First Dana 35 gives problem and now Dana 44, advice

[Unleashed]

so a few weeks ago i went out on a rocky trail with one of my buddies and somehow i broke my spider gear in dana 35

then i also realized it also wouldnt fall into 4x4, and took the ford apart and it broke again

i ended up getting a new one and need to replace that but for my rear i ended up swapping it out with a dana 44 that i was planning on building then installing it but since this happened i had to swap it out


the guy who i bought the dana 44 from had 3 different ones with different gear ratios, the one i got was a LSD with 3.07 gear ratio to match the front for now

the problem i am having now is every time i throw it into reverse the differ makes a clicking noise, (the noise the dana 35 made when the spider gear broke)....i have a 1991 Xj 2 door with a 5 speed tranny

i want to change the gears to 4.56 with a locker in the back and LSD in the front but inorder to do that i need to save up

my question for now is, why is it making that kind of noise? is it because of the 3.07 gear ratio with the 33x12.50 tires?

[Bounty__Hunter]

so a few weeks ago i went out on a rocky trail with one of my buddies and somehow i broke my spider gear in dana 35

Did one spider gear completely explode or was it never installed?

[Unleashed]

Did one spider gear completely explode or was it never installed?

your first guess haha

[cweed]

Pull the cover on the 44 and check the back lash and pinion depth using gear paint. The PO may have done some work on it or the pinion bearing prteload may be off. If anyone replaced the yoke it could easily be the pinion bearing preload.