Evan
Well-Known Member
It's shafts are of "adequate" strength for many applications. I would not however consider it to be "strong" by any means.
You're looking at this from a relative perspective. Hell, a Dana 28 is super strong compared to the axles on my old Traxxas RC truck.
But from an engineering perspective, the D35 is a damn strong axle, for being in a truck the size of a Bronco II, Ranger, or Explorer. It has way more strength than is necessary to reliably turn a set of 29" tires on an open diff. Try taking similar trucks (like an S10 platform) and locking the front, then throwing 35s on there, flexing out the suspension and mashing on the skinny pedal. It wouldn't last one minute.