I have a 2008 2 door X model with the Dana 35 front and Dana 44 rear. I am currently running stock 3.73 gears, 6 speed, 35x12.50 tires. I have been considering upgrading to 37's, but I don't want to push the Dana 35 past it's limits. Does anybody out there have 37's with a D35 in the front? If I upgrade the gearing and go with chromoly axle shafts, will it be beefy enough? I don't do any extreme rock crawling, but I like to run some moderate trails.
Also, what is the tallest (lowest gear ratio) offered for the D35? I have been told that 4.88 is the lowest, but I hear people on here talk about 5.13. Any ideas?
If you have 37's on a Dana 35, please send word of any issues experienced, good or bad. Thanks.

 

I am pretty sure it is a Dana 30 front, not the 35. For quite a while Offroad Evolution was running 37" tires in the front on the Dana 30 with no issues, and he wheeled pretty hard. I think that they upgraded the shafts, but I am not sure. I also know the Burnsville Offroad has installed a Hemi and 37" tires on a Sahara before and wheeled it without problems, but I would think that would really be pushing it.

 

Thanks for the response. Like I said, I don't do any hard core rock crawling or anything as this is my daily driver. I put about 70 miles per day on my Jeep. That's another concern with the 37's.

 

Another question: How do you know what you have in the front/rear? I have been told that it looks like I have a Dana 44 in the front, but I do not know how to tell. It's an X model, so I assume I don't. The window sticker was lost when I bought the Jeep. I confirmed that it had the 3.73 gears by calling Jeep and giving them the VIN number. Is there a way to tell by looking what I have?

 

the shape of the cover will tell you what it is.




that isnt the picture i wanted, but it was the first decent one i found.

i dont think jeep did any 35 fronts *L* but i have a 35 rear.

 

So, if my front and rear covers look exactly the same, I have Dana 44's on both ends?

 

Yeah, definitely the D30 front and D44 rear. As for how the D30 will hold up, depends how you drive it. There are more than a few running 37's with the D30 and as long as you take it easy it can work. Obviously any upgrades you do will help.

 

I know that AZBulldog is running 40's() on his Dana 30 and he wheels it every weekend. He is also running 5.13's, new shafts, and air lockers...

So far there have been no breaks...

He was running 37's for quite a while before he got the 40's also

 

you can find a lot of good info on this article regarding axles:

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-tech/j...er-axle-basics

 

I am not 100% sure on this, but maybe someone else can confirm, but I have heard that the only difference on the JK 30, and 44 is the ring gear diameter. The actual tubing used in the axle is the same, so as long as you upgrade the internals they will be just as strong if not stonger than the 44.