Just how bad is the D35?

In my build I want to stay as OEM as possible. Meaning if it has something I dont want to disable it and have remnants of different things around the Jeep and I dont want to get into fabbing stuff to much. ...In other words, I want to keep my ABS.

But I want a better rear axle.

D44 is good enough it would entice me to do without ABS but I wont find one at a price point Im willing to spend.

C 8.25 They are plentiful in a local yard but I dont want to get into the retrofit write ups I read putting ABS into one.

8.8 Beefy but same issue as 8.25

D35 Sucks

My compromise would be to beef up my D35. I would like to run 32" or 33" tires and occasionally (1-3x a year) wheel intermediate trails. Also I would like to equip it with a trac lock in the short term and eventually an ARB air locker.

Will a trussed D35 hold up to those tires, LSD/locker, some wheeling?

 

the D35 gets a bad rap...because it will break if its gets some hard use. Facts are facts, the numbers are out there, you even said it sucks, you know its true. You can baby it, park it carefully at the mall, whatever, but if you start adding lockers, flexing it out on the trail, chances of breakage increase greatly. You don't anything about people breaking the 8.25 (I know...someone will probably post below about it ), do yourself a favor and swap in an 8.25...its real easy, you don't need ABS anyways.

 

What kind of tires are you running? And what kind of wheeling? D35 can fit your purpose.

 

Swapped my D35 out of my 1990 xj with a unit from '96 and its much beefier. My '97 has the 28 spline 8.25 so I can trail with no worries. The swap was simple and straight forward. Took me about 5 hours to swap out and in. Need new U bolts and people say a drive shaft from a 8.25 but I used my D35 shaft with no problems

 

Not sure on tires yet. I do really like the tires I had one a previous WJ. They were 32" Maxxis Bighorns. Whatever I get they will be Mud Terrains

The wheeling wouldnt be crazy but def. more than a green trail.

I'll be honest I would go 8.25 but when I broke a tone ring on my D30 and pulled the fuses on my ABS it acted horrible. Brakes worked but the back was stronger than the front and the pedal was weird. Pedal was stiff and if you pressed it 1/16th of an inch to far/hard the REAR would lock up. Not fun! Especially if its wet out.

 

I drove a 95 XJ with ABS, cut the wires to all 4 sensors, pulled the bulbs and relay, that thing was awesome, braked like it should. Welded up the rear D35, wheeled the snot out of it on 33s, and busted a shaft in no time