Ok so I got the motor done now I need to address the suspension and rear axle to get everything ready for next season. (hey it not to early for next year, we already have snow on the ground!) I would like to start with the rear since it is going to cost the most money. I was thinking of a strange 12 bolt or a moser unit. But, I have no idea what gear or rear tire to run. I figure I should base the gear off the motor and trans specs (in sig) and then choose a tire of proper size. But I don't know what gear I should get. The car will see both street and strip use. I know I might not "need" a 12 bolt now but I can't see upgradeing the 10 bolt when I would like to spray this motor eventually. 3.73's? 3.91? 4.11?

 

4.11's are really nice, if it doesnt see alot of highway use, itd be the way to go. since of the steeper gears youd take a hit when it came to highway fuel economy, but if you want this thing to run off the line like a banshee outta hell, 4.11's are the way to go. you will be running a posi am i correct? or are u planning on going to somekind of locker?

 

You want to gear for peak power rpm going through the traps to be the quickest, but leaving room for more mph isn't that bad. I'm guessing you'd be looking for around 115mph and 6000-6200rpm at that speed. Standard converter slip is 10% at peak power rpm.
115mph 3.73 26" tire = 6150rpm 28"tire= 5700rpm
115mph 3.90 26" tire = 6400rpm 28"tire= 6000rpm
115mph 4.11 26" tire = 6800rpm 28"tire= 6300rpm

Think my choice would be 3.73 with 26" tire, and a taller tire will enable more mph if need be later on.

 

thanks for the breakdown that helps a lot. I think I will go 3.73 with a posi. A locker is probably a pain in the *** on the street right? I ran a lock-rite in my rock crawling rig on the street and in was noisy and burned up my tires pretty quick.

By the way why doesn't anyone run a dana 44 or 60 in the drag cars? They were the standard for the rock crawling 4x4 rigs I used to help put together.

 

I used a powertrax no-slip locker in my stock axle, and liked that fine on street and strip. The axle I'm using now is a dana 60 based unit made by strange. I believe they cast their own center section with the tq arm mounts, so it's not a true dana 60. Internally it's all the same, and I have a detroit locker in there that I also like both street and strip. Thing I didn't like about it is that the stocker axle was about 120lbs, and this one is 200lbs.

 

is a dana 60 axle any stronger than a 12 bolt. The 4x4 crowd seems to think so and so does strange I guess. The 60 package axle is actually cheaper than the 12 bolt package.