Gears & Axles - 10 bolt from a V6 camaro

I picked up a diff from a guy who swears it came out of his 2002 WS6. Pull it apart and it has 3.08 gears and is an open style carrier, which im pretty sure is a v6 not his damn car. I really dont care cause it was free and im gonna run my torsen with 3.73s in it. That is if the housing are the same. Can anyone clarify this for me???

What year are you putting it in?

The V8s only came with a 2.73 or 3.23 posi rear end. That one is not from a V8.
Not sure if the housing is the same. If it is, it is a 3 series carrier.

Dont forget 342's

V6 Rears Typically came with no Posi.

3.23/2.73 Auto V8
3.42's Manual V8

I put a rear from a 96 LT1 5m into my 94 v6 A4. It had 3.42 and I put 3.23 back in it b/c of the 110 mile round trip to work and back home everyday. V6 had one wheel peel and LT1 had posi. so now my v6 has a posi. :)

What year are you putting it in?

Its going in the 96 in my sig. I know the housings are same regardless of 2 or 3 series carriers cause im running 2 series torsen and gears in a 3 series housing. I just dont know about the v6 housings vs v8 housing as far as the pinion bearing sizes.

Should be the same. If GM was going to be cheap and not build a better rear for these cars then they are not going to spend the money to make v6 and v8 rears different. :)

I beleive the housings are the same, only different if they have 3 or 4 channel ABS.

Should be the same. If GM was going to be cheap and not build a better rear for these cars then they are not going to spend the money to make v6 and v8 rears different. :)


Aint that the truth!! Started on it this weekend and everything fit right in from my diff.

You may not be in as bad shape as you think. All V6 differentials are 3.23because that and a lower first gear in the T5 was necessary to get the enemic power train moving. It is also a series 3 carrier so it will accept larger gears without a lot of modifications. Also, all of the carriers were open, and the LTs had drum brakes.

In fact, and as crazy as it seems, drum brakes are one of the better points. Since the rear brakes add little to total braking, rear rotor set ups, especially on LT cars stink. Plus you have to cock around with 3 v 4 channels systems etc. There is also a company that makes brake shoe linings from Hawk pad like materials for better performance.

Check it out before you sh... can the axle.

You may not be in as bad shape as you think. All V6 differentials are 3.23because that and a lower first gear in the T5 was necessary to get the enemic power train moving. It is also a series 3 carrier so it will accept larger gears without a lot of modifications. Also, all of the carriers were open, and the LTs had drum brakes.

In fact, and as crazy as it seems, drum brakes are one of the better points. Since the rear brakes add little to total braking, rear rotor set ups, especially on LT cars stink. Plus you have to cock around with 3 v 4 channels systems etc. There is also a company that makes brake shoe linings from Hawk pad like materials for better performance.

Check it out before you sh... can the axle.I would agree that it should be a series 3 carrier, and he has confirmed it. Not sure about Camaros, but Firebird V6s were available with a "performance package" that had a 5 speed, 3.42 gears, and disc brakes. There were 3 on the lot the day I purchased my Formula in Feb. 97.

You may not be in as bad shape as you think. All V6 differentials are 3.23because that and a lower first gear in the T5 was necessary to get the enemic power train moving. It is also a series 3 carrier so it will accept larger gears without a lot of modifications. Also, all of the carriers were open, and the LTs had drum brakes.

In fact, and as crazy as it seems, drum brakes are one of the better points. Since the rear brakes add little to total braking, rear rotor set ups, especially on LT cars stink. Plus you have to cock around with 3 v 4 channels systems etc. There is also a company that makes brake shoe linings from Hawk pad like materials for better performance.

Check it out before you sh... can the axle.


They may have had performance options for the V6 rears but the one I have is 3.08s open style. I had no intentions of running an open diff with 3.08s I just needed a good housing to put all my parts in since my drivers side axle bearing keeps getting cocked in the housing and chatters everytime I hit a bump.

Ok, I understand what your situation is now. The OE rear end for all 4th gen F bodies, whether V6 or V8, came equipped with a 28 tooth, 7 5/8ths inch differential. There were two carriers available: the two series and the three series. If the axle you have has either 2.73 or 3.08 gears then it is a series two carrier. If the axle is equipped with 3.23 or 3.42 gears than it is a series three carrier. The series three carrier will allow you to use bigger gears such as 3.73. 4.10 etc.

The series two carriers are all open ended and will accept a trutrac for instance but not a larger gear set (ugh).

You may not be in as bad shape as you think. All V6 differentials are 3.23because that and a lower first gear in the T5 was necessary to get the enemic power train moving. It is also a series 3 carrier so it will accept larger gears without a lot of modifications. Also, all of the carriers were open, and the LTs had drum brakes.

In fact, and as crazy as it seems, drum brakes are one of the better points. Since the rear brakes add little to total braking, rear rotor set ups, especially on LT cars stink. Plus you have to cock around with 3 v 4 channels systems etc. There is also a company that makes brake shoe linings from Hawk pad like materials for better performance.

Check it out before you sh... can the axle.

I'm not sure what year you are referring to here, but some things don't seem right.

The V6 cars were available with 3.08, 3.23, or 3.42 gears, depending on year, transmission, and options. Most automatics had the 3.08's, while manual equipped cars had 3.23's, and the cars equipped with automatics and the Y87 performance package had 3.42's.

Also, not all differentials were open. The cars that were equipped with the Y87 package (1996+), whether automatic or manual, were equipped with the same limited slip differential as the V8 cars were in that year.

Rear brakes are actually very important, despite what many claim. Although the front brakes do the most braking, the rears are responsible for keeping the car as level as possible by applying the maximum amount of force to the rear wheels without causing lockup. Although drum brakes have enough power to lock the rear wheels, they do extremely poorly in terms of heat dissipation, so as soon as they heat up they are worthless. Drum brakes also have horrible pedal feel due to the fact that the linings are not in contact with the drum surface before the brakes are applied. So each time you push the pedal, you have to take up the distance between the shoes and the drum, resulting in a spongy, low pedal.