Dana 35 Rear Differential Master Bearing Kit R35RWMK

Master bearing and setup kit for the rear Dana 35, Motive Gear part number R35RWMK. The Dana 35 is the 7.562 inch semi-float rear axle Chrysler used under the Jeep Cherokee XJ from 1984 to 2001, the Wrangler YJ and TJ, the Grand Cherokee ZJ and WJ, and the Liberty KJ, and it also shows up under rear-drive Ford Ranger and Explorer applications. This kit is built for the standard open carrier.

In the box: Koyo tapered carrier bearings and races, Koyo front and rear pinion bearings and races, pilot bearing where the application uses one, crush sleeve or preload shim pack depending on the unit, pinion seal, pinion nut, cover gasket or RTV, plus gear marking compound and a brush. That last pair matters more than it sounds. You cannot set a pinion correctly without reading the pattern, and having the compound in the kit means you are not finishing the job with a guess.

On the bench: scribe the ring gear and carrier before anything comes apart, pull the axle shafts and C-clips, lift the carrier out and record the side shim stack, then press the old pinion races out of the housing. Set pinion depth first with the shim behind the inner race, crush the new sleeve while you check rotating pinion preload with an inch-pound wrench, then reinstall the carrier and bring backlash into the 0.005 to 0.009 inch window. Paint the ring gear with the marking compound and roll it both directions before you close the cover. Drive and coast patterns both need to look right, not just one.

This is the kit for a Dana 35 that has started howling on decel, a pinion seal that keeps weeping after a new seal alone did not fix it, or any ring and pinion swap. A worn rear pinion bearing on this axle usually announces itself as a whine that changes with throttle rather than speed, and once the crush sleeve has taken a set there is no way to re-preload the old bearings, which is exactly why this comes as a kit and not a single bearing.