Jeep Rear End

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TheBoy

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Hi All,
Not knowing anything about anything, can I put a jeep rear end in a Duster? The Duster is originally a slant six, I'm upgrading it to a 318 and need a new rear end. Someone in town has a Dana 35 w/Detroit Truetrac Differential and a 3.73. Came off his 200t jeep.

No clue if it will work or not and dont want to miss out on a good opportunity!
 
I would consider missing out on a Dana 35 as a good opportunity. That rear end is weak junk at best, not worth the mig wire to install perches on. They also have radio flyer rear brakes on them.
Get an 8.8 Ford from Exploder for $100-$150 which will have disk brakes, 5x4.5" or BBP and usually a limited slip. Ratios from 3.08-4.10 in 30 spline Exploder model. Look up sticky for info.
 
Thank you for the fast responses. Great advise on the 8.8, I have not considered it. Good to hear it's the right lug pattern. Is ther e aspecific year range I should target? I thought exploaders were six cylinder?
 
pupjoint said:
Depends on where you want drum or disc, the 97 up is disc with 31 spline.
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1995 was the first year of 31 spline disk rear. All exploders will have disk, year 95-01 or maybe 02. Avoid the Ranger rear as its only 27 spline drum no Trac loc either. If you have a hard time finding the flange to yoke piece for drive shaft, give the shop a call, we have them. Evan
 
They are not "junk" as literally millions have been used over time in various applications. When used in their element, they are good rear axles. It's a Dana. Dana/Spicer doesn't make junk.

Put in the wrong application, such as a vehicle with a lot of bottom end torque capable of hard launches and they are not a good match.

That does not make them junk. It shows the user has poor judgment.
 
magnummopar said:
1995 was the first year of 31 spline disk rear. All exploders will have disk, year 95-01 or maybe 02. Avoid the Ranger rear as its only 27 spline drum no Trac loc either. If you have a hard time finding the flange to yoke piece for drive shaft, give the shop a call, we have them. Evan
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Agree to some extent:

28 spline not 27.

There are Rangers that have had Trac-lok's in them. Some of them even had the Zexel-Torsen limited slip 8.8 as well (Ranger FX-4's)

And yes Ranger (EXCEPT FX-4 and FX-4 Level II, as they use 31) uses the 28 spline. Exploders use 31. Exploder have axle-bottom spring mounts, Rangers use the axle-top spring mounts.

From what some people here have told me, there are some Ford 9 inch's that would be a direct bolt-on.

Yes Dana 35 is weaker than the 8 1/4 counterparts. I used to own a 1992 Jeep Cherokee and I was even thinking of eventually putting in an 8.8.
Then I got bit. By the A-body bug that is and sold the jeep.

Here some good info: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Ford-8_8-axle.shtml

**Edit**: I agree with RRR. Dana 35 is not entirely junk. Just don't be sticking on 35 inch tires and think you can rock-crawl Moab, UT with it like that.
 
The Dana 35 is not "junk"....They are about the same strength as a 8-1/4 mopar rear......Where the off roaders start breaking axles is when they have huge 35" or larger tires and are rock crawling and beating the hell out of them......Also you can buy the disk brake package for them too.....
 
IIRC, someone told me the 8 1/4's in some of the XJ Cherokees had the same center-to-center leaf spring perches as an A-body. It would be nice if someone could verify that, that would be great.
 
bbrroowwnn said:
The Dana 35 is not "junk"....They are about the same strength as a 8-1/4 mopar rear......Where the off roaders start breaking axles is when they have huge 35" or larger tires and are rock crawling and beating the hell out of them......Also you can buy the disk brake package for them too.....
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The 8 1/4(actually 8 3/8") in 96 and up Cherokees have 29 spline axles.

The Dana is noticeably weaker then a 27 spline 8 1/4. D35's break with 31" tires pretty easy. The 27 spline 8 1/4 that replace it even help up to 33's with a Lincoln locker for 10 years of abuse. It handled the 4.0 with a 3.8 Atlas transfer case too.

I have broken axles in a D35 with the 4cyl engine too. It's housing even gets bent real easy.

Definitely pass on a D35. I would rate it as being about equal to a 7 1/4" axle.
 
To defend my "junk" label, I have built custom Jeeps since 1998 when the TJ first arrived. I have seen dana 35 axles eat the spider gears with stock tires after 70K miles of street with frequent oil changes, their main weakness is that the carrier housing ovals out around the spider gear shaft causing lot of slop between shaft and carrier housing. When this happens and you accelerate i can easily snap the shaft and cause a catastrophic failure. Given the big bock power of the beastly 2.5 L engine, I would have to say failures under 100K miles clearly point to "junk" .

Dana didnt used to make junk but in later years, unfortunately, they did, the D35 being a prime example. I do understand that there are high mileage examples still working but there are also probably Yugos still on the road as well.

On the other hand, over 10 years of beating on a 4.88 geared locked 8.8 ford in the back of a TJ with 300+HP 5.2 Magnum and 37" tires resulted in nothing but oil changes says something too, they work!

A 8 1/4" will work as well but the 8.8 is less than 1/2 price of the disk brake conversion for the 8 1/4 and stronger. Just my $.02
 
MuuMuu101 said:
IIRC, someone told me the 8 1/4's in some of the XJ Cherokees had the same center-to-center leaf spring perches as an A-body. It would be nice if someone could verify that, that would be great.
Click to expand...

That would be quite a convenient coincidence if they were, TONS of 8 1/4's for $100....dont tell anybody or they will jump to $300 instantly!
 
Resurrecting this. I have several D35 axles about. It is is BBP which I want. It's also a leaf spring set up, which makes it easy to move the perches if I need to. Anyone know if they are the same width as the 68 Dart? I put out an add for an 8 1/4, just realized my 11 or so jeeps in the yard basically are 8 1/4s. If it is the same width, it's perfect for my /6 dart, in so many ways- the ratio is a 3.08, exactly what I want! Any words on this- a member here just PMs me and reminded me that the Grand Cherokee discs and such work in the Dodge 8 1/4, which got me up and running.

I build jeeps, and have to agree- they are only junk when you put 33s on them and a breathed on motor- they are fine with the 4 cyl and even the stock 4.0 if you don't go bigger than 31s. Honestly, I have yet to break one. I own one TJ, three YJs and one CJ.

I have heard the YJ is the same width, perches right width BUT on the wrong side of the axle- that still works for me, I can just use the perches to line up perches on the other side and weld them right on up.
 
Anyone know off hand what the perch to perch measurement of the stock spring location is on a 68 Dart?
 
Wow it got resurrected... LOL. Still good info though.
 
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