Entry level diff info ,

[Monstermk2]

just wondering the xj td diffs are Dana 35s aren't they ? And most of the petrol xj's come factory Dana 30, is there any strength differences between the two ? I'm putting the diesel diffs in the missus petrol xj , mainly for the ratios , but plan on running at least 3" lift and a set of 31" which although I know it's entry level sizing compared to some of you guys on here , I was reading a heap of diff bits on here and seems the rear d30s break real easy and wheels have bad habits of departing from the diffs :-/ but I can't seem to find if the weakness is just as bad in the td diffs ,

Sorry for the long winded questions , id rather find out before breaking something on a trip that's all

[ruffy01]

The TD diffs are the same (apart from ratio, as you said), Dana35 rear and High pinion Dana30 up front.
The Dana35 will be OK with 31's, mine was fine until I went 33's & locked. I then broke an axle 2nd time out.

[Monstermk2]

We'll the rear td diff has a Detroit locker in it I've been told , 'haven't pulled the cover off or fitted it to a car to drive it' so can't conferm , so would this make it more prone to breaking axels or would it be more the size tyres that cause all the issues

[junglejuice]

The diffs are d30 front (all models) and the d35 or c8.25 (rare) rear, there are two main variants of the front d30, the low pinion (weaker) as found in Tj's, Zg's an late Xj's ('00 & '01) and the (stronger) high pinion as found in most Xj's ('94-'99), the d30 is commonly availalable in 3 ratios, 3.07:1 (Tj manual), 3.55:1 (Xj petrol) and 3.73:1 (Tj auto, Xj diesel and some Xj petrol and Zg).
The rears are mostly d35 3.55:1 (Xj petrol) and some 3.73:1 (Xj diesel, some Xj petrol and Zg), they are mostly LSD and a handful were open ('95 LTD Classic).

Here's an easy way to identify what it is...



As for strength and tyres it all depends on the right foot offroad (and tyre size), with a locked d35 you're more prone to issues if you're not careful with the loud pedal as the locker will make it go further and when that fails to get you somewhere the natural reaction is to go harder where a LSD will have some give and be a bit kinder on the axles....

[ruffy01]

I drove locked with 31's for a year or so with no issues.
I'm pretty easy on the loud pedal, I prefer crawling to going hard.

[murray]

also the diesel d35 has a larger yoke on the pinion

[kj69]

spider gears on the d35 will be the first weak link on the standard diff with 31`s ,maybe in a locker that includes a carrier they will fair better ?