Just statin' the facts BigJim, how many of those 35's had 32" tires or larger? Just curious. The two in my club that have broken in the last year were as follows.

1. 94 YJ, open diff with 3.07 gears and 33" tires.Was trying to climb out of a washout up a 24" vertical sand/clay wall. Spider gear shattered. removed spider gears,cleaned out shrapnel and while being towed out, C clip came off and axel slid 3/4 way out. Apparently C clip was damaged from shrapnel. Reinstalled C clip put Jeep on trailer for ride back to base.

2. 99 TJ, 4.11 gears Powertrax no slip locker, 32" tires, was climbing small hill rear tire came up against a root, Axel broke at spline. Disasembled and replaced with spare axel someone had because it's a well known weak point. He has since upgraded the axels an added a detroit locker. Time will tell if he thinks it was a good investment or not.This fella is older than me! Maybe older than you! He doesn't hesitate to try the hard stuff but does so in the most reasonable way possible. In other words unlike the first guy, he doesn't have a heavy foot.

Neither of these incidents were on a trail in any way more than mildly difficult, very mildly. I'm glad you have good luck with them. I'm sorry I own one. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />