After doing a couple of searches on TGO, I realized that there really isnt a lot of information or debate about the function and use of a rear end diff. support cover/girdle (Im using all those terms to making it easier for future searches to find this thread). I have found that the most commonly referenced products are those offered by summit racing (http://store.summitracing.com/partde...=SME%2D8510400) and TA performance at fast toys (http://www.fasttoys.net/8292fbodyframes.html). I understand what their function is but there doesnt seem to be much debate out there about how good they really are. I guess I just dont understand why if these work so well, as everyone seems to agree, there arent more manufacturers of these pieces. I know that several members on this boards have installed them and anyone that has some knowledge on these products, has installed them and can share procedures, or wishes to comment on them is welcome. Again, this thread is in hopes of helping myself and others in the future gain some knowledge about these rear covers. Thanks, Efrain.:lala:

 

somewhere i think i read with welding the tubes you'd gain around 40 % increase in strength, wish i could find it now to make sure i remember what i think i read

 

They help substantially, by preventing the carrier from spreading apart under load and allowing the gears to mis-align. The better ones also include the feature of hardware that helps hold the caps in place, which also helps stabilize the ring-pinion alignment.

You can get the T/A cover from an enormous list of vendors, some of whom machine tha T/A name off and leave it blank, and some put their own name on them. I've never used the Summit brand covers, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out they're a private-labelled T/A like so many others.

There are a couple of other mfrs out there. There's one for example that advertises that theirs is better for cooling the fluid because it has passages for the fluid to flow through and cooling fins to dissipate heat, but I can't recall who it is.

Go work out how much it would cost you to make one of those, and then look at how much you can buy it for. I think you'll see that the price of entry into the market, compared to the potential profit, is too high for those who have to buy the tooling to be bothered trying to compete. Although, I could be wrong.

 

I'm undecided aobut these upgrades to these rears. I ran the factory nothing speacial at all rear for a season and a half before I blew up the ring gear. Then with this new rear I took all the advice from this board about welding the tubes and installing the support cover and blew up this 2nd rear in 2 months. I'm finally convinced at this point these miniture ring and pinions are just not made for traction and a fair amount of power.

 

Any one else running these things?

 

yep! love it!

 

I have one and also blew up a couple sets of gears...all do to having them installed improperly. I even took it to a Chevy dealer and they screwed it up! I had to go to a Dodge dealership to get it done right. If you look at how cheap and flimsy the factory cover is compared to the T/A cover you can imagine how much more support it is gonna give. Also some of them have the ability to add axle braces to them also. I guess its about the best you can do if you wanna ask the weak A$$ rear to hold up any better!

 

I will have to agree with everybody else.

I have the Jeg's version of the cover. I didn't use the cross braces, because when I reinstall the tranny (finishing the rebuild today) I am going to remove the brackets from the tail shaft housing and weld a Heims joint to the end of the torque arm and secure it to a home made bracket near the cross member. This should keep the rear end in place and reduce the axle flex from a hard launch.

As for the cover I was impressed when I first got it. The pic in the catalogs doesn't do it any justice. It was much thicker than I thought it was going to be. The Jeg's version like a lot of the others has the bearing preload bolts too. If you buy one make sure it has these.

All this said, the rear end is still only going to be as strong as the teeth on your gear set. I did all these mods so that I could have a little fun with street tires before I get my Ford 9" in a year and a half. (I mean just a little fun, my car is not a daily driver, It only comes out in the spring, summer and fall on nice days.)