Hey guys I have an 83 Z with the good ol' 10 bolt. 4.10 Richmond gears, Eaton posi. I plan on replacing the axles with Moser and putting one of those TA covers on it. Im running street tires and drive the car mostly on the street with occasional drag runs with the same tires. Do I really need to weld the axle tubes or should my parts list give me enough extra strength for what I use it for. The motor is a 325 hp 350 and a 700R4 tranny with shift kit. I thought about the axle tube braces from LPW but not sure if it would be worth the money or not.

 

Don't bother. The gears will break long before the axle tubes become an issue.

 

Sounds about right lol. I've figured the tubes shouldn't be an issue unless I was running slicks. Just thought I'd post my question for some more opinions.

 

But if the rear is out and the welder is in your hand....

 

Rear is in the car. My understanding you have to use a nickel rod because the pumpkin is cast, besides having to preheat the cast my dumb *** would be so lucky to warp it.

 

Because of the way the torque arm holds the pumpkin, it's maybe not as big an issue in these cars as some others; but still well worth the while.

If nothing else it will give you the opportunity to fix the leaks at the little plug welds from how they're always cracked.

Have whoever does it, put it in a jig to hold them PERFECTLY straight. It might even surprise how far off of "straight" they are now, especially if the car has always seemed to have an alignment strangeness that you just couldn't quite get out of it no matter how many times you had it aligned.

Take out ALL the moving and removeable parts (such as bearing races) before welding.

The braces are overkill for the application you describe.

 

So would it be over kill going through the trouble of removing the rear from the car and all of its components to weld it too for my app?

 

I stil say no

 

it's over kill to put moser axles into something that will break the ring and pinion well before an axle. Take that money and save it for a 9" setup and you'll be ahead of the curve.

 

I understand going with a 9" would leave me with no worries but thats alot of loot. It would take me about 19 years to save up lol.

 

I would run what you have and add the L.P.W. support cover and see how long it last. I'm not a racer but have done some research on this board and the consensus seems to be if your running street tires and a automatic than your not pounding it hard on your launches you should be fine with that set up . At least with the power your putting out now. You can put aside what cash you can while running that to put in a 9" at a later date, if necessary.
Here's a link to Jegs were I bought my L.P.W. cover = http://www.jegs.com/i/L.P.W./619/301-7.5G/10002/-1

 

Thats sort of the conclusion I came up with too from web surfing. Im not going to weld the tubes but I will add the support cover. Eventually a 9" will have to go in because I would like to add more power. Now for the Moser axles, I would be tossing money away? I thought that was a weak point as much as the gears? Just dont want to lose an axle.

 

What did you change when you went to the 4.10s and the Eaton Posi. Did you not up grade to a 3 series 28 spline carrier with 28 spline axles. If not that was the time. If you did not then your still stuck with the 26 splines even with the Moser. Just apply the L.P.W.cover and run it. Im only pushing 200 hp but I still did the 10 bolt up-grades. Heres a link to the build.=
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...de-photos.html

 

As for the carrier I have no idea for sure. I assume its 26 spline. The PO changed the gears to Richmond 4.10 and the carrier looks like an Eaton but I could be wrong again. I was just looking to strenghten this up a bit. Dont want to lose an axle either. Is there actually that big of a difference for 2 extra splines per say?

 

By the way, sharp looking car!

 

The difference in the axles is more than just 2 splines; it's the diameter, too.

Don't waste a dime on any 26-spline parts. If that's what you've got, STOP; throw it away; and go get a 4th gen rear to build instead. Similarly, if your "Eaton" turns out to be a Gov-Lock aka Gernade-Bomb, you're already hosed before you even start.

LOOK at what you've ACTUALLY got before ordering ANYTHING. Few things suck worse than ordering a giant pile of parts, picking a nice day, and totally disabling your primary transportation, only to discover that your new parts DON'T FIT.

If you don't know what carrier you have, post up a pic, showing clearly what's visible through its little "window"; and it won't be hard at all to identify positively.

For as little as welding the tubes up costs, I fail to see why it's a good idea to NOT do it, while you have the whole thing out and apart ANYWAY. Would I take it apart, do that, and put it all back together just like it was? No. But, would I take it all apart, spend all manner of time effort $$$$ and risk on it, and NOT do it?? Not no; HELL NO.

First thing to do is find out EXACTLY what you've got, to know whether it's even worth the effort of messing with it. Get that info first, then proceed logically toward what to do to turn WHAT YOU ACTUALLY HAVE NOW into WHAT YOU WANT, and get the greatest bang for the buck along the way.

 

I failed to even think that the diameter would be bigger. Good point. Im starting to change my mind altogher now. I will cruise it now for the time being and probably go with a 9". If Im going through the trouble of having to remove and disassemble then I want to only do it once. Plus I probably wouldnt be saving too much. I appreciate the help guys!