My d2 had 33s and I never broke anything. My defender came stock with 32s and 10 spline axles and it doesn't break axles either. Cherokees CAN run 33 or even 35 without breaking things too. But I've seen broken ones. Same for TJ wranglers too.

Eventually I would upgrade a d2 to stronger axle shafts with 33" or bigger tires, but just because they aren't full float and if you break the shaft at the hub the wheel might come off. If it breaks at the diff you'll be fine. On a d1 or defender I'd only worry about upgrading shafts if I start breaking a bunch of them, since they are full float and you are less likely to die if you snap a shaft.

Rover guys complain about weak axles because they are being honest. Cherokee guys should do the same.

 

I'm not worried about my rover axles and 33's. I'm on stock axles on my current rover and I know the rear is up to the task. I'm pretty sure my rear axle is better than anything that came in the Cherokee.

I ran 33's for years on stock 10 splines in my RRC off road, as long as you drive sensibly you have little to worry about. Never snapped a shaft.

 

I have owned and still own jeeps have a 1946 cj2a I drive,1958 cj3b I am restoring, had a 1983 cj7 I ground up restored, 1987 yj these are what I consider jeeps, bare bones type vehicles designed for all terrain use from the factory

Largest tire I successfully ran on the 2 newer ones 31x10.5x15 with. 1.5" shackle lift, I only do what I consider light off roading this size tire minimal rub nothing broken

Now I did work at a gov. Training center and we had pretty new grand Cherokees with the trail rated package, they were OK off road rode decent on dirt roads but if you tried to do laps they fast overheated no matter what they replaced new only thing we had luck with were ford explorer with v8 awd (I am not a ford fan)

Now there was a TV show last season 1 car too far jeep tj 4cyl 5 speed not really modded 2guys get dropped in a area and have to locate the jeep and self rescue was pretty impressed with the jeep

 

Gears aren't gears. This is a picture of a stock Rover 4.7 gear set on the right with 10 teeth on the pinion and 47 teeth on the ring gear. Dana 44's typically have 11 tooth pinion gears (even smaller than the stock Rover), and Ford 8.8's typically have 10 teeth like the Rover. (But axle-wise, neither are full floaters like the Rover, you typically have to go to tons to get that outside Rover). The ring and pinion set on the left is 8x38. The bigger teeth are stronger because the root of the teeth are much wider. But you can get even bigger gear teeth than the 8x38. You can get a 7x33 in that ratio. I don't have a picture of the 33 tooth gear, but I linked a picture below that compares 41 tooth, 33 tooth, and 29 tooth gears (used in conjunction with 10, 8, or 7 tooth pinions) to give about 4.10 ratio. The 7x29 gear set is pretty strong.

 

You must be joking with me.

I did not mean that all gears in all axles in all ratios are the same. way to take my statement out of context.

I was NOT comparing different gear ratios to each other, rather gear brand to gear brand. I had linked to yukon gear, and he started off on some "aftermarket" tangent. yukon gears arent any stronger /weaker than dana/motiv/sierra/usa standard etc all factors being equal.


There is no "typical" pinion tooth count for a dana 44, or 8.8. that is an incredible statement.

Tooth count is determined by gear ratio, which is as broad as it can get. the only axle with more ratios available is a 9" ford.

But since you brought up gear ratios....

your comparison of a 4.7 ratio (10 teeth pinion, 47 teeth ring gear) rover gearset to a 11 tooth d44 pinion is not legitimate. two very different ratios.

The higher numerically the ratio, the weaker the gearset gets for two reasons: ring teeth get larger, meaning less total tooth contact (ie. a 7.5" ring gear in 4.56 ratio has less than 2 teeth making full contact) the ring teeth getting larger, and the pinion getting smaller.

a dana 44 has an 8.5" ring gear, ford 8.8 obviously has 8.8" ring. the diameter of the ring relates to its strength as well.

 

Not exactly. The picture I showed of three crown wheel gears are all about the same ratio. The first is 4.10, then 4.12, and 4.14, essentially the same for all practical purposes. Tooth count isn't determined only by the ratio, because you can get ratios more than one way.

The pinion doesn't get smaller with larger ring gear teeth. The pinion gear teeth are always a little larger than the ring gear teeth and so it's almost always the ring gear tooth size that determines the gear set's strength.

With larger teeth, there may be "fewer teeth engaged" but it's still stronger than smaller teeth. One large tooth is stronger than two smaller ones because the strength of the tooth is based on the width of its root and with more teeth you have more gaps. The only real trade-off is more gear noise.

It is true that you can have larger or smaller teeth in a Rover or a 44 for a given ratio. So a Rover that has a 4.14 ratio by using 7x29 gears has much larger teeth than a 44 with a similar ratio and 11x45 gears, you can also put a 7x29 gear set in the 44, fair enough The question is, what gear set is in the 44 to which we're comparing? A stock Jeep Dana 44 has small teeth. Most Dana 44's have smaller gear teeth than even a stock Rover.

FWIW, the Rover ring gear diameter is 8.625"

Bear in mind I'm not trying to say the Rover axle is so much better than a 44. It's just not. There's little differences. I like the Rover axle design better, but I can't say it's stronger. It just isn't. If you need stronger, there's the Dana 60. You won't find a Dana 44 swap on a Rover because it just doesn't make sense, as you don't really get anything.

 

Cherokee XJ with a 33"? the dana 35C will break, isn't it?
(That is the thing I fear the most in my XJ, and I'm with 245/75/16)
I read that thread and laugh, It has been a while since I last saw a TD5 here, I drove to check one which is for sale, on my way back, there was another td5 on the side of the road, stuck...
Not such fun.
Bottom line, I don't think the D2 is less reliable than a WJ/XJ, but at least here, it is more expensive to fix.
Saar