What can be done to strengthen 10 bolt?
 

Hey guys i know most of you will say 10 bolts suck and to buy a 12 bolt or something better. But i have a spare 10 bolt laying around and was wondering what can be done to make it as strong as possible?

I seen a write up a while ago about beefing up a 10 bolt but cant find it anymore.


Thanks guys


P.S. I tried a search and didn't come up with anything

Some high quality gears and the longer the better (i.e. 2.73s) The shorter the gear, the weaker your rearend will be.

from what i read on here theres alot of things you can do but $$$$ you'll almost spend half of what a 12 bolt or 9inch would cost and still have the chance of the 10bolt breaking

the only thing you can do is rip it out for a 12 bolt 9" s60 8.8 a 10bolt is not worth putting money into the ring and pinion are just to small

I got a auburn differential 3.42 gears and moser axles in mine. about all you can do it it. and its held my beating for 3 years so far.

^^ what he said, I took my 10 bolt the scrap yard this morning, I usually save all my stock parts, but fuck that 10 bolt, i wish i could see them melt it down, just to watch it scream!! lol

Do you have an auto or M6? If you have an auto the 10 bolt will live for quite a while even under abuse. The T56 on the other hand is not as friendly on the poor 10 bolt as the 4l60E is. You can beef up the 10 bolt for not much money though I would only do this if your rear is in need of a rebuild and you don't have the $2500 for a S60 or 9" or 12 bolt if your an auto. In that case I would get the following.

Solid pinion spacer $18
TA Girdle cover $100-150
ARP stud kit $0-$25, I got mine free with my used TA cover.

I still plan on an S60 at some point but I just got mine rebuilt and it will hopefully last a couple years until I have the money for an aftermarket rear.

You can:
weld the axle tubes (Cheap if you can do it yourself)
install stronger axles
install a stronger (TA/Moser/Strange?) aluminum rear end cover girdle with stud kit.

I just did an A4 to M6 swap and i know that these rear ends don't like t56 cars. That's why i want to build the one i have as a spare.
I do plan on getting a better rear end in the future but can afford one as of right now. because im in the process of building a 383. And yes i will install a better rear end before i put the motor in the car.

I wouldn't mind putting 500.00 or so into making this one stronger. then i will have the time to save for a 12 bolt or something.

for $500 your half way to 9" housing.... i'm just sayin

ad two more bolts to it.. :D

Hell yeah!!!

You could not drive the car hard. :nono: Seriously, my first F-Body mod was ditching the 10 bolt. :D If you have an M6 car like me it should be yours too. They live a little longer behind auto's with a light foot and stock converter but not much when the heat is on. Steep gears only accelerate the inevitable. :(

F-Body 10 bolts are like prudes, they don't like being ridden hard.

If you want to run a slick, a 10-bolt, no matter what you do to it, won't survive...

With that being said, if you want to run a drag radial or street tires, then you can build a 10-bolt to withstand qutie a bit.

It all comes down to strengthening the housing/axles to keep things from deflecting. That is the primary thing. Next is quality gears, then decent axles.

Here is the list of things I have done to make the 10-bolt as "bulletproof" as you can:

Parts:
10-bolt housing to match your ABS setup (or reuse your current housing)
New Motive Performance/Yukon/AAM/SLP/Richmond Gears (ie, quality gears)
New Timkin Master Install Kit (Timken bearings/shims/bolts/etc)
New Solid Pinion Spacer (Ratech or Yukon Gear)
Eaton HD Posi (rebuildable vs the throw-away other Posi units)
New Axle Kit (Moser or any other, including new bearings/seals)
LPW Ultimate 7.5" cover
LPW Ultimate Brace kit for 7.5" rear ends
ARP Carrier Bearings Studs
Optional, but recommended: Rear lower control arm relocation brackets

To Do:
1) Tear down the rear and strip it of everything.
2) Have the housing checked for alignment of the axle-tubes to the center section. Correct as necessary.
3) Weld the axle tubes to the center section.
4) Weld in brace tabs.
5) Install Relocation Brackets if not done yet.
6) Clean-up and Por-15 the rear (not necessaary, but prudent to do).
7) Install the ring and pinion with all new bearings and solid pinion spacer, making sure to check pinion depth and backlash to specs (critical, but sooo screwed up many times, and there is no way an improperly setup set of gears is as strong as a properly setup set of gears).
8) Install new axle bearings/seals and new axles.
9) Install Ultimate cover with RTV, torque to spec on ALL the cover bolts and cap-loading bolts.
10) Install braces and torque them to spec with the proper pre-load pulling back on the axle tubes.

If done properly, it should last quite some time, even with a 6-speed and a decent amount of abuse. I just did all the above to the 10-bolt going in my new buildup, expecting 700-800hp at the motor, through a T56 with a McLeod Street Twin clutch, so I have done what I am recommending.

Granted, to buy everything new, and especially if you pay someone to do the work, you are damn near at the price of a 12-bolt or S60, so it may not be beneficial to go this route. But if you can do the work yourself and possibly have a Eaton or another HD Posi unit that is in good working order (ie, low-mileage, not something with 50k+ miles on it) and possibly have relocation brackets already installed on it, it may be cost effective.

I have about $~600 into the new buildup and that was with reusing only the housing (with relo brackets already installed) LPW cover/brace kit and a <20k mile Eaton HD Posi unit. Everything else got changed (Motive Performance 3.73 gears, Timken Master install kit, Moser axles (actually Jegs-brand which are Mosers but also include the bearings/seals/studs unlike the Moser-branded ones which make you buy it all seperately) and a Ratech solid pinion spacer... Oh also spent about $80 on the Por-15 products, including thier Marine Clean, Metal Prep and a quart of Por-15 paint. I spent about 3 days on it total, maybe 3-5 hours a day. That coupled with a Spohn Extreme Duty Chromemoly Driveshaft with NEAPCO Brute Force solid u-joints and I figure it will hold up to damn near anything I throw at it...