Hey guys. Ive got a ford 9 inch now in my 57 chevy. Currently i have 3.08 gears and i just found a chuck with 3.55 gears (for free) but the spider gears are gone. the 3.08's are fine. but theyre 3.08's! SO the question is.. should i swap the gears over from the 3.55 unit to the 3.08's or should i just buy a posi unit and fix the 3.55 chuck? OR should i buy a mini spool for 40 bucks? thanks -Nick-
If it were me I'd leave the 3.08 chunk alone and keep it as a spare. If your not worried about both wheels spinning find you some spiders and rebuild it or look for a trac loc to put in with the 3.55 and build it that way. From past experience you won't like a spool on the street.
yeah, true trac or detroit locker would fix that right up. Big bucks though. Also...I've never heard of 3.08 gears for a 9" but I don't know everything. I've seen 3.00 and 3.10. 3.55 gears are probably pretty old, all the sets I've messed with have made some noise just because they're old and worn out (like from the 50s-early 60s, from a truck most likely). Newer gears are 3.50 ratio. So look over the gears carefully make sure they're ok, especially since the spiders are gone.
ok i think ill go for the spider gears. the 3.55 chuck is ok. im pretty good friends with the guy who took em out of his 55 chevy big block car so the gears are fine. from also what ive seen. since budget is an issue ill prolly just buy the spider gears now. but also im looking to have a little fun with the car so whats the probability of them blowing out again?
One more piece to the puzzle. I have seen several occasions on car/pickup and big truck rearend builds where everything was running decent before the customer wanted to replace bearings or add a limited slip diff. Tech does his job just right in getting the gear wear pattern right back to where it was, backlash the same as measured previous to dis***embly, whole deal. First time back on the road, gear whine like a rearend that had been run out of oil on accel or deccel. I know this a little extreme to your scenario, but something to think about if you have repair work done. Just food for thought. 3.10 gear ratio in first gen 9" rearends FWIW, not arguing.
actually... i just looked up prices and the spider gear rebuild kits are about 150 bucks and mini spools are only 35 shipped from ebay and going with the quick fix ill prolly go with the spool. little aggrivating on corners cuz of chatter and understeer but oh well.
I have a crazy *** idea for a spool on the street. Two windshield washer elec pumps hooked to the turn signal switch with correct relays, etc. Jets over both back tires. Hit the turn signal, sprays over tire to the inside of the turn. Flashers? Ticket time.
That Mini spool is going to cost you a whole lot more than 35 bucks when you break an axle or worse. Mini spools are meant for dirt track racing, NOT street use.
Oh ****! Just thought about a used dirt car part in garage that will get cut apart and made into a too. Local guy's used full steel 31 spl. dirt car spool, NOT the lightweght aluminum deal. The axle spline inside the spool are damn near worn down to nothing because of throttle movements on DIRT. Stick your mud with fingers extended,, intending on making a circle after maybe twenty short revs, same affect to the steel splines. Just another thought.
yeah i think i might actually wait until i get some extra dough and jus put a detroit locker in the 3.55's. i kind of forgot that I hated driving around my 57 chevy rear end after i blew the spider gears out and welded them together. which is a spool haha so ill probably wait
Thats a funny thing about 9's...you can set them what you think is perfect and get vicious whine in use anyway. The reason is that the bearings need to be preloaded against each other to a certain amount. You don't just run in the adjusters until the slack is taken up. The "chunk" has flex because its physically small and the bearing mounts are free standing. If you don't use the proper preload, under acceleration the towers flex and allow the gears to misalign, resulting in death whine. The 9" will need full dis***embly for installation of a mini-spool. The housing idoesn't have an open window like most regular housings. Have you thought of a lunch-box locker like "lockrite" or the "Aussie locker"? 4x4's seem to use them to good effect. Much cheaper than a full Detroit locker but based on the same principals.
I found that Richmond Gear makes a Powertrax Locker, I have one in my ford 9 inch, open carrier. They are around 350.00, do a search for Powertrax Locker. Hope this helps.
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