The D35 is based off the AMC 15 tooling that Dana/spicer purchased from amc when they were going belly up in like 84 or 85, the AMC-15 was basically the little brother of the M20 and was found in the back of amc concords and eagles and all those really cool 4wd cars from teh late 70- early 80's. The initial design was never to be a wheeling axle but for passenger cars (hense why the AMC-15 was not used in jeeps. BUT the D35 was not a AMC axle, as far as I know, they do not share components (carriers or gears) only the D35 tooling originated from the AMC-15 tooling. Not to say the two are not equally weak.