Dana 35 Blew, Best option to repair?

[daring_fool]

Hey guys Ive been in school for the past couple of months and have been letting my Jeep sit for a bit. Just before I started school my spider gears blew inside my Dana 35 and mangled everything inside. I go back to work in a couple weeks and need my Jeep in working order.

I'm not sure what would be the best route to take.

Option A

I found this Dana 44 and would love to upgrade my current axle. The axle is going for $500. Is that a reasonable price?

rear Dana 44 (It wont let me link. Here is the description: Rear axle from a '79 Scout c/w open 4.10 gears with 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern modified Ford disc brakes
Tubes are clean ready for your mounts and bolt in to your heep. (TJ YJ XJ WJ ZJ) the right width!
$500 obo )


How difficult is it. Will it Bolt right into place or will I need to do any fabrication to make it fit?

Option B

Similar to Option A but a lot cheaper

Found a Stock dana 35 with matching gears for only 80$ I'm assuming that this one will fit right into place and no custom fabrication will be needed.


Option C

Would be to purchase the axle in Option B and just replace the the gears inside the Pumpkin. I've done some research and I know this is a difficult thing to do.

What would you guys recommended. I would prefer to do Option A but I'm worried about running into issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[rubn1out]

Hey guys Ive been in school for the past couple of months and have been letting my Jeep sit for a bit. Just before I started school my spider gears blew inside my Dana 35 and mangled everything inside. I go back to work in a couple weeks and need my Jeep in working order.

I'm not sure what would be the best route to take.

Option A

I found this Dana 44 and would love to upgrade my current axle. The axle is going for $500. Is that a reasonable price?

rear Dana 44 (It wont let me link. Here is the description: Rear axle from a '79 Scout c/w open 4.10 gears with 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern modified Ford disc brakes
Tubes are clean ready for your mounts and bolt in to your heep. (TJ YJ XJ WJ ZJ) the right width!
$500 obo  )


How difficult is it. Will it Bolt right into place or will I need to do any fabrication to make it fit?

Option B

Similar to Option A but a lot cheaper

Found a Stock dana 35 with matching gears for only 80$ I'm assuming that this one will fit right into place and no custom fabrication will be needed.


Option C

Would be to purchase the axle in Option B and just replace the the gears inside the Pumpkin. I've done some research and I know this is a difficult thing to do.

What would you guys recommended. I would prefer to do Option A but I'm worried about running into issues. Any help is greatly appreciated.

how bout i give you some free used ones?? I'm in Maryland....

 

[Utah_jeepster]

Ok first off what are you dropping this axle into? TJ, YJ, CJ, or a JK.
All scouts came with leaf springs. TJ's and JK's are coil set up.
CJ, YJ, And TJ's are a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. Some JK's are 5 on 5.0.
What sort of mechanical skills do you have? Changing gears in a Diff is difficult and requires some special tools to set pinion depth and backlash of the ring gear.
Best option for low mechanical skills option B.
Ditch option C unless you know how to set up ring and pinion gears.
Good to high mechanical skills option A but you might have different bolt patterns.

 

[daring_fool]

Browsing the Internet on your phone sucks big time but I tried to do some research for option A. just trying to figure out the total cost and what exactly is involved in doing it. I have a YJ
- The scout is 5 on 5.5" so I'll I need an adapter to fit my wheels back on. I know my stock axles are 60.5" + 2" spacers. The Dana 44 is 58.5"+(adapter which I found online is 1" 1/4) if I take out the spacers in the front the difference will only be 3/4" or can I just leave them in.
-the stock axle is off set 5/8" to the right. The Dana 44 is 1" 1/4 which is 5/8 more. Does this effect anything?
-I'm not sure exactly what the caster is. In the stock axle is 6-8 degrees. The scout is 0 degrees. Is this the angle towards the tcase? It says the solution is to rotate knuckles on axle tubes?
-Brakes. It's changing from drum brakes to disc brakes. Will the lines match up. The e brake cable is on the opposite side for the 44?
-shock mounts. Can I cut the mount off my old axle and weld them on to the 44. how would I take this measurement to make sure they are in the same spot?

 

[Utah_jeepster]

Ok here wait a minute, Caster ? knuckles? we talking front or rear axle here?
There is no caster on a rear axle. We were talking a blown Dana 35.

Now on to your other questions, a 3/4 (.750) width difference in axles is not that much and you should not see any tracking issues if you get a good 4 wheel alignment.
Now as to what you might be referring to as caster is where the spring perches angle the axle housing nose to-wards the transfer case out-put shaft?
You can cut them off and re-weld them to correct some out of plane binding in the u-joint/ yoke.
A slight left to right off set of the axle input yoke of .625 is ok as long as your drive line has extra length built in. You still need to have the axle centered to the jeep after you install the axle to get your drive-ability back or you will be scrubbing your tires and wearing them out prematurely.

As to the E-Brake cable it doesn't matter where the cable runs as long as you can adapt the connecting ends to your existing e-brake line on the jeeps under carriage. This might require you to fab something up.

Brakes are a different matter, your current proportioning valve set-up is along the lines of 70-30. When I converted my D44 from drums to disc I ended up buying a manual proportioning valve from summit racing and set mine manually. I had to disconnect the low level warning off the proportioning valve but I do keep a good eye on my jeeps oil/brake fluid levels. It will still feel weak and jeep like. The only way to change is to do a full hydro-brake conversion. I have seen and heard of people going with Grand Cherokee proportioning valves since there factory equipt 4 wheel disc brakes but the valve is set for a heavier vehicle and it still feels funny to stomp on the brakes. Going to keep mine till I have 1500$ to blow on a new brake system.

 

[eng6driver]

I live in Maryland and have the same problem. I will take your free used ones.