Alright, I’m beginning to think I may have bit off more than I can chew. I got everything out and apart, and everything seems very straightforward. The new gears look great, definitely seem heavier duty than what came out, but now I cannot for the life of me get the spider gears in this new kit to fit in the carrier. Videos online (thanks BFH!) make it look super easy, so I assume I have something wrong here. Could it be that these just won’t work with my setup? Or is there some trick I am missing? They seem just millimeters from fitting, but all the finagling and tweaking and force I can muster won’t get them to slip in.
Blown Dana 35 (3.73) rear differential: repair, replace or upgrade?
- Thread starter State48TJ
- Start date
That’s odd…a c-clip axle Dana 35 had a roll pin and not the threaded retaining screw? The kit comes with the threaded one because that is what is used 99% of the time. Very odd that’s not what you had installed.
You might have ended up with some mismatched parts or something. The roll pin vs the screw in retainer already seems quite odd. Your jeep might have some oddball setup which I don’t know why it would, but I’ve never seen a c clip axle using a roll pin retainer. Roll pins are for the axles like the front Dana 30 or the rear Dana 44 where you bolt in the axle shafts. The threaded retainer is for the Dana 35 where you slide in the cross pin right after retaining the axles with the c-clips. So something is off for sure.
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Like if you had thinner thrust washers it would fit? the side gears won't go out enough for the cross pin and clips?
No, I couldn’t get them to fit even without the thrust washers.
I just looked at the old vs new side gears and it seems like the old ones are a tiny bit larger in diameter where they insert into the carrier. Then when I insert them into the carrier the new ones have a bit more play in them than the old ones. I may have a mismatched setup here.. dang!
So should I get a new Dana 35 carrier or just take it to a shop and see if they can figure it out? Not sure the best way to go from here.
Your description of the issue is clear as mud to me. If it was mine i would try "normal" spider gears before paying someone 100$ an hour to work on it.
For the record, what I told him to get isn’t really special other than they’re stronger than stock. They are a normal Spicer part. The odd part here is the roll pin.
I am thinking he got an older YJ 87-90 Dana 35 carrier thrown in there at some point which would have had the roll pin. It also would have had larger journal spider gears because Jeep made the journals smaller in 1994ish. So likely he needs to get spider gears for an older YJ 87-90 Dana 35 and use those and return what was purchased.
Update:
I did try a “standard” set of Spicer gears and they did not fit either. I am thinking macho might be right, maybe it’s an older carrier.. so I ordered the spider gear set for an older model with a larger side gear bore. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any of the “net forged” for that size, so I just did standard Spicer. Praying that works. Thanks again for all the help.
I did try a “standard” set of Spicer gears and they did not fit either. I am thinking macho might be right, maybe it’s an older carrier.. so I ordered the spider gear set for an older model with a larger side gear bore. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any of the “net forged” for that size, so I just did standard Spicer. Praying that works. Thanks again for all the help.
Yeah, there are no net forged for the older carrier. Gotta use a standard gear. It’ll be fine, it’s no worse than what you already had.
You definitely must have the older carrier because the roll pin is only used on bolt in axle shaft styles. Granted you can use it with c clips, but it’s a lot more of a pain. With c clip axles they expect you to need to be able to remove them easily for service, hence why you get the bolt in pin. Oh well, you’re fixed up now.
What he is describing fits the bill. Wasn't trying to throw you under the bus. Just saying i would try others rather than let someone else do it to the tune of hundreds more dollars
But you made it up the ledge???
There was a cooler full of beer and a couple girls at the top. One way or another it was going to make it up,lol
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