Ive asked quite a few questions lately, but I need more help. I pulled the diff cover off my 84 and there were 2 bolts missing from the ring gear! Metal in the bottom of the diff and all the oil was shiney with the bolts lol I tracked down a few camaro rear ends and was wondering if the 99 camaro had 7.6 or 8.5 10 bolt? Seems the LS would be a lot for the 7.6 to handle

 

It's the same 7½" model. Starting in around 87 or thereabouts the OD of the ring gear was increased from 7.5" to about 7.625", but everything (almost) still interchanges, all the way to 2002.

 

Ah ok, thanks! I thought I read somewhere here that the 93-97 rearend was a direct bolt in to the third gens, but if nothing different it should be all 3rd and 4th gens. Thanks again for the help!

 

If you need it I have an auburn posi with 3.42"s for sale... 7.625 28 spline axles

 

No 3rd of 4th gen Camaro or Firebird came with the 8.5 10 bolt. All of the 4th gen rear ends are the 7.6 10 bolt.

 

The 4th gen rear is 1-5/8" wider on each side than a 3rd gen one. Something around 3½" overall.

Other than that, they're the same. No particularly significant difference in "strength" or much else.

 

not quite accurate: some rare limited edition third gen Firebirds came with a Dana 44 rear axle, which has an 8.5" ring gear... i think it was the Firehawks.. GM did sell that axle assembly over the counter for a while, so there are some out in the wild. but the odds of ever stumbling across one in a junkyard or in some beat up mid 80's Camaro that you buy cheap is pretty damn low..

 

I'm aware of the Dana 44 in the 3rd gen. I was talking about the corporate 8.5 GM 10 bolt.

 

The odds of anybody with a 84 or a 99 car having a Dana 44 in it are quantum-mechanical. (LOTS AND LOTS of zeroes between the decimal point and the first non-zero number) Not worth even mentioning. I suspect that both people that have such cars already know about it anyway, and wouldn't be asking a question like this in the first place.