[Salem50001]

Ok, so I decided to do some preventative maintenance by changing the front and rear diff gaskets and fluid and inspecting the gears. Everything was great for the front, pull off the cover, cleaned it, put it back on, and then filled it up.

However, when I went to the rear I noticed that the fill plug was A RUBBER PLUG :banghead::banghead:????? What gives? The axle is a Dana 35. Is this stock? The diff covers looked stocked and if so I have lost a little respect for Jeep for putting a rubber plug in the rear diff while the front had a screw (Dana 30).

The final question is should I upgrade the rear diff plate to something like Terra-Flex, Dyna, or Rancho armor?

 

[DeepSouthJeeper]

All D35s have a rubber fill plug. I've never really heard any problems with it so I wouldn't replace it.

 

[offroad cowboy]

Hes right, no problem with the plug, but if you want to run bigger tires i would toss the Dana 35.

 

[Thomas302]

Yea the dana 35 does have a rubber fill plug. No problems tho it doesn't leak and its easy to get out and fill the diff. Sometimes those threaded plugs are in so thight you end up stripping them out trying to remove them. Also your dana 35 will be fine up to 33's. Don't start reading into that my dana 35 broke pulling out of the driveway bs. For the thousands that broke there are probably a million that have not. And most break because of to much pressure on the skinny pedel.

 

[offroad cowboy]

Ya i ran my 35 with 35's no problem till you run a locker. than upgraded my diff. and ya driving style makes a difference. lol

 

[Diverdown87]

Ya i ran my 35 with 35's no problem till you run a locker. than upgraded my diff. and ya driving style makes a difference. lol

I run a locked D35 with 4.56 gears and 33s.Never had any problem crawling with it. PO of the axle did but he was running it locked with 35s and a bit hard on the gas when doing some culverts and flexed a tad to get over them. Driver rear had about 6 inch difference from passenger. Gave it a bit too much gas and when he made driver rear contact snapped the clip. He upgraded to chrome shafts and ran them for about 6 months before I bought them.

As long as you arent driving like a mad man and carefully plan your route a locked 35 will do fine, even with 35s.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

In my personal opinion, any tire size larger than 33" is too large for a stock Dana 35c rear axle. I would never install 35" tires on a stock D35c, that is just asking for breakage on the trail. And wheeling with something that is known to break is doing no favors for the other wheelers in the group who must stop to help with a breakage that should have been expected rather than being surprised by.