Well, I am finally getting around to my rear end installation (Moser/Strange Hybrid 9") and nothing bolts right up. Everything has needed to ground here, cut there filed here. This job will most likely end up taking about 12 hours to complete (granted some short cuts could have been taken to save time, but thats not worth it). Fortunately I had an adjustable panhard bar, because the length that was perfect on the stock 10 bolt was way too short for this housing. I can only figure the brackets are not in the exact same location. Then of course after that and the LCA were bolted up, the Spohn T/A mounting bolts (to the rear axle) would not even come close to aligning up. This T/A is a new item and is the first time it has been installed. When you bolted the front k-member into place, you could get one of the bolts in the back but the other was about 1/3 the hole off. I am not sure if the T/A mounts on the Moser housing are a little crooked, or if the rear end is sitting in the car crooked (which could only be cause by the LCA/panhard mounts being installed crooked), or if the Spohn T/A was just a little off. Anyway after elongating one set of the bolt holes it went on fine. Now I have some reserve about the driveshaft. It appears to have the same amount of spline engagement as the stocker did, but it is only 2.5 inches. With the u-bolts loose it will slide up into the tranny another 1.5 inches before it bottoms out inside the tranny (by the way there is still 1" of yoke showing after it is bottomed out, so whoever had that picture of their driveshaft posted may actually be bottomed out all the time). Anyway I have contacted the people I got the driveshaft from and we will see what they think. I would have liked seeing it about .5-.75 inches longer but it will most likely be fine. Of course as soon as it is running again, it will be back to the alignment shop to get the rear thrust angle or whatever they call it checked to see if it is tracking straight. If not I amy finally get some use out of those adjustable LCA's.

 

Wow, I have installed plenty of Moser and Strange rears, and have never had that much trouble. What exactly is hybrid about the rear?

 

Sounds like a Moser housing for F-bodies and a strange 3rd member

 

Well, I have yet to have a moser rear that sat straight in the car - one 12 bolt and two 9" fords of my own plus a few I have helped others install. Adjustable LCAs are pretty much a must. Parking brake cable brackets dont fit, no place to attach the brackets for the dual abs/tcs lines (not hard to fab a bracket on a 9" or drill a hole in the 12 bolt though). The rear brackets for the LCAs are always ~1/4' too wide, the spring perches are clocked wrong etc. The 9" mount for the torque arm puts its way to the outside and on a slight angle, almost impossible to use a stock torque arm. But I cant make a better one myself so I dont bitch I realize they cost a lot and you would expect it to bolt right in but you can get one in two or three days and with minimal rigging they work. Never put a strange 12 bolt in so no comment there.

I look at them as more of a race car piece then a true bolt in, especially a 9 inch. I just do whatever it takes to make it fit/be straight, it would be nice if everything lined up perfect but someone most likely needs to redo their jigs at Moser.

 

I just had a Moser/Strange install done, it took 1 1/2 days by two guys at a rear end/ driveline shop. Today I reinstalled the sway bar, had to make 1/2 spacers to clear the housing and grind the **** out of a torque arm mount. I ordered a new Denny's Nitrous drive shaft and according to Denny and the measurements prove it out, the 9" shaft is 1" longer than OEM.

 

I've never heard of so much trouble. I have put in over 20 rears at least, and minus a touch of grinding, it usually takes about 3 hours. Maybe I've been lucky so far. The Strange rears usually fit a little better.

 

Sphon sells a sway bar relocation kit for 12 bolts and 9"

 

I can do one in 3 hours also but when people do it the first time they dont know what to do and what not to do - it sure didnt take me 3 hours for the first one..

Have you ever done a four wheel alignment after putting one in a car with stock LCAs and checked the thrust angle, I have My 9" in my old SS was 1.5" off front to back, I didnt really notice until I put 28" tires on the car and the front of the tire hit on one side and the rear hit on the other side. The car would never stay in the water during a burnout and would always pull to the right on the starting line. Finally took it to a good alignment shop and what a difference. Same with the housing thats in this car, one LCA is 3/4" longer to keep it straight.

The 12 bolt I had wasnt that bad, only about a 1/4" off, didnt notice it really but when I had it aligned it was off enough for me to get adjustable LCAs. I'm not the only one who has mentioned this, doesnt hurt to get it checked, most people will never notice if its a little off. Granted I never checked the stock rear either so I dont know what the tolerance is from the factory and eyeballing off the wheel opening is not very accurate but its a good idea to have the thrust angle checked IMO.

I'm not saying Mosers are bad, maybe its the cars that are off, depends how picky you are about your car going in a straight line

 

Almost makes you wonder how straight the stock rears actually are.

 

I usually align the rear by taking measurements off of certain body holes. There are two on the rear frame. I measure from there to the axle tube itself.
That will get the rear straight with the body.

 

Before I had the 9" installed, I measured center of front axle to center of rear axle 101.5", fortunately for me the measurements were the same after the install. I just wish my ABS worked.

 

I had mine checked with the stock rear axle after installing Spohn Adjustable LCA and panhard (did not adjust the LCA's or panhard, left it just like it came from Spohn other than double checking that the jam nuts were tight), and the alignment shop said it was almost perfect. commented that they had done some Pro Mod cars with 4 links and not been able to get them that straight. I can guarantee it is not now with this 9". Also, I consider myself fairly tolerant of extremes, but is I can not find something wrong with my set up, I will definately be on the anti locker bandwagon. It feels like I'm towing a car behind me with a short chain... it gets slack in it when you let off the gas or start around a corner and then jerks when you try to go again. I am almost beginning to wonder if I hurt my tranny also when the axle broke and that is my problem. I sure hope I can figure something out.

 

Bowtie is your ABS working correctly? Mine is f'ked up royally, I'm taking it in to a friend of mine this AM he's the shop foreman for a local Chevy dealer. I hope he can fix it cause it's driving me nuts. I think it has something to do with the slack in the soft locker that sets off the LOW TRAC etc,etc.

Also I've got a whine at 70+, yougot any noise?

 

Try spacing the ABS sensors out a little, the wheel studs (especially if you have screw in 1/2" studs) sometimes mess with the sensors.

 

KP, that is exactly what the problem was, I have the screw in studs with some pretty big lock washers behind them. What I did was remove the bolt holding the sensor in and placed 4 small,thin washer, between it and the backing plate. Worked kile a charm no more ABS problems. I am going to tryand modify that set up because the sensor is on a slight angle. What surprises me is that Moser hasn't identified this problem or published a remedy in their install sheet!

 

you can grind down the hex part of the wheel studs also and lose the lockwashers, probably cant get the studs out with the ABS wheels on there though. I made some spacers out of 1/8" aluminum for one car that had problems, didnt like the washer setup either

Moser probably doesnt know about the problem, with the 12mm press in studs there is no problems but with the screw in from the rear 1/2" studs there is.

 

KP, What do you think about grinding about 3/16" off the sensor magnet ends, that is the end closest to the stud? From what I understand from my friend at the GM dealership who identified the problem, sensor output is in ohms. the magnets are really quite strong and I can't see how grinding would demagnitize the sensors. What do you think?

 

I dont know if the part sticking out is the magnet or just a piece of metal attached to a strong magnet inside. I dont think magnets grind real easy, if you can it may work but I would make sure and find a cheap extra sensor first in case it doesnt

 

I already checked GM wholesale price is $50/ sensor.