Who says the D35 can't take a beating?

[terrawombat]

I know the stories and I've seen the pictures of the carnage. The D35 simply just isn't up to the standards of the 'other' axles. I finally got my '88MJ Pioneer running so that it doesn't randomly overheat on me anymore (solution - ditch the Renix closed cooling system). My Dad sees me driving it and proceeds to tell me some stories about what he used to do with that truck when he owned it for a few years.

 

After my father sold all of his dairy cows, he still filled his silos with silage - a finely chopped up, high moisture food for livestock. This stuff is dense, REALLY dense, mainly because of the high water content contained within. Anyway, he got this odd job of delivering silage to a facility known as American Cyanamid where they did medicinal experiments on cows. They needed to feed them, my Dad had the goods, so he would deliver the silage twice a day, seven days a week on his 16' utility trailer. They were paying him by the pound, so he threw as much as he could on the thing until the trailer wheels were rubbing the fenderwells. He said he would often have 3,500 or more pounds of silage on the trailer.

 

You may ask what the point of this story is. He used my '88MJ w/4.0L, AW4, and D35 to haul this trailer for about a year. I don't even want to guess how many of these "hard" miles the MJ saw, but it has to be over 5,000. He said it was no picnic using the MJ, but it got the job done. After a year, he was finally able to afford a heavy duty Chevy pickup that handled it with ease.

 

That MJ is still kickin' today....Wish I had some pictures of his trailing hauling setup to see how low to the ground the rear of the MJ was.

[JeepcoMJ]

that's not really abusing a dana 35. that's over-using the mj, but it's not abusing it.

[terrawombat]

that's not really abusing a dana 35. that's over-using the mj, but it's not abusing it.

 

Good, then I'll consider my D35 to be in excellent condition :D

[pilotblake]

My D35 with a aussie locker and 35s behind a V8 is being "abused". It's days are numbered I am sure, but haven't found the right price on a replacement yet. Using a vehicle to haul things heavier that the truck itself is a danger to everyone else on the road. I know he was doing the best he could with what he had, but just because you can doesn't always mean you should. man I must be getting old.

[terrawombat]

Agreed. Times were tough back then and money was real tight. He DID have electric brakes on the trailer, but I can't imagine they did too much with that much weight :D

[Incommando]

My D35 with a aussie locker and 35s behind a V8 is being "abused". It's days are numbered I am sure, but haven't found the right price on a replacement yet. Using a vehicle to haul things heavier that the truck itself is a danger to everyone else on the road. I know he was doing the best he could with what he had, but just because you can doesn't always mean you should. man I must be getting old.

 

I am not sure about that. Ill bet that a little research would show that most everything that was designed to tow trailers has a gross trailer weight greater than the vehicle. I'll bet 3,500 #'s was the low trailer limit for MJ's, and that MJ's with a tow package had a 5,000# tow rating, well above the vehicle's curb weight. Modern half-ton pick ups are rated to tow nealrly 10,000 pounds-nearly 2 tons more than they weigh. A modern diesel dually is rated to tow over 20,000 #'s in factory trim! KJ's are rated at 3,500 pounds without th etow package, and that is below their curb weight. But the tow package, which adds nothing suspension wise only cooling parts upgrades, gets the rating to 5K, above the curb weight.

 

The OP's dad was doing nothing bad if he was towing a combined trailer weight of < 5k. Especailly with electric brakes, which usually aren't even on trailers that can't tow 5K or better, let alone one that squats at 3.5K

[pilotblake]

:doh: