What I'm wondering is what are some possible vehicles that I could get a rear end from that would either bolt in to my '82 T/A or do so without any real major mods, as I'm sort of new to rearend stuff and don't really know how to do major things to get them to fit, also this can't be from an impossible to find vehicle, no '67 L88 corvette rearends, I live in ND in a town of about 50,000; most junkyards around here consist of mostly old trucks and fullsize cars, no real sports cars or anything, certain vehicles I was wondering about are
maybe 3/4-1ton pickup rearends, are pickup rears in general strong? I could get my hands on one of these easily
any old fullsize cars that have strong rears? or new for that matter? any help would greatly be appreciated

Thanks

 

any third or forth gen f body cars will be direct bolt in, nothing else will be anywhere close to what i believe you'd calling a easy swap

 

How are 4th gen rears for strength? anyone know their approx. torque rating? I don't know if I can find any V8 4th gen rears around here, I've seen v6 one's I think though, but obviously they probably wouldn't be as strong or wouldn't have posi

 

There is no difference between a V6 and a V8 differential except gearing.

The F-body diff has changed very little since 1982. It's still called a 7.5" 10 bolt however in the mid 80's the ring gear size was increased to 7 5/8". In 1990 the axles were made bigger going from 26 spline to 28 spline. In 1993 the fourth gen diff was widened 2" on each side.

None of the 10 bolt's parts are considered performance parts. You can buy better gears and carrier. Get a solid rear cover with bearing cap supports and install better aftermarket 28 spline axles but the tiny ring and pinion will still be the weak link.

There are 2 options to finding a stronger diff. Find a late 80's Borg Warner 9 bolt or a very rare Dana 44. I ran a beefed up 10 bolt for a couple of years and ran mid to low 11's with it. I only switched to a 9" when I added a transbrake.

 

thanks alot for the help guys