Looking for thoughts/opinions on replacing my 10 Bolt in my 72 Chevelle. What manufacture do you like? 12 bolt or 9"? As of right now I have a 350 and 4 speed. I will be adding a Big Block of LS one day.
Added some pics of the car as it sits...
I've looked at the Currie, Moser and Strange set ups but have no experience with any certain brand. Thanks
That is a sharp ride. Those are all good choices. Unless you are going to put slicks on it at the drag strip, I would just stay with a stock 12 bolt Chevy.
What do you plan to do with your vehicle? 12. Lots are pretty stout unless you are pushing a lot of torque and you get your tires to plant.
I’m jonesing for a Strange S60, which is Strange’s version of the Dana 60. I put a bit of cash and work I to my 12 bolt, axels, new Eaton Tru Trac, C5 disc brakes, but I fear my 12bolt will be working overtime trying to keep up with the rest of my drive train.
I bought and installed the Strange Engineering "S-60" Dana 60 rear set-up for GM A-body cars in my Chevelle. But that's for an 800 HP car. So I wanted to have the 9.75" diameter ring gear and beefier pinion that the Dana 60 uses. But you wouldn't need a Dana 60 unless you're shooting for 700+ HP under the hood. Two cool things about the Strange S-60 rear is that it comes standard package with 35 spline axles, and it also comes with the carrier spanner nuts just like 9" rears have to adjust the back lash, and to install and remove the carrier without any wrestling match nor case spreader tool to wedge shim packs in there. Simply use a spanner wrench on the spanner nuts.
The 12 bolt Moser rears look nice, but it would be nice for easier ring and pinion gear swaps if you had a 9" rear since they have the third member which allows you to remove it from the pumpkin and set it on your workbench to perform the gear swap. It's all about pros and cons and trade-offs, and it depends what you plan to do with this car as far as power level goes. I'm guessing with those wheels and tires you have, you won't be taking it to the drag strip very often, if at all.
Keep in mind that with Dana 60 rears, and most , if not all 9" rears, they employ a 1350 series pinion yoke, which will require you to purchase a 1350 series transmission slip yoke, and 1350 U-joints along with a driveshaft with the 1350 yokes. As far as I know, even the aftermarket 12 bolt rears give you a choice to remain with the stock 1310 U-joints, or upgrade to the bigger 1350
After having a Shop Rebuild the Posi in the 50 yr old 12 Bolt in my 67
and then it end up going back to the Posi not working a year later
I went this route
STRANGE S60 GM A Body Bolt In
Fully Welded 360*Tubes / Mounts Installed & Raised 67 Spring Perches / Housing Ends H 1135 or H1137
/ 1350 PinionYoke / S/T Series 35 Spline Axles / ½” Studs / Axle Bearings /
/ Standard Gear Set / U 1600 Steel Pinion Yoke(1350) / ChromeCover / BreatherVent / FillerPlug / DrainPlug / LucusOil /
Gearing Ratio 3.70
T/A aluminum cover that has the bolts to keep the bearings in place
Truetrac(worm type) # OPRS02
Strange Housing Ends - H1135 Big Ford Early ½” Holes 1.300” Wide
- B1608 11” Drum for H1135 ends
Had it installed in the 67 in Oct/2013 and has been working great on the Street AND at the Track
The Dana 60 is the strongest. It's also the heaviest.
The 9 inch is next strongest.
The 12 bolt is the weakest of the three but built right it's good to about 550 HP with an automatic. Some folks have had good luck at higher power levels. It's also the lightest and most efficient of the three.
I installed a Moser 12 bolt housing and axles in my 66 Chevelle when the OEM axle tube cracked. The Moser piece is a lot stronger in critical areas versus the OEM housing. Moser gave several options when ordering such as style of yoke and housing ends. I bought mine from a Moser dealer as it was cheaper than purchasing it directly from the company. My decision to go with the 12 bolt was based on the ability to buy a housing and axles from moser and re-use the gears, posi and yoke from the old housing.
On the other side of that coin - I just purchased a complete 12 bolt Moser MusclePak for my '72 2 months ago with 3.73 gears, 33 spline True Trac and powder coated black. It arrived as ordered except one thing they did mess up - they gave me 1/2-20 studs instead of 7/16-20 studs.
Wow, a lot of good info here. I will defiantly have to re-read these comments again. I don't see me dragging this car, looking to build a "pro touring" style car for the street. I do have a big block my buddy built that is pushing 700+ but I think I'm going to sell it and go with a less HP motor.
Another option for a GM rear that will fit, a little hard to find but less than half the price of a comparable 12 bolt posi and has factory pressed on bearing axles, is the 70-72 Buick and Olds A body GM Corp 8.5 10 bolt.
OK Steve and Beth have both posted that very nice rear end eye candy for us, so here's my Strange S60/Dana 60 rear with the BMR rear bolt-in "Extreme" drag anti-roll bar that I installed and the optional heavy duty aluminum cover....the ring & pinion gear comparison pic is that of the S-60/Dana 60 vs. that of the GM 12 bolt rear
what no one has mentioned is the parasitic HP loss (unless I missed it) from the 9 inch being the most and the strange is the next and the 12 bolt is the least.Probably not enough to cause you heartache if you went with either of the 3 rears but if you plan on long distance drives (1000 miles or more at a time) then you may want to take it into consideration.
I found this but you may want to do your own research if you have the opportunity to choose between the 3.
*edit* I just re-read that article and there are some big mistakes definately do some research on this subject if you can.
I like that article. Thanks for the link. My viewpoint is with an 800 HP car weighing a whopping 3,900 LBS, and having a big toilet Holley 1050 CFM carb, am I really going to worry about some extra weight or some extra parasitic drag that the S-60 rear causes? No I'm not. What I DO worry about is blowing the ring and pinion gears at the track during transbrake wheels-up launches.
I'm not really sure what drive line angle has to do with your engine choice. However, the lower pinion height of the 9" rear DOES make it easier to line up your drive line with the proper angles for the front and rear U-joints WHEN YOU CHOOSE A VEHICLE RIDE HEIGHT THAT'S LOWER THAN THE STOCK RIDE HEIGHT.
And it happens to be the Dana 60 rear that makes it the most difficult out of the three to get the angles correct for U-joint longevity in street driven vehicles WHEN THE RIDE HEIGHT IS LOWERED, REGARDLESS OF ENGINE CHOICE. In fact, even with the stock ride height that I've chosen for my 70 Chevelle along with a BBC Mark IV engine, once I installed the S-60 rear, I had to use two stacks of steel washers on the transmission mount bolts to raise up the tail shaft and slip yoke of the TH400 trans just to get it to directly point at the higher postion of the pinion yoke of the rear in order to obtain the required 2 degree angle.
But the plus side to that is it tilted the engine slightly less rearward than usual, so that it tucked the header collectors up closer to the floor boards for more ground clearence, and it also gave me more room between the distributor cap and the firewall, which allows me to use virtually any distributor I want, and still have lots of room for ignition timing adjustments and distributor cap removal and replacements. Of course the down side is that the use of a lowered ride height might present a real problem. I personally haven't any intention of doing that, so it shouldn't effect my application. But if you plan to slam your car to the ground, then your rear end choice will be an issue. BTW my engine still tilts rearward slightly, just not as much as the original factory confirguration had it.
At what vehicle weight, (without driver I mean)?? I like the idea of using Ford housing ends on the axle tubes to help retain the axles in the event of breakage. That's what Strange offers the S60 rear with, (as I'm sure they and Moser also offer them with their 12 bolt rears too). Ofcourse those full floater rears like the ones Strange offers now are the ultimate in safety, but they're also BIG bucks!!!
The bottom line here is what both Ray, and I have previously stated: it really depends exactly what you're going to do with the car, as well as the power level you'll be satisfied with. With low 12 second cars turning 1.6 second 60 foot times, most any Factory GM 12 bolt rear is going to hold up.
If you plan on running 1.3 second short times or better, things change quite a bit. Now you're in aftermarket 9" rear and Dana 60 rear territory with at least 33 spline or 35 spline axles. Unless perhaps you have a very light car that's either stripped down for racing, or a tube chassis design, or both. If you plan to run well into the 10's at the drag strip, or in the 9's or better with a full weight Chevelle, you'll want a nice sturdy aftermarket 12 bolt rear at the very least, (although me personally, I would reach for a Fab 9 rear or an aftermarket Dana 60 with 35 spline axles).
A lot of good info on here to rear and study, I really appreciate all the input.
I'm going to use this for a street car, no drag racing or auto crossing. Would like to add 500-600 HP and a 5-6 speed transmission one day. I just want to make sure when I swap this 10 bolt out that I do it once and I do it correctly.
I'd do a Moser 12 bolt with 33 spline axles, and Big Ford housing ends, or Strange Engineering with the same, along with 1320 series pinion yoke, and a 3" or 3.5" diameter chromemoly driveshaft with 1320 yokes and U-joints. Strange Engineering has some good deals on driveshafts like that.
If you are not going to race it, beef up the 10 bolt. 10 bolts can take a lot. All the axle mounting points are oem so you know everything bolts up effortlessly. The aftermarket assemblies use aftermarket mounting hardware and might not always work like oem.
You can have a very solid 10 bolt for what you are using the car for and probably less money.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Team Chevelle
5.1M posts
115.6K members
Since 1998
A forum community dedicated to Chevrolet Chevelle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about restorations, builds, performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!