can i just change out the spider gears in my rear to one from a posi rear and make it posi.....without any farther adjustments

 

no you need a whole new differential.

 

No, not even close. You need the whole differential.

 

cool thats what i thought....thanks

 

Got a welder?

 

welder works and cheap

 

But different then a posi, your not gonna go around turns for ****.....

 

yeah i would like a more practical and functional way to do it...

 

Well it is very functional! but you have to know what your doing with a welder, even then its still scary not knowing when the weld or something is going to give. Someone on here quite a while back had a welded up rear and it finally gave out and locked up and the car went into a tree, i believe everyone was ok but still, that could have killedeveryone in the car and any other people that may have got in the path of the car. Very scary...


Do it right and buy a posi or a locker, dont get yourself or anyone else killed!

 

You could bolt in a powertrax setup if you do not want to re-shim or are not changing the gears.

 

people have been welding rearends for years it may not be the right way to do it but works great if you weld it correct while it out and clean it very good . i have ran cars, 4x4's this way and no problems. some people can't afford 300+ on a posi and if you can weld you can weld it cheap or do as i did get a mini spool

 

Yea thats true,

but I would think it is a little on the unsafe side, and could wear your tires out faster. It also may be hard on the suspension depending on how hard and how much you drive the car. The structure of these unibody cars in my opinion would not be as strong and forgiving as an older full frame car or a truck, and I would think that the two tires fighting each other for traction in turns would cause a lot of wheel hop and suspension stress.

I have never welded a rear, or used a spool, so I don't know how bad these scenarios could actually get. So I guess I am just skeptical about it.

I would have to experience driving a 3rd gen with a spool before I would think about trying it. Even then I would probably not do it.

How bad was the wheel hop on your vehicle when you used the mini-spool?

 

its not real bad but car is not my daily driver mostly track drive it to shows and strip but not many shows around here maybe 1 or 2 a year and to the track almost everyweekend not right know though trying to get in my new motor and th 350 trans will be all strip now cause i gutted interior

 

driving it to and from the track is going to eat tires up very fast. Had a buddy with a spooled 12 bolt that rode on street tires to and from the track and switched to slicks when he got there. The street tires were bald in 1800 miles. If that's your thing then get a mini spool. Cheaper than a full spool or a diff and stronger welded spider gears.

 

i put a 95 rear in my 85 your saying there is no way i can change out my gears they look the same besides longer
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my 82 s10sbc has the gears welded and its a donut monster

 

Ah I see.

Yea, a daily driver would be a different story.

 

Why wouldn't I have to shim it?

 

Because the powertrax unit replaces only your gears inside the carrier itself not the ring and pinion. In fact you do not even have to remove the carrier from the housing unless you break the little bolt that holds the shaft in the carrier in place.

Go to jegs or summit and do a search for powertrax, youll see a pick of it and understand clearer than I can impropperly type. lol!

EDIT: I may have misunderstood what you were asking. I meant that you would have to re-shim if you installed a different carrier, because the new carrier would most likely have different tolerences and this would create a different backlash than what you started with.

 

Yeah, I was just reading about it, very interesting. How much would you say one of these is worth used?

 

the powertrax slips in place of the spider gears, which only requires you to remove 1 bolt, slide the pin out and the spiders will fall onto your toes! Slide the powertrax unit in, slide the pin in and bolt it, put cover on, add oil and proceed to baking tires!



That specific one that you linked to is not going to work for you unless you swapped in an older rear end. Yours should be a 28 spline, the one in the ad is a 26 spline unit!

 

MAN DUDE!! take those ebay adds down!! lol!!! your going to get this thread locked!!! lol!!!

EDIT: I would stay away from the 26 spline units. They are not as strong, and 28 spline axles in the bone yards are cheap.

Oh yea, I myself wouldn't spend more than 200, maybe 250 for a decent used powertrax.

 

Nice. I might just pick one of these up!

My bad, I thought the ebay ad rule only applied to the buy/sell/trade section.


My car is an '86 car, wouldn't that be 26 spline?

 

Yup it would bolt right in but like I stated above 28 spline bone yard axles are cheap, in fact I might have a set you could have. Or just goto the local bone yard and get a set of axles from a 1989 to 92 F-Body and step up.

 

oops, yes it should be fine for your car '86 350' i was thinking of the original thread starters car which is a 92!

 

That means that I'd have to go with new gears though correct? I'm not too smart about rear-ends, sory if it's a lame question.


Allright. I just called the original owner of my car, and since I've never torn into the rear myself, I asked him a few questions. He said it's a limited slip car originally, not posi? So I'm guessing that means that I'd have to pick up a new carrier too for this since I can't just pull the posi out of the carrier huh? I think I'll go pull the rear-cover off and find out for sure tonight or maybe tomorrow.

 

Nope. Just get the 28 spline axles, and the 28 spline powertrax, and it is all a bolt-in.

 

Pull the cover and check before you order!

The powertrax unit will only go into a 'open' diff, if its already a limited slip (posi) theirs no need for the powertrax unit!

 

Posi and limited slip are the same thing.

Powertrax does make units to drop into certain posi carriers, but if you have a posi and its rebuildable, then try to rebuild it first (still there will be no messing with shims as long as you do not change the gears).

 

Allright thanks.


The limited slip is wasted, it doesn't catch no matter what. I take it I'd need a new carrier if I were to get the powertrax unit correct? Then I'd have to shim it though......

 

Not nessasellery, I just saw a powertrax posi application today I am trying to locate it. gimmie a few minutes.

EDIT: OK, I was only about 1/4 right. The only GM posi app. they have is for the Gov-Loc.

If your posi/limited slip is a clutch type vs. the cone type auburn, then it is rebuildable unless its actually broken.

 

I guess i should have rephrased my question....Im looking for limited slip since my car is a daily driver...i just used the term posi as a generic term..i dont want to weld anything and have my car turn like a 747 jet... (real wide)
ive thought about a spool or something but havent done any research on them...I dont really intend to race the car but am just looking to have better traction since im planning to bolt in a rear from another car with a lower gear for the ease of it...but thanks for all the replies and feel free to continue the discussion.....thanks guys.

 

dont get a spool for the street it's basically the same thing as welding up your spider gears

 

It is the same thing, except i would trust a spool alot more than a welded up rear!