i've got a dana 35 with the strap-style u-joint retainers and i was planning on swapping them for the u-bolt style retainers. has anyone done this swap? whats involved besides buying the new retainers ($4.99 a piece at autozone if anyone's wondering. part #81008) i assume you have to drill the bolt holes in the yoke?
Junior Member
Drilling the Yoke is not a good idea nor will it be easy unless you have a decent drill press and VERY stout drill bits.
The strap style Ubolts are plenty stout and could probably handle more abuse than your D35c shafts
There are U bolt yokes out you can buy BUT removing the yoke you risk a leaking diff unless you replace the crush seal
The strap style Ubolts are plenty stout and could probably handle more abuse than your D35c shafts
There are U bolt yokes out you can buy BUT removing the yoke you risk a leaking diff unless you replace the crush seal
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well i've already drilled the yoke once as a last ditch effort to get home from NJ and it drilled fairly easily. i was planning on picking up another yoke from the junkyard and doing the swap since i plan on replacing the pinion seal anyway. i was just wondering if the yoke HAD to be drilled to accommodate the u-bolt style retainers and if so if anyone knew what size drill bitOriginally Posted by Benz0
Drilling the Yoke is not a good idea nor will it be easy unless you have a decent drill press and VERY stout drill bits.
well i did a little bit more searching in the xj write-ups section and found the answer i was looking for. YES its necessary to drill the yoke with a 5/16" bit.
CF Veteran
Using a dremil tool to grind the back of the yoke, where the nuts go, flat will make installation a bit easier as well.
CF Veteran
I am not 100% on this, but I think the u-bolt yokes are machined a lil different. Also if you change the yoke, I hop eyou know what you are doing and set the bearing pre-load right
Junior Member
the bolt holes require drilling in order to fit the U bolts...they are a tad larger than the threaded portion of the strap bolt yoke - not a lot but enough for it to not fit
CF Veteran
The bolts for the stock u-joint straps are plenty strong enough........ if you are only driving on the street. Offroad use with oversized tires puts much more strain on all of the driveline components. The conversion is simple and I have not broken another u-joiunt since I did it to mine. It's really this simple....
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/re...version-28141/
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f51/re...version-28141/
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well i don't plan on doing A LOT of off-road driving but i'd like the piece of mind that if i do or if i decide to launch the truck hard from a light Originally Posted by winston427
The bolts for the stock u-joint straps are plenty strong enough........ if you are only driving on the street. Offroad use with oversized tires puts much more strain on all of the driveline components. The conversion is simple and I have not broken another u-joiunt since I did it to mine. It's really this simple....
that my driveshaft will stay in place