Any experience with the super 35 kit??

The Ford 8.8 has a larger R&P than the D44(8.5"), if you ever take one apart though you can see the real difference the pinion shaft is a good 1/4" larger, the axle shaft are slightly larger than the D44,. the D44 is rated to about 3500 lbs the Ford 8.8 is rated to 3850 - 4250. The main thing though is to compare the 2 side by side and you will see the difference the ring gear is way heavier and thicker, the pinion shaft is the same way. The 8.8 specs out identical to a Ford 9" except for double pinion bearings and slightly smaller diameter ring gear, its only drawback is the c clip but the disc brake version is Semi floating and the axle is held in place by 4 3/8 bolts from a flange at the bearings to the disc brake backing plate. I just got off the phone with Dynatrac on Tuesday and he was the one who gave the Lb ratings for the two axles, and stated that the F 8.8 was substantialy stronger in a rear end application than D44.
The ring and pinion sizes and axle diameters and pinion diameters are speced out in a 4X4 power mag from about 6 months ago. The actual observations of the 2 were conducted in my friends garage about 6 weeks ago when I installed an 8.8 in my YJ. Look at the picture the axle tubes are also much larger(3.25 inches) and thicker tubing. By the way Currie uses the ford 8.8 gears in the high pinion 9".
Jeff
89 Wrangler

Well I really don't have it that easy. Swapping a larger rear end into a TJ is an expensive thing. A cutom made rear end will run about $2300 - $4000 including shipping. Buying an 8.8" at a boneyard is an option but the brackets needed to make it work under the TJ are about $300 plus finding someone capable of welding them on properly. Gear set up, brackets, welding labor, gears, locker, misc parts and I am over $2000 again. The super 35 is less than $1000. Don't get me wrong I would love to have a Currie high pinion 8.8" but I can't afford it along with all of the other things I want. If in two years I want to get that Currie rear end then I can sell my Super 35ed D35 and get more out of it and take a small loss. As for axles...well if I were to break a 35 spline axle in a Super 35 then I would be able to break a 31 spline axle in an 8.8". You can however use your original 27 spline axles as spares if needed. Of course changing out the carrier and gears would be needed too.
Aaron

I have to speak up again - There are several advantages to the Super 35 kit. Cost is the biggest unless you have experience in welding on axle tubes, you cannot go the junkyard, get a beefier rear end that will bolt in for less money. Ground clearance - 1.25" for a D44 almost 1.75" for an 8.8, and almost 2" for a 9" depending on how it was trussed at the factory. Alloy axle shafts - even though other similar "next size up" rear ends have the the same or slightly larger axles, the alloy is flexible and has a longer fatigue cycle resulting in much more abuse before breakage. Weight - the D35 is the lightweight of the bunch.

Superior Axle's engineers only see the axle tubes as the weak link here. Under heavy abuse the tubes flex and may fail or loose seal at the pumpkin, or worst yet they may spin in the housing. Drivetrain Direct is working to build a lightweight truss to help eliminate these problems. As I said earlier, I run the Con Fer axle truss/skid plate. With a little care, a tension gauge, and a torque wrench, you can add enough preload to keep the tubes from flexing too much, and seat the skid plate on the chunk to add additional resistance to rotation by the tubes in the chunk.

Now that the kit is offered with the Detroit Locker - it is a serious kit. The ARB would be the mack-daddy!!!

Hank
88 YJ (sort of)

Hank,
I cant understand why Superiors engineers are only concerned with the axle tubes as a weak link. Unless they are driving them with a chiffon touch durring testing, they should have immediately been cocerned with the contantly failing pinion yoke. High strength axle shafts can added to any rear axle with immediate improvements in strength, but you are still dealing with a relatively small pinion shaft, ring gear and carrier, I mean lets face it Jeep was trying to skimp to save money when they went to the D35, its an inexpensive , very light axle with very few hard core attributes. You can build it piece by piece with HD parts untill youve spent enough money on super expensive high tech parts to have had an inheirantly stronger axle swapped into place, and you still have a D35. If these kits were only about $500 Id think sure go for it as an interim axle at least but when you start talking $1000 and up just for the parts, you are getting very close to axle swap of your choice prices (just for parts) plus you could turn around and sell your D35 to off set costs. By the way where did you get your stats for ground clearance loss for the 8.8? I gave up only 1 " of clearance measured just before and immediately after the swap. Arron is getting ready to perform an 8.8 swap Ive asked him if he could measure before and after so we can establish how much clearance is being affected. The only thing that should alter differences in ground clearance between different installs would be pinion angle. Later,

Jeff
89 Wrangler
If at first you dont succeed, your replacement will try and try again.