Dana 35 or Dana 28?

[explorer94]

I was at the auto parts store yesterday looking for ball joints. they say there is 2 different front axels on the X. Dana 35 and a dana 28 how can you tell which one you got? ( considering that i dount have the origanal door codes on it)

 

[IZwack]

35 like whooaaaa.... the 28s came in Rangers

 

[explorer94]

Thank you ... and one more question with the gearing how can you tell what you got when the code on the door is missing?

 

[IZwack]

You're going to have to guesstimate by rotating the front tires and counting the number of revolutions the front driveshaft makes. And you can minimize the error by rotating the tires more than once (like three or so times).

 

[Tbars4]

...i got this from rockranger when i was doing mine, thank him...


Jack up one rear tire.
Put mark on pinion flange and and housing next to each other. (Think like how you mark two pieces of wood that you plan on biscut jointing)
Then put a mark on the bottom of the tire jacked up.
Rotate the tire two revolutions and count how many times the driveshaft rotates. if it rotates 3.5 times you have 3.55 gears, 3 3/4 rotations is 3.73 gears. 4 1/2 rotations is 4.56 gears.

Lock the hubs on the front end and do the same thing.

This works if you have open diffs. If the are locked you have to jack up both tires and then rotate the tire one turn.

If the count is the same front and rear you have matching gears and can use 4wd. If it is different then you need to get your gear issue resolved before you can use 4wd.

 

[explorer94]

would the tag on the back diff say anything with the gears ?

 

[jimbo74]

would the tag on the back diff say anything with the gears ?

if the tag is still there then yes


explorers had dana35 ttb axles (with later years having a d35 derivitive w/ torsioned ifs)

rangers and broncos had dana28 ttb axles