Cherokee XJ Dana 35 C-clip Axle Replacement
I went looking for a couple of spare axles for my Dana 35C c-clip axle. Instead I found an entire axle assembly! Once a guy has upgraded to a Dana 44 (that's what this guy did... me too), their old axle is just dead weight. A friend of a friend wanted to borrow a couple of spare axles for his first 4-wheeling trip, so I went to remove the axles. D'oh! What's that funny looking bolt head? Torx? No, they have 6 points. It's (after three trips to Sears) a 1/4" 12-point bolt head.
If you've got a c-clip Dana 35 with a stock carrier, and you bring spare axles on the trail, make sure you've got a 12-point 1/4" box wrench. Without it you won't be able to get the center pin out of the carrier to be able to remove the c-clips. A 1/4" 12-point socket might work, too, but the only sockets I've seen are 3/8" drive, and that might be too bulky to fit. A 6-pointer will just round off the bolt head.
Remove the diff cover. To remove the axles, you've got to remove the thick center pin seen through the open carrier. It's the one sticking out in the third image. Rotate the carrier until the lock-pin-bolt is visible (image one). The lock-pin-bolt keeps the center pin in place (image two). Once the lock-pin is removed, slide the cross pin out of the carrier (it will take a bit of tapping) until the axles can be pushed inward. This will expose the c-clips, which can be removed. The c-clips will fall out, so it that's a problem, be ready. You can see in the image... well maybe not... that my diff was full of gear oil. One c-clip fell into the muck, but was easily retrieved with a magnetic expanding pointer-thingy.
Once the c-clip is removed each axle can be pulled out of the axle tube. Be careful of the oil seal at the end of the axles. Ideally this seal will be replaced, but it's probably not manatory if you're doing a trail repair.
Replace the oil seal as soon as possible. Don't bother if you're just running a spare axle. The seal can wait until the new, permanent axle is in place. That sounded a little confusing, didn't it? What I'm talking about is this... the seal conforms itself to the axle. In my case, I broke a new axle. The trail replacement was a nasty old thing with grooves worn at the seal location. Don't waste a new seal on an old axle. Wait until the new new axle :-) arrives to replace the seal.