Ring & Pinion Gear Swap


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Here is a picture of the rear Dana 35 axle taken out of my Jeep. With 35 inch tires and a four cylinder engine my horsepower was not good. The best way to solve that problem is installing lower (numerically higher) ring & pinion gears in the axles. My Jeep came stock with 4.10 gears. 4.88 gears are going in. I chose to have the new gears set up professionally. I saved a lot of labor cost by tearing down the axles myself then taking them to the 4x4 shop.



The first step was to remove the differential cover and drain the gear oil. I cleaned the old gasket material off the mating surfaces.



The Dana 35 rear axles used in 1989 do not use C-clips to hold the axle shafts in like the newer Jeep Wranglers. The axle shafts on mine are held in by retaining bolts (4 per side). After removing the retaining bolts I used a slide hammer and flange adapter to pull the shafts loose. Then the axle shafts slide out easy.



Here is a picture of the axle shafts removed. The axle housing is ready to be taken to the 4x4 shop. I purchased the ring & pinion gear sets from Randy's Ring & Pinion. The axles were reassembled with new Timken bearings and seals.


Page Two - Front Axle


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