In terms of drag racing, what have you found to be the limits of the 10 bolt? I know I'm flirting with disaster here but the "rear end fund" isn't substantial enough to afford an upgrade yet. I blew my wad on building the rest of the car. I'm in the mid 1.4's now on M/T Radials, TH400, motive 3.73s, SLP diff and stock axles. Thinking it's gonna go any minute now lol.

 

1.4's is all I'd want to put thru it with an auto. I've been down there a few times. With my turbo motor, it leaves much softer but puts alot more power thru after it gets moving and i havent killed it yet. Axle tubes where it meets the housing however are seeping fluid so I think the rear is almost dead

 

And at the opposite end of the spectrum is my brother who owned my Camaro before me, who grenaded the rear with a stock L98 and street tires, on the street. Seems to be that most can't handle much at all, but a few odd ***** are strong enough too. If your already going that quick, you may have one of the odd ball ones.

 

This is something i also had a concern with. I have a stock 10 bolt besides an eaton posi and as of right now im only getting 1.6x 60 foots but i always wonder if itll go or not. Good to see someone's pushed it a little farther though, gives me a little more hope!

 

been a 1.41 with one in a pretty light 4th gen.

 

Depends on the weight, the shifting of the Trans and the power. For the most part that is.

I had a 2.73 rear that lasted through 500 HP 383 engines and never had a complaint. Had a 4.10 setup that died with a carved l98. It died on a 1.8 sixty, leaving rather soft.

Some want to live, others give up. The 4th gen pieces do seem to like stocking around a. It more. I have seen a 10 bolt 7.5 go 9s, but we are talking a Isuzu with a small block and no weight.

 

Yup, weight plays a factor in the longevity of these things. Get the tubes welded and perhaps find a girdle/cover for it. That's about as good as it gets. Anything to keep the gear contact in the sweet spot will help it love long. Don't waist your money on forged axles.

 

i had every after market part you could bolt on the the 7.5 rear end.
every thing!
stud covers
aftermarket differentials
axels
gears
oils
you name it..i had it!

and I could CRUSH it at a wim..with a hard Hole shot below 1.50 (60 ft)
if i left soft say 1.60 and up it would stay together. (for a few weeks)

the thing that would Come unglued, for me are the Gears.. anything below 4.10..gears and a 1.50 hole shot = Blender..set on Mix!

most of the time..it would start to sound like Radio feedback!
JUST BEFOR THE BIG LETGO!the best is when it lets go at over 100mph
then you get to chew up tranny parts too! and the drive line..
letting go at speed = blender running till car stops moving!..Fun stuff.makes you feel all warm and fuzzy!

if your racing with a 7.5 now, and it's not broke? then your running out of time!!
cuzz it's going to.. (i would say with anything better then stock) Kiss it goodby!

you can get that same warm and fuzzy..by chewing tin foil..and shaving your head with a cheese Grader!!

 

wow and i was worried about putting mt et street radials on. im running 2.20 60 ft on worn street tires. and i cringe every time i drop the clutch. i also am told manuals are much harder on them than autos.

mines a 4th gen 10 bolt with ta girdle auburn posi and 4.10 richmond gears. it also has upgraded axles and long wheel studs 4th gen aluminum drive shaft as well.

all the rear parts will be for sale in about a week. my s60 is expected to ship on or before the 10th.
I ouldnt handle worrying about it letting go on the top end anymore.

 

I blew mine up twice in my Camaro - first time it took 3 teeth off the ring gear; second time it spun the pinion bearing in the housing. Then I bought a Strange 12 bolt and never had a problem.

For those that upgrade everything on the rears and still blow them up - the weak links are so hard to overcome that even the best aftermarket parts can't fix the problems (design). If your ring gear is going to shear teeth off way before the axles will break, no reason to change axles if they are still good...

Seems like factory stock seems to work the best with faster cars for some reason. If GM went with the 8.5" 10 bolt in the third gens like the GNs had, we wouldn't have to worry about it - unless you car runs 9's or better...

 

I think NHRA should compose a rule for a cut-off at a ET level where you have to do the upgrade.The risk factor makes me not want to race someone without C clip eliminators having a axle shear off at the flange to locking up in the 330 range and skidding into my lane.

 

nhra has a rule for aftermarket axles......

 

1gary

those are the exact thoughts that got the check in the mail for the s60. if it was just a matter of the rear breaking in the waterbox or at the line i was ok but 2nd gear shift and beyond made me a bit worried about it locking up.

 

This was the 4.10 set with the carbed l98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyBKF...e_gdata_player

 

ive always prayed that if mine ever broke it was when i was comming out of the water box or right off the line. surprisingly i have never broken a 10 bolt, but i have plenty of friends that have broke them even with stock motors.

hell i had an 87 iroc with a 383 and a 5 speed and i beat the living hell out of it, 5k clutch dumps, donuts burnouts, drifting and lots of street racing/powershifting, i broke about 4 t5's before i got rid of the car and the rear never went

my v6 car has a 200k mile rearend under it , minispool,stock/c-clip elims axles and a set of richmond 4:10's 1.8 60's on street tires high 1.6-low 1.7 on slicks and it has yet to give up

stock 7.5/7.75 rear is a gamble no matter what is done to it. some get lucky some dont.

best advice is dont wast money on it just save up for a 9inch,12bolt or s60

 

I know a lot of guys have had pretty good luck with them. I'm not one of those guys however. Had the tune set pretty soft and was getting about 20 passes with 1.58-1.60 60's. Got greedy and ramped the timing in faster. Made a 1.52 60' pass with a set with about 10 runs on them and stripped the teeth off the ring gear. Installed another brand new set, made another single 1.52 pass and stripped them again the next pass. I'm done with a 7.5 now.

 

I've seen them lock up.Twist the driveshaft,break the u-joints,break the tailshaft on the tranny.What a mess!!!.

 

Has anyone seen or have it happened to them, a rear end braking and axle coming out on a disk brake car? I know i have not

 

Hey Orr.Sheared right at the flange with no stub...............


No excuses.You want to play,you have to pay.

 

Never seen first hand a disc brake axle breaking. Some call it "poor mans c-clip eliminator" (I don't agree with this), however I've heard from smarter people that the end result isn't good. If it breaks right on the line, I'd imagine it would be less catastrophic then a drum rear, but at any kind of speed, the caliper bracket does little to hold it in.

 

c clip eliminators are behind the flange as well, so you would be screwed in that situation as well.
i have never seen one personally break and walk out on a disk brake car, but that doesnt mean it can't. all that is holding the flopping axle in the housing at that point is the caliper bracket, and sometimes that is a thin aluminum bracket.
9 times out of 10 i would say the 7.5 axles would break down there at the splines. the axle is actually a pretty decent size most of the length, but then it tapers down to a smaller diameter near the splined area. i have seen a few of them twist pretty good as well. we welded up the spiders in the rear that went 1.41, logic was that all torque would be equally transmitted through both axles evenly. i believe there can be a situation where one wheel can get 100% of the torque the car is producing for an instant with a locker or limited slip diff. that would break axles. the one we welded went 1.41-1.43 quite a few times and never broke.

 

Yeah I never seen one fail that came out of the axle housing. All the rears I've seen break are on the starting line or a few feet out. The hit off the line should be the most stressful.

 

Just install a Fab 9 and call it a day.

 

i've seen the hub flange brake off right at the axle bearing area.

my old 305 broke many 10 bolts...i never gave it a chance to blow up with the lsx engines

 

Well we have spent 23 posts talking about a known leak link.Right guys??.And we have talked about the hazards it poses.And I am VERY sure what I saw mid track in failures.And I do recall see a video of one breaking mid track and the car skidding into the guard rail,but damm if I can find it now.

Bottom line,replace the 7.5.Can we aleast agree on that??.

 

I don't think there's any argument. We just like standing around comparing our battle wounds lol.

 

I will run one in the next camaro. Will be a 4.8, we will see if it lives.

 

I was planning on breaking in the new motor on my existing 10 bolt but that axle tube seeping fluid got me alarmed Would be nice to set a record on a 10 bolt rear but I have a 12 bolt sitting here that needs to go in after getting new posi/gears

 

No. Breaking a 7.5 is like a merit badge. Anyone with $2500 can bolt in an upgrade, that's not special. Not everyone can break their 7.5, for various reasons. I broke a 7.625", 28-spline version with a stock '91 LO3 / 700r-4, only mod was a Flowmaster. I had a 26-spline 7.5 survive my '88 IROC-Z running a best of 10.21 at full weight. It's an unpredictable thing. Adapting an 8.5 or 8.8 may not be within reach for everyone, but now that I've done a Dana 60, it only took a week for the novelty to wear off. The novelty of that 10.21 still hasn't worn off, and probably never will. Difficult to make fond memories by playing it safe.

 

Like.

 

here's the limit spelled out for ya:

 

Cool pic. I'll be sure to post when it snaps. I'm gonna cross my fingers and hope it lasts the rest of the season.

 

sorry...bad math joke....

 

Since we're on the subject of rearend carnage, I saw the aftermath of a truck 10 bolt (8.5") have it's pinion nut back out on the freeway and lodge the pinion gear between the case and carrier. I opened it up to see if I could salvage anything for my friend and it was a MESS. All the oil leaked from the nasty crack on the bottom of the case. Talk about gore!

Anyhow...back to the 7.5"

 

had this happen in a friends 4thgen camaro, luckily we caught it in time.
it made a bad vibration so i threw the car up on the lift to check the u joints, when i grabed the rear end side and wiggled it i could move the pinion up and down an 1/8th inch in any direction.

he got lucky it didnt really chew anything up, threw a new pinion seal, and pinion bearings in it after taking it apart and cleaning it and it ran just fine after that.

could have been alot worse though.

thats why we stake the pinion nut on every rear we do

 

Advantages of running the 7.5: Stealth factor. Can't get it if you swap a 9", 12-bolt or a 60. Less mass, helps acceleration and MPG, handling and braking. Cheap Even if you have an upgrade axle for racing, you can keep a milder-geared 7.5 for non-competition usage. Really not much more hassle than changing the pumpkins in a ford 9", and cheaper than buying 2 new pumpkins, plus 2 new gearsets, plus 2 new 31+ spline posis, for the 9". Also, if you break your race axle, you still have something to limp the car around on. cheap way to try different gearing before investing in the new ratio for your upgrade axle, so long as the gear you want to evaluate is between 2.73:1-3.73:1 Hidden disadvantages of the 7.5: Noone offers a load-bolt kit, so noone knows for sure if adding a load-bolt would reduce R&P failures. If it would, then all the other upgrades would make more sense IF using a properly set-up pinion spacer instead of the crush sleeve.

 

dont wash you car...
use cheap tires...

whould be the same thing has running a 7.5 rear...

ok..ok..maby not washing the car...but ya want to be stealthy..thats 1 way...

 

i been through one 9 bolt, one lt1 rear and my ls1 rear is beginning to make sounds from 40-65: ).... all through a built up 355 tpi, built and stalled auto and entire aftermarket suspension...... next rear will be a moser 9 inch cause the t56 is going to destroy the ls1 rear.... i like to drive hard....

 

The stock 28-spline shafts are NOT a weak link, until someone invents stronger R&P sets. The only way to fail a shaft before the R&P is with a welded diff, one drag slick on VHT, the other on water. Other than that, no sense buying aftermarket shafts for these.

 

Stealth factor?

It is hard to see the rear on a thirdgen unless you stick your head under the car, the only one that at first glance would look aftermarket is a 9". I painted my 12 bolt cover black and you can't even see the bolts to count them, even if you suspect something...

 

if i was at my buddies house i could post up some pics of twisted 10 bolt axles. they were run with an auburn diff and bfg drag radials. he's broken or bent everything you could imagine. can't seperate him from his man pedal.

 

We have also broke axles...

 

ill add to that street drive them long enough with a welded diff and u will twist the hell out of them, but thats about the only way ur going to break them.

my v6 car has a welded diff with 28 spline axles 2 years of drag racing and lots of street driving and i finally twisted one enough to were u could see it wobble and had to replace it

u have more of a risk of stripping/twisting the splines off a 28 spline axle then u do of breaking it

 

forgot about another local guy that broke one. i sold him my spare 4 channel abs axle to get his car back on the road. (4th gen LS1 car)
snapped it off nice and clean just ahead of the splines.

 

Heh. My 2000 Z28's 10-bolt survived 650rwhp (382+150shot) for a couple years. Probably only because it never hooked worth a damn...

 

Ok.You guys spend thousands of dollars in mods/swaps hoping the car never hooks so it doesn't break a rear end you know you should have replaced??.

 

keep the 60's above a certain point and im convinced you can run a 10 bolt. if your going to be doing anything under a 1.5 i would for sure put something decent in there though. nowadays i am too skeered to chance putting the car in the wall over a broken axle.

 

Broke one with street tires on the highway! Same rear I put back together with an eaton posi and richmond gears and couldnt kill it. Ran several no time events so cant tell you for sure what it ran but would go 11.50s on motor and I was spraying 225 out the hole, took it like the dirty ***** it was.

 

Ran one for several years with 3.73/zexel torsion diff, only mod was Moser street axles... 1.41-1.45 was the normal 60ft range for atleast 2 years, and being raced for 2 years prior to that.. Also sprayed on occasion at 15-20 MPH besting a 1.37 with the 10 bolt.. Was not until a t56 swap and 4.10s that it broke the diff - swapped in another used one and continued on till I upgraded and sold the rear which I think still lives.

 

Well,well,well.Now I have hear every excuse now for not finishing a build on a car.That pretty much sums up this post.