I want to start looking for a Dana 35 to replace the Dana 28 that is currently in my B2. My question is, what years of Explorers, Ranger, B2's do I want to look for the setup in so that It doesn't change my track a bunch?

theyre all the same as far as width..and its basically a bolt on swap..not too complicated..

ttb explorers will have 3.73 and 4.10 gear ratios..
88-newer rangers that have the 4.0 all had the 35..
and from I belive 93 up all the rangers with v6's had a 35..


BEWARE...the 4cyl and SOME ODDBALL rangers had a hybrid..35 housings..28 carrier...

Easy way to tell if it's a hybrid, pull the fill plug. If you see a bearing cap its a hybrid. I haven't done the swap but have one of each axle sitting around, it looks if you may need to have the front driveshaft shortened an inch or so if you don't have any lift. The above info is a good start.

Matt

I believe you will need to have your front driveshaft shortened by an inch when you swap the D35 in.

I have done this swap on my '89 Bronco II with a D35 out of a '92 Ranger.

The front driveshaft will need to be shortened an inch. I was building extended radius arms at the time, so I extended them 13 inches and moved the brackets 12 inches back. It extended the wheelbase the required one inch with no other problems and helped increase travel.

Other than that it is a bolt in swap.

i did the swap on mine a while back i got the 35 from an explorer ended up being about 2 inches wider

so do i have to shorten the driveshaft or not? Mine is lifted 4'' if that matters.
i also want to do this swap


*edited for lift corrections

If it's lifted 4', then I think you have bigger issues.

If it's lifted 4" you might be ok. Cycle the axle with the spring out and see if it binds. If it only binds a little, you can always just trim some of the splined part off.

How will the 35 handle 33'' tires and mild trails?

i ran 6" lift with no issues running 36's it was open diff wasnt a great crawler but handled its own on the trail i did no driveshaft mods

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e258/mikes1988pos/truck.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e258/mikes1988pos/truckflexonhornet.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e258/mikes1988pos/today-7.jpg


did alot better than a welded 8.8
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e258/mikes1988pos/shaft.jpg

So if i bother to change the rear axle too, I should go to a 9''? want to run a detroit but dont know how it will handle in the snow with the short wb and a locked rear.

So if i bother to change the rear axle too, I should go to a 9''? want to run a detroit but dont know how it will handle in the snow with the short wb and a locked rear.

The 8.8 should be fine and will be a lot cheaper/easier than finding an EB width 9" or trimming a full width one.

If you wanted to do it on the cheap, there are tons of L/S disk brake 8.8s out there that you could put extra clutches in to tighten the limited slip up. The main downside is that it is still a C-clip axle, as per the pic above.

Yeah, the D35 will hold up no prob. You may want to get the "Jeep" hubs for it though if you plan to lock it (Warn pt# 37780).

There are ways to avoid shortening the driveshaft.
I did as meatmonkey did and moved the axle forward an inch via the radius arms.


For the 8.8", grab one from a '95-'01 Explorer. Its a straightforward swap (you'll need to relocate the leaf perches on it and add shock mounts).
The Ex 8.8 has 31 spline shafts, and is disc brake (both of which go a long way in preventing what's seen in the above pic).

Whats involved in shortening the driveshaft? Cuz if its lathe work i can do it myself no problem. Do I just trim the splined part down an inch?

How much will these changes widen the truck?

I also assume the there are the u-joints to go from the b2 shafts to the explorer axles?

Chris

Search, there is a really nice post somewhere around in general that has nice pictures. He uses a chopsaw.

I took an inch out of a chevy cv shaft with nothing but a stedy hand on a chopsaw as per the post. The most important thing to do is when you are reassebling the shaft, just push the thing back together and mount it up in your truck. Then rotate it and watch carefully and make sure it is not out of round then give it a small tack, rotate agian and tack agian. keep doing this untill there is no chance that it will go anywhere else and it will be dead on.

I ground the weld down uniformly on mine and it doesn't vibrate a bit even at 65mph (never gone faster than that in 4 bi)

It is easy and rewarding to shorten your own shaft.

What about the coil buckets on the front 35? Are they in the same spot as the ones on my 28?

What about the steering linkages will i have to modify them?

Possible to do this swap on a weekend and drive it to work monday?

The swap is totally bolt in, so no problems with any of the stuff you're worried about.

It would be easy to swap in the axles and drive it on Monday if you have average mechanical ability. You might not have the front drive shaft in place, but it will easily drive without that. I'd say that with your lift, your front drive shaft will work anyway, but I'd check it before you stick the springs back in place (cycle the suspension all the way up and down -- look for what binds and either fix it or stop the movement before that point).

All springs, buckets, shocks, etc., are the same for the most part.

If you have a behind the axle anti-sway bar, you will end up dumping that for the forward mounted one (get the brackets off the donor truck!).

This is a no-brainer swap. Just part for part.

And, yes, it will easily take care of 33s. I'd say that you'll start to have issues if you get up to 35s. Axle internals are same strength as the rear Dana 35 in a Jeep.

While you are at it, chop off the factory shock mounts and stick on a pair of F250 mounts and some longer shocks so that you get some real travel up front. You'll also need longer brake lines if you didn't already do that with your lift kit. I use factory Super Duty lines (almost any late model year 4x4 work). They are a lot longer and will allow for 16" + down travel.

You will need the D35 steering linkage, it's a bit wider than the 28. Everything else as said is boltup.

You might want to check out www.therangerstation.com, there's a ton of info there all about these trucks. This swap, the shock mount mod mentioned above, and tons of other stuff is already covered there.
Another one to check is www.broncoii.org.




And, yes, it will easily take care of 33s. I'd say that you'll start to have issues if you get up to 35s. Axle internals are same strength as the rear Dana 35 in a Jeep.

It may be the same strength (the shafts & gears anyway), but being up front it sees far less loading than if it was out back.
(this is the only thing that lets the D30 fronts in Jeeps survive at all, even in spite of them being a bit weaker than the 35) ;)

I hade a dana 28 and now have a dana 35 in the front of my 85 ranger, of a 94 explorer and its very easy every thing bolts right up check out The ranger station.com u will find everything u kneed to know abou everything, i know want to upgrade to a dana 44 i am willing to trade i have 456 gears and eazy locker on the dana 30

A trhad ewould be nice but im in northern ontairo(Canada) and really dont want to pay the duty to bring that kind of stuff over the border

So I need a 91-94 for the frontend? Do these explorers also have the 8.8 rear?