

It's a cost thing. Sure you can put lots of money into upgrading and trussing the D35, but why bother?

-Ron
 
do the full size 8.8 not use c-clips. because every explorer 8.8 i've ever seen has had c-clips. there are companies that sell c-clip eliminators for the 8.8, but stock i'm pretty sure they are all c-clip axles.

as long as you don't wheel like a drunken retarded monkey with add and know when to take a strap, the d35 will hold up fine to 33's. i wouldn't bother with the upgrade kit. save some money and just get some chromo shafts and a lock rite and call it a day
 
do the full size 8.8 not use c-clips. because every explorer 8.8 i've ever seen has had c-clips. there are companies that sell c-clip eliminators for the 8.8, but stock i'm pretty sure they are all c-clip axles.

as long as you don't wheel like a drunken retarded monkey with add and know when to take a strap, the d35 will hold up fine to 33's. i wouldn't bother with the upgrade kit. save some money and just get some chromo shafts and a lock rite and call it a day

Yah, I was thinking Ford 9".

A locked D35 will put up with 33's an a 2.5 all day, if you don't play real hard. I had one behind a V6 that I beat the snot out of, and it never broke.

Like I said, it's a cost thing. CM shafts $ > 8.25 or 8.8 $

-Ron
 
The reason why C-Clip rears are not favorable, is that the D35 in most Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers (Except XJ 84-86 for sure, and early 4.0L models) had C-Clips. The C-Clips never fail, the axle would break and the axle would walk out of the housing. The D35 Axle tubes are also the weakest of the available axle types in a Jeep.

Axles which retain their axles via bearings at the hub and a retaining plate are generally preferred because if you brake the axle, it will not walk out on you.

That said, many Super35 kits were sold, and there are many upgrades for the D35, with the exception of a bearing retainer kit (unless you go to a full floating kit with lockouts).

Corporate 8.25 axles are cheap, and though they are also C-Clip retained, are not as prone to breakage. The Ford 8.8 uses bearing retainers, and is also cheap enough.

It's a cost thing. Sure you can put lots of money into upgrading and trussing the D35, but why bother?

-Ron

The 8.8 like was said is a C-clip. The only way I have seen them break is with people bouncing on them locked. That being said if you snap a non-cclip axle you still have to pull and replace the axle. Continuing to move on one will destroy the bearing etc.

The next argument is generally that cclips are more of a pain to change since you have to pop the pumpkin open. I have never seen a rear axle break that didn't need the pumpkin opened to pull hunks of the shaft out.

Cclips get a bad rap but the really aren't bad unless your driving style does something stupid. User error does not make a part bad...
 
The reason why C-Clip rears are not favorable, is that the D35 in most Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers (Except XJ 84-86 for sure, and early 4.0L models) had C-Clips.


lol, anybody else find this sentence confusing?
 
^ I think he confused himself mid post... A Dana 35 is worth scrap, i would sink a penny into it, you can grab a 29spl 8.25 fairly cheap(80-150$) and directly install that aside for needing new ubolts.
 
lol, anybody else find this sentence confusing?


Take sentences out of context, and you get that.

Let me clarify since this has turned into your typical D35 abuse thread.

The early D35's did not have C-Clips. They were bearing retained.

D35's are Not the most awesome in existence, but it was the one that Jeep put behind early Cherokees, All YJs, most TJs, and early Grands. It's what we had to work with. The tubes were weak, and the axles would bust if abused. If you had a C-Clip one you were not going anywhere if you busted an axle. At least with bearing retained one, there was the possibility you could limp back to the trail head.

*Would I put money into a D35 for anything other than a locker? No.
*Have I wheeled the snot out of a D35 and not busted it?
*On 33's? Yes, I have even seen one, locked, on 35's on a MJ Truggy; the guy had been wheeling it for years.

But to every exception, there is that newbie driver who believes that it he doesn't mash the WOW pedal, he won't go anywhere. Those folks bust axles.

I wouldn't spend the coin on CM axles, trusses, or a full floater kit for the D35. I would simply go buy a 8.25, an 8.8, or a D44 to swap in and call it done. Sure, you can polish a turd, but in the end, it is just a swell looking turd. A used 8.25 is $100 to $150 at the JY.

To the OP:
The issue about being a C-Clip rear, well, for the increased strength of the 8.25, I wouldn't worry about it. If you feel strongly about it, upgrade the 8.25 axles to CM.

-Ron
 
The D35 housing isn't up to the task. Spend your money elsewhere...either an 8.25, 8.8, or D44.

There are some built used axles available for the same or less $$.

PM me for more info.
 
Dude, for less than a grand you could have an 8.25 with alloys and a locker. You would most likely never break it. With a D35, even with alloys, you have a good chance of breaking the ring gear due to deflection of the housing.
 
Dude, for less than a grand you could have an 8.25 with alloys and a locker. You would most likely never break it. With a D35, even with alloys, you have a good chance of breaking the ring gear due to deflection of the housing.
x2 on axle swap.
 
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