Do you think my D35 shafts will fail now?

[jps4jeep]

SO I finally found a way to make D35 shafts useful.

First off, there was someone here who argued with me saying all D35's are C-clip axles.. these shafts are my old trail spares from my lincoln locked D35. all 87-89 D35's were marginally stronger non-C-clip axles. you can clearly see the rotated splines, these were beat on pretty well, these have been sitting in the back of my garage for atleast 8 years. (when the D35 came out of the jeep)

Again these were non-c-clip shafts, the bearings, and retainers needed to come off, cut off wheel was way quicker than using a press when you don't care about putting a curf in the shaft body.

Then a little cut here, little snip there

I then went to the parts store, I got some wheel studs and lug nuts that matched the ones on my trailer (they were a little smaller than the stock D35 ones, but I just welded the back of the studs in place.)

Then I simply put them on the trailer and welded them up, little paint and mounted a couple spare tires. I still have one more spare tire to mount some where, for now it is just strapped to the front of the trailer. ever since I blew two tire on my trailer in one day, I can't carry enough spares. Also, don't bother to point out that my spares are not "trailer" tires, I know. When I bought the trailer, one of my arguements to the seller that brought the price down was that none of the tires were "trailer" tires, but I replaced them all with "trailer" tires shortly after taking possession, hense why I have so many spares.

SO I finially found a use for D35 axle shafts, hope they don't snap

gonna take the rest of the shafts, clean them up and use them for shifter handles on my 231-300 doubler.

 

[JTR0569]

I need to replace the rear bearings on my '89 YJ. Is my axle the same one that you have in the pictures? If so how difficult of a project am I getting into and do I need any special tools? Thanks

 

[jps4jeep]

no, pop off the drums and backing plate and retainer, then pull the shaft out. may need a slide hammer depending on how seated the bearing is in the axle tube. take the axle shaft to napa or a machine shop, have them press the old bearing and retaineroff, swap teh seal, press new bearing and retainer on, install

 

[JTR0569]

What if I dont have access to a NAPA or a machine shop for a press?

 

[jps4jeep]

then your S.O.L. a press is the only way to get them off with out damaging the bearing seat. a good shop will also polish the bearing seat.

 

[SteelHeadz]

That's a great idea Johnny. Good way to recycle the parts.

 

[Jason4x4]

I don't know, those tires look awful big for a D35...

 

[xjmarc]

Wish I had thought of that with all the old shafts I hauled off to the scrap yard.

 

[Robert_Stephens]

I did that trick too and it worked well for me for years. When I built the new tire rack-can carrier for VEX I used a extra 5 hole hub and welded that to the rack--with the studs there, it was a logical mount for the tire and chains hanging on same.

I love all these mods we come up with. For the OP, very cool indeed as are so many of the other photos of everyone's rigs.

Robert

 

[jps4jeep]

I got luck, my trailer uses a 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern. I used the same lug nut size just in case I ever need extra lug nuts... my father always tells me the story about when he was a kid and my grandfather was changing a tire on a car, he had put the lug nuts in the hub cap, my dad being a wise ass kicked the hub cap and all the lug nuts when missing into the grass on the side of the road... never have enough lug nuts.

I wish I had pics, but we also use a F250 TTB hub as a spare tire mount in the bed of the MJ. I love re-using parts. right now the t-case shifter in my jeep is an old threaded insert and Heim joint I cleaned up and painted. I am also notorious for taking spring perches, shock mounts, any thick metal that I cut off vehicles and using them in welded diffs. I love re-using old parts in new ways.