Hey guys! So my pinion bearing in my dana 35 has been screaming to be put out of it's misery for um quite awhile. Long story short, purely because of 1) MONEY and 2) TIME my best option was to pick up a junkyard rear with the gears i wanted and hoped everything worked out. I got a junkyard dana 35 with 4.10's in it in that's in pretty good shape for $120 bucks. The gears are in great shape, it was full of fluid and all the seals seemed to hold. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the drivers side drum brake backing plate was bent just a little bit - causing the brake shoes to be sitting slightly cocked relative to the drum. So obviously that had to be addressed. Also the carrier bearings were a little crusty. The I'd rather not risk swapping this in and having it blow up a month later type crusty. So I figured I might as well yank this all apart, clean it, throw some bearings/seals & brakes and call it a day. I was quoted $700 to have this done by a shop. BUT that was my housing + new gears, new bearings etc, + warranty so that's really not a bad price. I'm just stubborn and want to learn a thing or two and save money lol. So today I pulled most of the axle apart. It was surprisingly easy. Everything came out relatively easy, nothing fought me too hard.



Pulled this turd out of a junkyard. Came with 4.10's out of a '99 Cherokee. I couldn't find a Chrysler 8.25 with 4.10 in any sort of half way decent shape. Everyone wanted $300 for a rust P.O.S with 3.55s in 'em.



Still had the factory tag on it, factory sealed around the cover also.



Carrier bearings looking suspect. I'm sure some will say I may have been fine with them. But since I already have the rear out and ripped open, I figured I might as well do it right.



Pulled the half shafts, took apart the drum brakes, bagged and tagged everything. I didn't have enough leverage to pull the carrier out with just one pry bar. WIll need to grab another one from the shop tomorrow and try this again tomorrow night.



Took the pin out, popped the c-clips, took the half shafts. Everything came out surprisingly smoothly.



Getting all new brake hardware, shoes, wheel cylinder, drums etc.