So I'm looking over my choices for 9" rear end options, and I'm not too happy with any particular one. So here's what I'm thinking so far:

I like the Strange engineering stamped housings, but currie makes some reasonably priced ones too. The PN on the strange unit is H1115. $439

Strange's axles are pretty decently priced too. PN P3104, $396

The main reason I don't want to buy a moser is the bracketry is no better than factory. RaceCraft sells their brackets separately. http://www.racecraft.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=706 $235

Torque arm mounting is easy. I will either go with a Midwest Chassis torque arm, or fab my own. For the mounts, it only takes a couple tabs such as these. http://ballisticfabrication.com/Axle...om_p_1446.html 2 @ $.99

For brakes, I will pick up a set of explorer 11" rear brakes from a scrapyard should be less than $150

Center section. Nodular iron center chunk, Richmond Gear 3.80:1 ring and pinion, 31 spline detroit locker, used. Undisclosed source since stock seems to be running low O.o . $665



Total is around $1900 less shipping and welding wire.


If you have a 9" and didn't simply buy it, post up! Lets see some pics too!

 

You're going to want something a whole lot stronger than that. There's a reason companies like Currie sell a heavy, beefy mount with thick tubes that get welded onto the housing. Little tabs like that wouldn't even survive ladder bars or 4-link tubes. The stresses put on the mounts are far greater than you realize.

The Currie mount is/was around $150. I don't know if they still offer it. Here's a link showing the bracketry.

http://www.currieenterprises.com/ces...E.aspx?id=1769

 

^ I'll definitely work with bigger tabs than that. I can easily make my own if it comes to that. Moser's mounts use a single 5/8" grade 8 bolt in tension. Since the torque arm style I'll be working with will have a rod end up there, I'd rather put it in double shear. The tabs will have to have a much wider base so I can get 6-8" of weld down both sides of each tab.

I'll definitely be able to find something in here that will work. http://ballisticfabrication.com/Link-Brackets_c_24.html

Here's an example of the MWC torque arm. I'll be using a shorter tunnel mount tq arm, but the axle end will be similar.

 

Better watch this. You don't want to be like this guy. Some people should not be allowed to touch a welder.

 

What reason do you have to doubt my welding skills?

 

I don't know you and you don't know me. I don't know your skills and you don't know mine. Better to be safe and risk offending someone than to let them hurt themselves or someone else. Whoever welded the brackets on this guy's rear end should not ever be allowed in the same room with a welder again. If you are a good welder then that's great. I hope it goes well for you.

 

 

Soo... Does anyone here run a stock suspension 9" that wasn't bolt in?

 

I narrowed a truck 9 inch for a 3rd gen several years ago for someone, but he welded all of the brackets on himself. He cut the brackets off of his 10 bolt and transfered them to the 9 inch. I don't know what he did about the torque arm. I didn't see that part of it.

 

My first 9" came out of a 1970 F100. I bought aftermarket axles and used ford drum brakes. I cut all the mounts off a 10 bolt and welded them onto the 9" for the shocks, springs and panhard bar. To eliminate the torque arm, I installed ladder bars but had to modify the floor to make them fit under the floor.

I now have a narrowed 9" with a back half and 4-link suspension.

 

I don't suppose you'd recommend I go that route, instead of keeping the torque arm?

I think I've seen your ladder bar setup in an old thread somewhere, and it did look pretty good.

I don't have the budget for a backhalf yet, so I'm hoping for input from those who are familiar with the stock setup.


I also want to narrow the rear end a couple inches so I can go with a wheel with a decent lip on it. Has anyone put in a rear axle is shorter than the stocker? How narrow can I get until I run into problems with brake and LCA interference?

 

To properly narrow a diff, changing the ends etc, you should be using some sort of alignment jig. I straightened my housing after all the welding I did to it with a big press at work.

Converting to ladder bars isn't recommended for street use. No matter what kind of suspension conversion you try to do, it will require some sort of fabrication work. My ladder bars went through the floor so I had to section the floor for them to pass through. Since I didn't have rear seats, it wasn't a big deal. The floor of a third gen sits a lot lower than a full frame car making suspension changes very difficult.

There are some aftermarket LCA which sort of work like very short ladder bars however without any kind of adjustments, it's unlikely you'll see any gains from using them plus they're very short compared to real ladder bars.

The whole idea of having adjustable suspension is to be able to tune the suspension to different track conditions. Stock suspension has no adjustments but an aftermarket torque arm can allow pinion angle changes and LCARB gives a couple of options for the LCA angle.

Ladder bars have 3 or 5 different front mount locations to raise or lower the IC plus can adjust the pinion angle.

4-link is the best since it gives you a lot of different IC locations however only a small handful are in a sweet spot.

 

Excuse the bottom of the car, the factory undercoating got soaked in trans fluid when it blewup a few years ago..
I have a moser 9" rear in my car. Which mount are you talking about that uses a single 5/8" bolt??

 

I didn't realize there were 3 bolts from tq arm to axle housing.

 

Alky, that's the reason I'm shying away from my bolt in options, adjustability. IMO it makes no sense to pay a premium for some thing that bolts in but still doesn't do everything I want it to do. I'd still need LCARBS. The racecraft brackets have multiple LCA holes, and of course the torque arm will be adjustable.

 

Homemade same but different

 

I like that it bolts to the pinion support too, but so far all of the aftermarket torque arm mounts are supposed to adapt to a stock style torque arm, and all of the aftermarket torque arms are supposed to bolt to a stock rear end.

Here's what I'm talking about doing:

 

Yikes, how thick is that metal the tabs are welded to?

I like vetteoz's solution the best so far. It ties into as many places as possible.

 

Thats the Midwest Chassis Fab 9! I would venture a guess they're thick enough.

Here's the Quick Performance housing. Do you think these tabs are quick enough?

 

I made no mention of the thickness of the tabs. It is the thickness of the material the tabs are welded to that I am wondering.

 

Has this been put in the car and run with slicks yet?

 

Ahh I misread. That would depend on the thickness of the housing. 10ga or 1/8" I'm sure. Think I would be better off with a truss setup? Is there room over the top of the axle for a truss?

 

If its 1/8" I'm sure that would be fine. I would have expected it to be a lot thinner. 1/8" steel is heavy.

 

Those tabs are a lot bigger than the tabs you listed above. Also, the tab thickness should be at least 1/4" thick.

 

These are the ones I've been envisioning. Just couldn't find the exact ones from ballistic. How do these suit you?

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/..._Code=Linktabs

 

Behind a twin turbo LT1 ZF6 manual in a 10 sec Vette
Owner replaced the Vette IRS with the 9", coil overs and a full length torque arm like used on 3rd Gens

 

Those tabs would be a lot more acceptable.

 

Here's a question for ya. Should I get a back brace or not? Within the foreseeable future, I don't plan on putting more than 600 ft lbs of torque down.

 

A back brace is always a good option but without an alignment jig, all that welding will pull the tubes out of alignment.

 

Exactly why its a decision that has to be made now.

Wow, upgrading to a back braced housing from strange adds $160...

 

10-4, I built one like that but broke it 2 times. It pulled out of the pinion housing and broke the case plus the upper mounting points..
I could break a anvil with a feather tho..

Dang, that car is pretty!

 

I've put back braces on a few housings. It's a lot of work fitting it to the housing and a lot of welding too. I'd pay the $160 and be happy.

 

I agree it's not a lot extra to pay, but now we're getting into the range where the $2800 price tag on the MWC rear is worth it! Bear in mind you get a moly torque arm and driveshaft loop too

 

Just found out the MWC price includes shipping Depending on the price of the housing and axles alone, this decision may be a no-brainer!

 

No turning back now! Lol well actually I don't plan on mutiliting the car or 9 bolt in any way, so I guess I could always go back to the 7.5". Nodular case, Daytona support, 3.82 Richmond gears, and a 31 spline Detroit locker.

 

you're going to need an alignment jig to do it all properly. I would seriously consider at least ordering a bare housing from somewhere and adding brackets to it if you're set on doing it yourself.

the QP housings also have adjustable lower control arm mounts now if that's a sticking point for you on the other ones.

 

I will be ordering a back braced housing with ends installed. All thats left is to weld on brackets, which doesn't need anything fancy for a jig.

 

Random numbers (roughly):

LCA outside to outside: 48"
LCA inside to inside: 43"
Shock CL: 40"
Spring CL: 41" or so.

Good news is the LCA bracket is outboard of the PHB bracket, so brake to PHB clearance isn't as big if a deal as I was thinking. The LCA location leaves 4.5" per side (exactly the BS I want to run, so the control arms will have to be clearanced (By offsets or spacers) the distance of the sidewall to the bead.

It would be nice to use off the shelf LCAs and PHB, but if I have to inboard the brackets at all, I may run out of PHB adjustment depending on my ride height. I guess I'd rather build one PHB than 2 offset LCA's, so inboarding the brackets might be a better option. I'll have to talk to spohn and see what the effective length range of their PHB is and if they can build me a shorter one without completely ripping me off.

 

Well I took the easy way out (kinda). I have a Moser M9 housing on the way from brutespeed. It will be narrowed 2" per side and the LCA brackets will be unwelded. I also picked up a 4L80E, and Moser does not have a bolt in crossmember for it. So I will be getting a handful of unwelded crossmember parts too.

The way it looks, I'll be inboarding the LCA's to between the factory mount location and the factory subframe, about 1 3/4" inboarded per side.

This should be fun.