Gears & Axles - beating a dead horse

Okay I know this gets discussed a lot but I want a little clarification if you guys/gals don't mind.

You can see the mods in my signature. I am wondering if the 10 bolt will last? I know it is a weak rear and that the 6-speed guys just do a few good dumps or less and snap them all day. To my knowledge this is caused by the shock to the rear housing. I have not seen a lot of people braking the ring or pinion gears. I know that also installing the "T/A" diff covers will give them a little more life. The auto cars seem to have better luck with the rear ends lasting. I think this is cause the torque converter uses tranny fluid and there is less shock running through out the drive train.

With my car, like most autos, the tranny went out so I had it rebuilt "stronger". I also put in a 9.5" vig.3000-3200 single disk lock up converter with an anti-ballooning plate. By running the bigger stall is this going to be "softer" on the rear axle than a stock converter? My horsepower goal is about 450-500 on the bottle and being that the car is my daily driver for now I don't want to do more than that for a long time. All that information had lead up to this. The diff has gone out in my axle. I now can only do peg leg burnouts and from a slower rolls like 20-25 range if some one wants to race me I spin the passenger side tire only. Being that I have a lower HP goal and I have a "bigger stall"
is it worth spending the money to get a better diff put in the 10 bolt or do I need to just get a 12 bolt/9" that is bigger? Money is kinda a factor cause I am young and don't make TONS of cash. Plus with the bigger rear ends I know there is more parasitic loss cause they have more weight and friction. That is a factor for me cause I don't plan on making "huge power".

WHAT DO I DO??????

The only thing the TA diff covers help is the bearing caps getting twisted when a lot of force is put on them. That will not help you from breaking the differential or the ring and pinion. My first 10 bolt broke when I was turning. Not on a "hard shock" launch. These rear ends just can not hold a lot of power for some reason. Some people have had good luck with them though. My recommendation: If your car is getting modified, you need a stronger rear end.

id baby the car till you have the funds for a better rear end. thatll be your best bet

All that on an LT1? I'd say it should last on the street, unless you start launching it on ET Streets or something similar. I'm running a 10 bolt on 4.10's with a 4k stall with similar power, and mine has held up fine except for a ring gear bolt backing out and flying through the dif cover.

Most will probably say to buy a 9in, but with your mods, unless you're planning on a lot of track time, I'd say you would probably be better off just buying a spare 10 bolt just in case. When you add up the money, you'd have to break quite a few of them before you'd spend the amount of money that you would on a MWC 9in or similar.

I started drag racing my 98 T/A in 2002. I went ahead & put in a used carrier & a used ring & pinion..I had 2.73's, upgraded to 3.42's...I have beat the crap out of it, consistent 1.6 & 1.5 60ft's. It just exploded last week at the track, So I got a lot of years out of the stocker. I am an Auto also with a 3500 vigilante..I made a lot of runs with the Yank SS4000 also..So I have at LEAST 300-400 passes on that rear. I have 335 rwhp, In your case you need to spend the money on a non stock rear.

The TA cover in addition to supporting the carrier caps will help keep the rear housing from deforming under load and allowing the gears to move around. The mounting flange for the cover is .750 thick and it's heat treated to T6 hardness. For reference Aluminum at T6 will dull a normal drill bit, at work we use cobalt bits.
The cover isn't a miracle worker but with the 7.5 every little bit helps.

I can attest to watching a stock M6 car break a 10 bolt launching at the track. He got some wheel hop and it was all she wrote. Bottom line keep the rear end planted and you'll make it live longer the shock loading of wheel hop I would venture to say is one of the leading causes of failure.

If you don't have a lot of money, don't hot rod the car. Simple as that. Until you have enough money to replace the rear axle and driveshaft (around 2600.00) or have a spare axle assembly on hand.

That is what I kinda did...but I have four vehicles.

Don't wheel hop it and throw some fresh bearings in it and you'll be good to go.

If your running a 10 bolt, dont race it unless you can afford to fix it.