I used to have a 55 chevy, long leaf springs and a sticky tire dont play well together. That car would hook in a mud puddle when I got done with it. Long perch mounts, traction bars got it done.

 

D35 will handle 33s. 8.8 hangs down quite a bit for 33s, you'd lose ground clearance.

Skill over brute force young one. Let the force be with you.

Seriously though if you're planning on staying at 35s or under I'd grab an 8.25 and run that. Much easier for you.

 

I never said I had a 35 lol. I have a 8.25 on

 

I was given one 8.8 (4.10 gears) the other (3.55 gears) was cheap so Im doing the swap plus I like the rear disc brakes, etc .

 

Lucky you. Only reason why I'm considering the 8.8 4.10 because I got 4.10 for my Dana 30. I don't know whether to regear my 8.25 or get a 8.8

 

If I were you I would re gear your present unit , unless you can fab . There are a few more tidbits to doing the 8.8 swap !
You would need to weld axle tubes to center section .
Figure out parking brake cables .
Are you ok with it being 1.5 inches narrower ?
Just food for thought .

 

Yeah I guess re gearing the 8.25 probably is cheaper in terms of time and money

 

Just throw a Traction bar on it and be done with it.

 

I have a 90 cherokee that i did a 8.8 swap to with 4.88s and a locker in it and I have very little axle wrap. I grew up around fords and always had rangers and bronco lls so of course I stayed with the whole ford rear aspect. I like the 8.8s for a variety of different reasons but I am only running 35s I ran one a few years ago on 38s for 2 years wheeled every other weekend and it held up great. Id say go with the longer perches like mentioned before and if you still have issues through so traction bars on it but you should be good.