I wanted to make absolutely sure if the rear axel was indeed the crappy Dana 35. I purchased this Jeep back in August and according to VIN#, the XJ came with stock D35 but didn't know if a the previous owner modified it:






Any assistance in identifying would be greatly appreciated!

 

It's a Chrysler 8.25" not a D35.

 

It's been upgraded. That's an 8.25, not a D35.

 

 

8.25 isn't the upgrade, it's the alien green paint

 

There's nothing wrong with a Dana 35

 

 

Correct. Not ONE thing, but a few.

 

Other then being a pile of crap the D35 is fine. The Chrysler 8.25 is 1000x better. Which you luckily have.

 

The D35 is fine for light or moderate use. Either that or I'm just lucky.

I looked at a 97 XJ and a 98 XJ and both had noisy 8.25 axles. One had a 2" lift and the other was stock.

I bought the 97 XJ and changed out the axle for a quiet 8.25.

My 01 XJ still has the factory D35 and at 324,000 miles have given me no problems.

In other words, 8.25's are not trouble free either. But they are much less likely to break with large tires or heavy use.

 

Wow, you guys are good - and I'm very lucky indeed! As for the "crappy" comment, it was a bit harsh especially coming from someone who's new to all this but all I keep reading on these forums is that if you had to choose between a Chrysler 8.25, D44 or a D35, the D35 would come in last, especially if you're going to put larger tires and go off-roading. For a daily driver with stock equipment I guess all is fine. So apologies to md21722 and 93_xjcherokee.

Chang, I HATE that alien green paint on the cover and several points underneath the Jeep. What was the previous owner thinking?!!!

Thanks ALL!

 

I'm not new to axles. I've heard people talk trash a lot about the d35 and I always stand up for it. I had a 91 xj with 3 inch lift on 31s with Detroit locker and d35. I beat the hell out of that Cherokee. Managed to break a shaft on the Dana 30 but the 35 held up to everything I put it through

 

That green spray paint hopefully gave you another $300 of the price....

For future reference, because this doesn't show in the overview of diff covers that was posted by DigitalBman: you can easily identify the 8.25 by the flat part/flange running along the bottom of the diff cover, as seen in the OP's pic.

 

All of the great posts on the D35 I'm sure you must be correct and can "Beat the Hell Out of Them" with 37" tires forever without any problems.

Just a bunch of guys on here that don't know how good they really are

 

Show me someone that broke one running 31s. I mean someone that actually broke one. Not ran it dry and it broke from not having fluid in it or something