this seemed like the most appropriate section to put this in so, here is my question: I just bought a vehicle from a guy and he has a ford 8.8" rear end out of a 98' ford explorer. he also has a n.i.b. lock-right mini locker to go along with it. he is asking $450 for it. so first, i was wondering how this might compare to say, a dana 44. is it worth swaping out the stock dana 35? i think that i could talk the price down a bit. just looking for a little input. it would be going in my xj build-up. would i be better off putting some cro-mo axle shafts in my dana 35?? thanks for the input suckas!:mr-t:

oh, to add, he will sell it w/o the mini locker. this is going to be a trail rig, but i will drive it on the street to trails at times. not a trailer only rig. so, am i going to eat the mini locker or might it survive? would i be better off welding or with a spool? he will take the total price of the mini locker off of the price, so he is asking $300 for the axle alone. i could get him down to $200 or $250 im pretty sure. whatcha think???? thanks guys.

First dont spend any money on the dana 35, unless you plan on running 31 or smaller tires forever.
The ford 8.8 would be an excellent swap for the XJ. Donate a few bucks and get the red star and do a search. It has been done massive amounts of times and you will find plenty of info.
You will hate a welded or spooled rig on the street, and it will shred tires if daily driven around town.
Good luck n have fun.

You will always be better off with an 8.8 over a Dana 35. Dont throw away any $$ trying to upgrade the 35. Dont know what a mini locker is but I would think you would want lower gears, and some type of locker that will replace the stock carrier.(Detroit, ARB, Ox.)Spool or welding If not driving on the street.

mini locker is just a term for the little lockers that do not replace the carrier. thats what i have heard them refered to at least. so, what is a resonable price? would i be doing good paying $400 for the axle, locker with all the disc brake parts? thanks so much..

whats the red star? is that like a paid supporter of the site? how much? whats it get you?

8.8 is stonger than a a d44 and has the same lug pattern as your stock 30 and 35

if you can get it for 200-250 they i would say that pretty good, some peolpe like to charge a shit load for them but i would say average you can pick them up for around $300

of course there is always they JY finds that you can get them for under a $100

dont forget they are stock with disc brakes on the newer explorers and have 3.73's and 4.10s also possible to find LSD