dana 35 (firsthand experience)

[camoxj93]

please help people. i keep reading and hearing conflicting info. DANA 35 (upgraded), is it or is it not strong enough for wheeling with no more than 31" tires? if you have experience with them please reply.

 

[87manche]

if you upgrade the shafts you've got to worry about the tubes, if you truss it to kep the tubes flexing then the small ring and pinion become the breaking point. There's an axle and gearing sticky at the top of this forum, read that. Most people agree here that the D35 has so many problems that it's not worth dumping any money into. Wheel it till it breaks, but have a replacement ready.

 

[2001XJeep]

Just wheel it till you break it, then upgrade to something stronger/better. You never know, that 35 may last longer than you expect and you can be saving up for something better while beating on it. Who knows, it may never give you a problem, crazier things have happened.

 

[Rufio]

Just wheel it till you break it, then upgrade to something stronger/better. You never know, that 35 may last longer than you expect and you can be saving up for something better while beating on it. Who knows, it may never give you a problem, crazier things have happened.

i second that.......

im running re 4.5 with 33x12.5x15 super swamper's with dana35 rear dana 30 front.... no problems yet, but i do need to regear haha


run it tell ya break it

 

[camoxj93]

i second that.......

im running re 4.5 with 33x12.5x15 super swamper's with dana35 rear dana 30 front.... no problems yet, but i do need to regear haha


run it tell ya break it

but do you wheel it or just drive on the street?

 

[Infidel_XJ]

Hmmmmm spend the money and time now to upgrade.......

Or wait till a great weekend of wheeling deep in the woods with friends and BLAM your 35 blows....

Seems simple... upgrade now.... if you wheel

 

[Rufio]

but do you wheel it or just drive on the street?

i wheel it

 

[2001XJeep]

Hmmmmm spend the money and time now to upgrade.......

Or wait till a great weekend of wheeling deep in the woods with friends and BLAM your 35 blows....

Seems simple... upgrade now.... if you wheel

Very true, but you can use this philosophy to the point of never getting off the road. I call it "analysis paralysis". I agree fully about doing all you can before getting in a situation like you speak of, however, at the same time there are a thousand other things that could give you problems deep in the woods that need to be considered as well. If money is no issue then of course up grade now, ARB's front and rear while you're at it. The most important thing is to have friends with you. Nothing sucks worse than getting stuck all by your lonesome. Been there, done that, not planning on ever doing it again.

 

[offroadman83]

Well my experience is watching my brother wheel. He broke it the first time on a small dirt hill (so small cars could go up) in 2 wheel drive. He was on 33s and locked and geared to 3.73s with a standard tranny. The next time he twisted the splines on the shaft on the STREET! Same setup. Needless to say he now has a mopar 8.75 (use to be under hemi cars). It should have no problem------------------Kyle

 

[Overdriven]

I did a ton of wheelin' with a D35, 31's, and it was welded. This is probably the easiest way to break a 35 but I never did. Wheeled it for about a year that way. I'm more of a finess wheeler as opposed to a balls to the wall wheeler so maybe that had something to do with it. I didn't have the money to upgrade "just in case" so I wheeled' till I broke then I upgraded what I broke.

 

[2001XJeep]

The 35 does seem to be a strange bird. I've had good experiences with them, but have heard many bad things as well. I don't know if it's a quality issue when they're manufactured, maybe getting a good one is a gamble?? All I know is the 35's in both our TJ and ZJ have seen a lot of hard miles, both on and off road. So far so good.

But I've never run 33's either.

 

[mwm]

I run 31's oppen and ive beaten it fairly hard, Still running strong. Ive heard rumors that the non-c-clip versions are a bit tougher then the C-clip ones, I dont get why they would be but who knows, Ive run both D35 c-clip and non clip and ive yet to have problems, But im only runnin 31" Mt's open

 

[85cherokeechief]

I ran mine for over a year with the dana 35 and 32's before it broke. I did not break the shafts or anything, but the carrier actually split in half. I did wheel mine on a weekly basis, but it was all mud, and a stock 2.8 with 3.73 gears isnt exactly hard on axles.

 

[norcal420]

PM 2yellowmonkeys... he doesn't come around here often, but he runs 32s, with a detroit, 4.10s in a D35. He hasn't broken it yet... and he wheels it.

http://home.comcast.net/~norcal11/Sundry/Jaredcreek.jpg

DR

 

[awspence]

i was wheeling last weekend, and i guy who was coming by where i was stopped popped something, thought it was a shaft, but the wheel stayed on, so we took a closer look and he has stripped the teeth off of one of the side gears, obviously he was open, and on either 33s or 35s, i was really surprised that the side gear went before a shaft did, but it ruined his day, because he was carrying spare shafts, but those didnt help at all obviously, so i strapped him back to a road and he had to drive home in front wheel drive

 

[creeperjeep]

I have run a welded non C-clip D35 with 33 MT/Rs for 8 months or so, DD and trail rig.

No problems just leaking seals, maybe from the housing flexing?

 

[offroadman83]

Oh just thought of another experience. My friend did a burnout in his driveway twice and both times stripped the teeth on the ring gear. It was on 31" all terrains and 3.73s. I am sure the burnout didn't help but still ==============Kyle:shocked:

 

[Weasel]

33" PJ (heavy) and 4.56 with ARB on a Non C Clip 35. no problems, should truss the dumb thing though.

 

[LOWTECH]

please help people. i keep reading and hearing conflicting info. DANA 35 (upgraded), is it or is it not strong enough for wheeling with no more than 31" tires? if you have experience with them please reply.

I'm wheel'en Super Swamper TrXus 35x12.50x15, (before that 33x13.50x15 LTB's), Rear Truss, 4:56 gears, front & rear ARB's with my Super 35 and Super 30. Been running it for 2-1/2 years now with NO problems, and yes I do beat the crap out of it, it is NOT a daily driver.

 

[ChicksDigWagons]

For what its worth I've trashed a Dana 35 R&P on stock tires, with a stock 2.5 on the street. Dumping the clutch undoubtedly was the cause, but its food for thought.