I was reading some online articles about uprades for the Jeep, and the Dana-44 upgrade seemed to look pretty good albeit exspensive (for me at least).

This is for a 2000 Jeep Cherokee classic, 3 inch lift, with 30" tyres and some under armoring.

Currently I have a Dana 35...... I think? It has a plastic seal lug and on the other side of it has a small Chrysler logo on it. But I am not 100% positive on this.

Anyway, is the Dana 35 really that bad for off road usage? Would upgrading it even make sense, I use my Jeep as a DD and get pretty lousy mileage already would upgrading it make this even worse?

Instead I was thinking about armoring my Dana 35 and throwing in some better gears, to improve it? I don't think lockers on it would be of burden then usefull because it is still a DD around a city. I dont plan on going rock crawling or anything !EXTREME! but still want to have a solid rear axle for off road use.

Any input is apreciated,

 

it's not the gears, it's the axleshafts and the housing. people say the housing twists and that the shafts break. i've had zero problems with mine.

 

post up some pics of your rear axle, you may have an 8.25

 

i have a 90 xj with the d35 rear axle i have the stock 3:73 gears with 33's i have done mudding and small crawling oh yea i also sit on 7" of lift but i have beaten the crap out of mine and it has been bullet proof as of right now my buddy has a 01 with the d35 with the 3:55 gears with 35's and beats his just as hard and has had no problems with his either

 

A plastic seal sounds like a 8.25. Which one of these does it look like?

 

I think the C8.25

Here the pictures anyway, hooray for camera flash!
DSCN3262.jpg
So I am pretty sure its a c8.25 is this a good thing for me? Or not?

 

That would be an 8.25

 

Is this preferable to the Dana-35? And what should I do to improve it?

 

i know its not the best pic but can someone tell me if this is a d35

 

Its kinda hard to tell but if it has a flat bottom its an 8.25

 

im told and read a lot on here that 8.25 is a stronger axle and better for offroading

 

Consider yourself lucky with the 8.25. Here is what's left of one of the many shafts I put in my old 35. This one was a Yukon alloy on wore out 33s.

 

yup that would be a d35

 

this is a very common picture of d35............ broken.

yes they really are that bad. anything over a 30" will eventually break the axle

 

Are there any armoring options avaliable for the C8.25 Axle?