Hey everyone

Looking to swap rearends into my 89 camaro and was wondering what rearends are the strongest. I know the Ford 9 inch is strong enough to handle my power but I want to stay with a gm bolt pattern if possible. I know I could go out and buy one from strange or moser but I have access to everything to make a factory rear end work.

Any help would be appreciated

 

how much power?? street tires or slicks? drag car or road car

 

thanks for the response. its a 550-600 hp supercharged 383. the car is mostly a track car that I run wrinkle wall slicks on but also sees some street time.

 

OEM options are the 7.5" 10 bolt or a 9 bolt. Neither are really strong enough for continual abuse. 90-92 third gen 10 bolts are slightly stronger with 28 spline axles. There's nothing different about strength with a fourth gen diff. It still uses the same tiny ring and pinion.

Aftermarket choices are 9", 12 bolt or Dana 60. They're all good but each has it's own good and bad things. It's all going to depend on your budget. You can spend roughly the same amount of money trying to beef up a 10 bolt but you're still left with the tiny ring and pinion teeth in it. Bite the bullet and buy an aftermarket diff and you shouldn't need to worry about diff strength after that.

I run a narrowed 9" under my car. Aluminum bolt through Moser center section. Aluminum Daytona pinion support and aluminum spool. I can lift the center up into the diff with one hand. Running a powerglide, I can still get away with 31 spline axles but I should really upgrade to 33 spline. If you run a 3 speed tranny, 35 spline is best because of the extra torque multiplication off the line.

 

Don't screw around with a factory rear end. A stock 9 inch Ford isn't that strong and it requires after market parts to make it strong enough to handle racing. I've seen many stock Ford trucks break 9 inch rear ends. You spent a ton of money on the engine, don't try to cut corners on the rear end. Just get an after market rear end that is built to fit your car with the Chevy bolt pattern and you won't have to worry about breaking something. Quick Performance is probably the lowest cost bolt in 9 inch.

 

I exploded my stock rear with just 500rwhp last summer on the street, of course it had track time too. I also tweaked another stock rear at 425rwhp. I ended up using Carl Loder at CRP to get my new dana 60. I have detroit locker, welded location brackets, chromolly yolk, 3.55 gears, 35 spline axles, disk brakes, 1/2'' studs. Now when I turn the boost up, I dont have to worry about the rear anymore.
Have a handful of passes on it without any problems. although I was running very low boost.

 

Do you guys know if there is a company that make the torque arm bracket that can be mounted to the rearend housing? I could have sworn I saw it at one point but can't find it any more. If not I can fab one up pretty easily just figured it might be a little easier to just by it

 

Im not sure of what your asking, but the Dana60 from Strange can use the stock torque arm without mods. If you have an aftermarket like a Spohn (I do) You just need to notch it out.

 

No it was just a weld in bracket that you could attach to the rear end to accept the torque arm. If not I can just fab my own it wouldn't be the end of the world

 

The 9 inch Ford is the only rear end that you can easily weld a torque arm bracket on. The other rear ends use a cast iron center that can not be easily wleded, if welded at all. You will have to cut the housing and modify the tubes to get the width and pinion offset right. You will have to use a hosing fixture to get everything in line before welding the ends back on. This shoudl be done AFTER the LCA brackets are welded on because welding the brackets will warp the tubes a little. Then you will have to order custom axles for it.

 

Check out Quick Performance!
I bought my 35 spline 9" from them.

It'll take alot to break it

 

Currie sells a torque arm bracket but it's only designed to be installed on a 9" housing. As mentioned above, only the 9" case is made from steel to weld the attachment points onto. All the other diffs are cast which makes welding to very difficult. To properly weld cast, it needs to be heated up very hot first and welded with a special cast welding rod (stick welding). This high heat can distort the case and cause bearing misalignment. Even just welding brackets onto the axle tubes will usually cause them to warp slightly.

The aftermarket bolt in diffs come with all the proper mounting points to make the diff swap a basic bolt in job providing you're going to be using a stock type suspension.

 

You can always go this route
http://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axle...8-project.html

Or this way... i chose this for my TA

http://ls1tech.com/forums/gears-axle...-ta-mount.html
All said and done its less expensive and just as strong as most aftermarket set ups and has plenty upgradable componets..

 

I got a ford 9 from a company called autoweldchassis.com I have never been more happy with a product. There housing has its own torque arm and trans crossmember making for an awesome suspension. The torque arm connects to the very top and very bottom of the rear end housing taking advantage of the leverage produced and sticking the rear to the ground. Look on there website and you will see what I am talking about. The best part about a ford 9 is that it is the SBC of rear ends. It will hold the power and everyone makes parts for it which makes prices more competitive and affordable. The Dana 60 is probably the strongest but also probably a bit higher. I found my locker and gears used back in 1999 and they came from a guy who gets stuff from Hendrick Motorsports. The gears were polished and looked like chrome. They call it REM or something and new they were several hundred dollars but I got the gears and locker for $450 shipped.