co-MAN-che Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 This is the second comanche I've owned and I'm beginning to get a growl out of the rear end. My first one had a nasty roar in the rear axle from when I first bought it to when I sold it in about 2 years time. The axles in question are Dana 35's. I made sure time and time again the correct viscosity oil and correct oil level was present at all times. Since then I've found out these axles are notorious for being weaklings and becoming damaged easily from normal use. I am planning on replacing the dana 35 in my current truck. I'm not trying to build an 8 second quarter miler or ultimax crawler or anything of the sort, I just want a more capable axle to allow my light duty truck to be a capable light duty truck. Haul a 1000lb load in the bed or pull a 1500lb trailer or get a little squirrely in my field after a rainy day. I've narrowed it down to two axles that I believe would suit my purposes best; a Chrysler 8.25 or a Dana 44. I would like other more professional opinions on which one would best suit my needs or if there is another that is a likely candidate that I may have missed. I do understand that gear ratio must be considered for speedo and 4wd compatibility, that the brakes may need to be converted to disc, that pinion angle and alignment do matter, and that the comanche is a spring under and I'm referring to spring over axles. Willing to do the necessary work to make it fit and work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckwheat Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Just in case you overlooked it, think of a Ford 8.8. Depending on what you read they as strong as or stronger than a Dana 44, and would require the same amount of work to install as the Chrysler 8.25. Get the right vintage and it comes with disc brakes. It was an easy swap for me, took 5-6 hours with a helper, and I am a noob when it comes to mechanics. My $0.02. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 he is referring to the 8.8 under Explorers. the 8.8 was a popular axle under many fords, but the explorer one has the right bolt pattern and width is close (5/8" narrower per side than stock Jeep axles). 3.55 and 4.10 ratios are common and 95+ have disk brakes. also, the v6 and v8 explorer axles have different part numbers, but they are the same inside. car-part.com can help with finding junkyard axles. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 what I should do is get my gear ratio for my front end so that way I can know my options a little better. If the little tag that is usually on the side of the diff cover is gone, isn't the ratio stamped on the ring gear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 G/R is usually stamped on the ring gear, yes. Otherwise the dirty method of counting splines works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 what engine/transmission do you have? how stock is the truck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1stDeuce Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 No need to peel off a diff cover and try reading through gear oil... To get gear ratio: Block front tire. Jack up ONE rear tire. Put the trans in N. Rotate raised tire till valve stem is at the bottom. Make a mark on the driveshaft that you can watch as it spins... Then rotate the raised tire exactly two full revolutions while counting how many times the driveshaft turns. Driveshaft revolutions is your gear ratio. IE, if the driveshaft spins just over 3 turns when you spin the tire two turns, you have 3.07 gears. Driveshaft just over 4 turns, then you have 4.11. About 3.5 turns = 3.55, and you can probably guestimate if it ends up at ~3.75 turns that you have 3.73 gears. Pretty good chance that it's 3.55 if it's 4wd, and 3.7 if it's 2wd. Easiest axle to put in is a D44 out of another Comanche. Good luck finding one. Next easiest is a D44 out of an XJ. Again good luck! Then a Corporate axle from an XJ, which is easier to find. Then the 8.8 out of an explorer, which is easy to find, but requires the most work/parts. Added bonus of explorer axle is that they all have a LSD, and disc brakes. Downside is you'll need to buy a conversion yoke, and the driveshaft may need shortening, and you'll want wheel spacers unless you like the really narrow rear look. (Comanche's are already slightly disadvantaged in this respect, as the rear of the body is wider than the front, but the axle widths are the same, so you can run 1" spacers and it looks pretty good...) Good luck!! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Not sure where you got your Exploder 8.8 axle spec from, but not ALL of them are LSD. 3.73/LSD is very common for V8 Exploders. All of the 95+ have discs. Conversion Yoke is not necessary, if you use a flange adapter, ~20$ on amazon. With less than 10.5 wide tires, even on stock wheels they would be fine. Less BS wheels would be better. But decent hub-centric wheel adapters/spacers can be had for about 50$. As far as swapping into an MJ. As long as staying SUA, can use the Exploder factory leaf plates. No need to peel off a diff cover and try reading through gear oil... To get gear ratio: Block front tire. Jack up ONE rear tire. Put the trans in N. Rotate raised tire till valve stem is at the bottom. Make a mark on the driveshaft that you can watch as it spins... Then rotate the raised tire exactly two full revolutions while counting how many times the driveshaft turns. Driveshaft revolutions is your gear ratio. IE, if the driveshaft spins just over 3 turns when you spin the tire two turns, you have 3.07 gears. Driveshaft just over 4 turns, then you have 4.11. About 3.5 turns = 3.55, and you can probably guestimate if it ends up at ~3.75 turns that you have 3.73 gears. Pretty good chance that it's 3.55 if it's 4wd, and 3.7 if it's 2wd. Easiest axle to put in is a D44 out of another Comanche. Good luck finding one. Next easiest is a D44 out of an XJ. Again good luck! Then a Corporate axle from an XJ, which is easier to find. Then the 8.8 out of an explorer, which is easy to find, but requires the most work/parts. Added bonus of explorer axle is that they all have a LSD, and disc brakes. Downside is you'll need to buy a conversion yoke, and the driveshaft may need shortening, and you'll want wheel spacers unless you like the really narrow rear look. (Comanche's are already slightly disadvantaged in this respect, as the rear of the body is wider than the front, but the axle widths are the same, so you can run 1" spacers and it looks pretty good...) Good luck!! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1stDeuce Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I found info both ways, but I'm betting Crash is right, and not all were LSD... I did find several posts suggesting that experience shows that most if not all of the Explorer axles with 4.10 gears have the LSD though... Evidently there's a door tag that will say D2 for 4.10 with LSD and D4 for 3.73 with LSD under the "axle" section. If you read the tag on the axle, it should say 4L10 or 3L73, if it's still there... As far as tires fitting, Crash is again correct, in that you won't have fit problems unless you're running really wide tires on stock wheels. What I'm saying is that the track width is about an inch narrower than our front D30, and the rear body of a Comanche is wider than the front already, so you'll probably want to run spacers so your truck doesn't look like the the rear axle is a lot narrower than the front. (It's really obvious on my truck because I'm running really skinny wheels and tires...) When I said conversion yoke, I was referring to what Crash calls a flange adapter. I found an article that gave the u-joint to axle center distance for the 35 and 8.8, and it's within an eighth of an inch, so no driveshaft shortening should be necessary... Evidently the Explorer spring plates have shock mount built in, but not the kind that will work with our shock mounting setup... Most people cut it off an weld new shock mounts onto the axle, so you'll need those too... Guess an 8.8 conversion is in my MJ's future... I know the 225k mi D35 is tired, and though it has 4.10 gears, it's open, so for the price of a new LSD and bearings I can just get an 8.8 from the JY and and have a stronger axle, LSD, and disc brakes. Really the only downside is that it has 7/8" less clearance under the pumpkin than my D35, but I'll live. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 just to throw in some more non-scientific info, I've had over twenty 4.10 explorer 8.8s go through my hands over the years and less than half of them were also LSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88whitemanche Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 This is the info I had when I was going on a hunt for a 8.8 4.10 lsd.... Image Not Found This is most important part...instead of jumping under the truck to check the tag on the diff cover...check the drivers door and look for the axle code Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REEDracing94 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 Another for the 8.8 , I was very happy with the couple I ran under my tj. The limited slip is definitely worth finding, I ran that and the front locked and found that the rear rarely slips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSimon Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 I am a big fan of the Chrysler 8.25. It is a very stout axle and will hold up well even up to 35" tires. I consider them to be only slightly weaker than a D44. And at least where I am, they are super easy to find and run about $75. They are almost all geared at 3:55, which is probably what your front D30 is. Also, since most newer Cherokees had them, you can usually find one with no rust and low-ish miles. No matter what you find (unless it came out of an MJ), you'll have to remove the existing perches and weld on new ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 In case some basic info about my truck would be of assistance as PeteM asked, its a 4.0 L6, AW4 automatic, np231 transfer case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 what size tires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 LT235/75r16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 And I plan on keeping that tire size for a while, if I ever go bigger I would cap out at 31 inches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 then you should have 3.55 now and both the 8.8 and the 8.25 are available in that ratio. :thumbsup: an option if you want to upgrade is finding either 3.73 or 4.10s. this would necessitate a change in the front too, but 3.73 are fairly common under ZJs/TJs and 4.10s are found under 2.5L/5speed XJs/MJs. I know 3.73 was common under Explorers. but not sure how easy it would be to find a 3.73 8.25 as a lot of those TJs and ZJs had dana 35s. and yes, the TJs and ZJs had low pinion fronts, but that won't matter at all in a mostly stock truck. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 FWIW the 8.8 3.55 does not come stock with limited slip. You can swap a Ford LSD carrier in to an 8.8 with 3.55 gears (what I did for a friend)...and 8.8 has no carrier break... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Once I decide on the axle that I believe will do what I need it to do, I'll get the mounting figured out, I plan on going spring over instead of under for a little lift. I appreciate the suggestions I have been given thus far and will do my own research on each axle suggested for its manufacturers specs such as load ratings and what not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 going spring-over gives 5-6 inches of lift. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted December 23, 2015 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 Oh ---- really? I was hoping for 3-4. 5-6 is a little too high unless that's my only option. Thanks for the heads up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankTheDog Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Spring over will give you 6" or so of lift. That's not a little. That's a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
co-MAN-che Posted December 26, 2015 Author Share Posted December 26, 2015 That's too much unless I chopshop some B.S. with the shackles. 6 inches and I'll have to start worrying about universal joints, breather hoses and the steering components Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 831xj on Naxja, did some custom U-bolt eliminator plates SOA on a F8.8. I wanna say ended up about 4.5" http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1124062&page=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now