i need opinions. pleeeaaaasssee

I have a 94 4.0 splash 4x4 that the p.o. treated like garbage. unfortunately i was to caught up in the excitement of buying a new truck to pay attention to the small things. Now that i have emptied my savings account literally and had to take out a personal loan it is running smooth, but it is still stuck with 32 inch tires on the stock 3.73 gears.

the rear tires are almost brand new. the fronts are toast. If i had to guess the truck has a 3.5-4 inch rancho lift. My options are as follows:

1) buy 4 new tires 31 inchx10.5 for a little under 700 bucks.
2) regear the rear to 4.56 for 550,buy new front tires, and remove front driveshaft and wait 3-4 months to regear the dana 35 tires and use it as is till my skills or needs exceed it's capabilities.
3) leave it alone and deal with almost dangerous highway accelaration here in socal.


The biggest fear i have is the horror stories of the D35 exploding. While i plan on a solid axle swap that's almost 2 years down the road. I am going to be using the truck for overlanding and off road camping and some moderate wheeling and my daily ride with a bronco back up to college monday through friday when i get out of the military next year with a max tire size of 33" until I have enough to do a solid axle. While i might expect some slightly intense situations in the pnw overland type trails i don't plan on crawling regularly. Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

I don't get your fear of the D35 exploding? Due to what, tires that are too big?
You won't hurt the diff running 32's or 33's, even with 3.73 gears. All that might be affected is your transmission if it's an auto, or your clutch if it's a stick.

I have the same truck, except it's a 93. I had 3.73 with 31's stock, then I regeared to 4.56 and went to 33', then 35's, then 37's. I ran 37's for over ten years, half of that with a locker in there. Moab, Rubicon, lots of hard wheeling.
Don't worry about the diff exploding.

If I were you, I'd get the 31's, and save your money for the SAS. Don't bother regearing the current axles if an SAS is in the future plans.

It seems everyone seems to say the d35 is worthless and makes it sound as tough as tissue paper. I'd have no problem wheeling it for awhile knowing it's not going to leave me stranded if I take care if it and be smart with the skinny pedal. Your reply adds a lot of confidence to that end. I separate from the navy July 25 2015 so I figure a year or so after that once I'm settled in to a routine I'll be able to start my solid axle swap. But i would like to wheel in that mean time. That and to get anywhere here in San Diego it seems I'm on the freeway 90% of the time.

Maybe you've heard stories about the Jeep D35. On the Jeeps, it's a rear axle, and as such, it's on the weak side.
The weak spots on the Ford D35 axle are the auto hubs and the wheel bearing design. The diff itself is fine.

I lived in SD for 30 years, I know the whole freeway to get anywhere thing! Set your truck up as commuter transportation right now. If you get a set of new tires, get BFG All-Terrains. They will do you great on any offroading you do.

Watch this section http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=80 for convo about any offroad runs in the area. There's lots of SoCal people on this forum.

That's what is on it now. 32x11.50 bfg all terrains. Back are 95% fronts have maybe a month left or so. Almost cheaper to get a rear re gear with 2 front tires. The shop says be has a set of selectable hubs he will put on the front as well just cause he has a couple sets from some pretty runner builds laying around and I can drop front drive shaft for a month or 2 till k can re gear the front.

If the rears really are 95% swap em to the front and get new tires out back. 3:73 is pretty tall for 32s but it's not that bad.

I agree with colintrax, except put the new ones on the front, then get an alignment.
32s and 3.73 is not optimum, but it's not horrible.

So is it a stick or auto?

Thanks for all the input guys! It is a stick and I think I am just going to get smaller tires. Discount is offering me a decent credit for the rears and a 50 dollar rebate!

mineman_Bruce said:

It seems everyone seems to say the d35 is worthless and makes it sound as tough as tissue paper.

Click to expand...

I was gonna say, you must be hanging around a bunch of J00p ignoramuses lol (just kidding)

The Jeep and Ford D35s are very different axles, and as said, one is out rear, the other up front (very different workload rear vs. front). Something else of interest is that is most Jeep guys will agree their D30 front is a somewhat better axle than the 35, yet it is even weaker still (it just doesn't fall apart as often as the 35 rear simply because it's up front).

Anyway... Been running 35x12.50s on a locked D35 front for some 10 years now (and 33x12.50s for 3 years before that). Never once have ever seen a need to swap it out for a solid axle (which you would have to skip past a D44 for a D60 to really have a big increase in strength by doing so). And I do use mine too, as the pics on my BII page should show.


As for the tires, I'd buy two 32x11.50 BFG ATs for it and be done with it for now.

I drove my '94 4.0L stick with that size tire and 3.73 gears and I didn't find it objectionable. Maybe it just simply needs a thorough tune-up.

I ran my TTB D35 hard for many years with a ARB in it. Sold the gears and locker when I did the SAS, to another member, who is now wheeling it hard. ARB came out of another members rig before it was mine for about ten years. I never had a issue with the D35. I did the SAS for other reasons than worrying about it exploding. I tried to kill it for a few years before taking it out just to justify the SAS, didn't work.

..I also have the Dana 35 with lockers in both my trucks with over 250, 000 miles each and I've only broke an occasional hub..