Hi All,
This is my first time to the forums, and after countless hours on here and google searches I must say I am stuck. I have a 2001 Cherokee Sport and I was nearly positive I had a Dana 35 axle, as the diff cover had the Dana Emblem on it and a little steel tag between one of the bolts that I believe I can make out a 35 on. This all lead me to believe that I had the D35, but then I was about to order new U-bolts for a budget lift, and had concerns. Everywhere I look online says that the D35 has a U bolt with an inner diameter of 2.64" and the Chrystler has a 3" U bolt and tubing on the axle. I of course wanted to make sure I was ordering the right sized u bolts so I went and measured the diameter and u-bolt dimensions, and sure enough 3". In addition to that the diff cover has the iconic flat bottom instead of the round one as the D35 has.

I haven't seen anything like this anywhere on the forums, or the answer on google. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

You either have a Dana 35 or Chrysler 8.25. Look closely at the diff cover.

 

My 8.25 had a dana rubber plug in the diff cover.

Dana marks their axles well.
Should be some more indicators stamped into the diff cover.

If you Google Image search for chrysler 8.25 it should become obvious to you whether or not you have one.

 

My Chrysler also has the rubber plug. When the lift kit was installed i ordered the wrong U bolts by mistake. They were for the Dana 35 and wouldn't fit around the axle housing in addition to being too short.

From what you described, you've got a 8.25.

 

Another easy way to tell is the 8.25 has big casting bumps on the top front section like in this pic compared to a D35.

 

Or go by the lip/edge that is on the c8.25


This is a Dana 35..no lip/edge




The C8.25 has the lip/edge..

 

Most of the D35's that year also had ABS brakes on them the Chy 8.25 did not.