This isn't a typical step by step install thread. More just some points of interest I remember from the install to help anyone searching for a quick answer. I've done a couple of these over the years now and there are plenty of install threads. For me, this project should have been very straight forward but I hit a few bumps and search didn't turn up any obvious solutions (I'm good at getting lost in the details and not seeing the obvious until I walk away..).

So anyway, here are a few things I learn on this latest 9 inch install...

1-ls1tech search) ls1tech's search ignores short search strings (I believe 3 characters is the default minimum). So if you search for "9 inch install" you are actually searching for "inch install". Probably get you there if you search within the forum. But for this thread, I am going to include a few variations of search strings on every topic so people stuck on something goofy will hit this thread. In this case it will be ( 9in 9inch nine 9" 9-inch ).

2-vender feedback) I bought my rearend from Scott at driveline-solutions. He is very difficult to get on the phone but when you do, he is up-front and eager to talk about your project. I posted a feeler thread to help decide if I wanted to go the 9 inch route again and Bob at EPP jumped in with a link to his site with the setup he sells. I PMed Bob asking if he would be interested in sponsorship and even information on the electronic sequential turbo system I was building. It's a unique system and sure to garner attention if it works as I expect it to. In any case, I didn't figure he would be but it never hurts to ask. However the PM got read and was never replied too. That cost EPP the sale.

Ultimately after a couple messages, Scott called me back and I ordered his 4 box special which delivers a Moser housing, axles, and torque arm mount, with Scott's own special brew 3rd member using a strange center housing. I'll detail a couple issues with the package as delivered below. I loved the idea that the rearend was being setup by the guy I gave my credit card number too and I felt confident in his ability to put the rear together to meet my individual tastes. The only other issues I have with the package as delivered was a I was told I was getting a billet steel yoke (got a cast one, no big deal) and a reinforced housing (5 dollars in steel and 10 minutes on the welder will do the job, but it wasn't delivered that way). Also, the u bolt retaining clamps for the yoke were not included so I had to buy a way to secure the u-joint to the yoke. Probably just an oversight.

In a nutshell Scott is very informative and easy to work with on the phone. He seems like he loves to hear about people's projects and is more than willing to give advice and feedback. The only issue I have is he is impossible to reach and you may or may not get a call back. Scott did explain it was their busy season and he has a lot of local customers too. I feel like his internet customers should get an equal share of his time. However, I am sure he will work through those bugs in his process. I very much recommend anyone that wants a personal touch on their build give Scott a try but be patient.

3-torquearm mount clearence) A not so diligent search didn't turn up anyone posting about this problem so I'll just post it up here. A web on the Strange center housing interfered with the moser torque arm mount. Not able to get a hold of Scott over the last week, I left him a fairly heated message about this today and I feel a little bad. I'm sure most of us can relate to a project that should be straight forward but all this little goofy stuff just eats at you. Scott, I apologize about the tone of the message and I hope to get a call back to hear if this has been a problem in the past.

Anyway, I had to remove about 1 x .25 inches from that webbing to clearance for the torque arm mount. It was rounded in so I doubt there is any loss of strength related to the clearance. Of course I didn't catch this because I was going to try to put the torque arm on the mount and install the ta+mount as a unit. I read that recommendation somewhere but, well, I recommend just putting the mount on before you install the rearend and put the torque arm on later. It's easy to install. (TA torquearm clearence )

4-torque arm installation) I've read that installing the TA is bitch but I found in my several rearend swaps that it's easiest installing the stock ta to just do install as follows:

-If you removed the bolt from the forward mount, put it back in and turn a couple threads to get it started
-Clean off both ends of the torque arm and spray a generous helping of wd40 into the rubber mount. This lets you slide the front end of the torque arm into its mount without having to screw with getting the bolt in later
--note: its easiest to install the TA with the driveshaft out if your exhaust setup will allow
-Use your jack to orient the rearend so the mount lines up with the TA.
-Drop the rear bolt in place to keep everything aligned. You might have to change the orientation a little to get the front bolt in. I did this by placing the jack toward the rear of the housing and lifting or lowering to change the attitude. ( TAinstall )

5-u-joint installation) The biggest irritation, resulting in the palm to forward DUHHHH was the u-joint install. I've read everywhere that you just heat up the dogears on the yoke and the plastic retainer will just spooge out. And for 99.999999 percent of people this must be the case but I can never seem to get that to work for me. Although one did spooge a little (lol), there was still more than enough plastic to keep my vice and I at bay. My vice wasn't mounted to the table (building a new bench) so I wasn't able to put max pressure on it but I did squeeze that bastard tight enough that I thought it should come out. So I just used a press to remove them. 500lbs and they were gone.

So I went to Napa and picked up a 240-0447 conversion u-joint. I installed the steel snaprings into the stock grooves where the plastic retainer sat originally. Seemed obvious that the beveled end of the cap would just push through the snap ring and lock everything in place. Yeahhhh no. Doesn't work like that. After dinner/beers with friends that night, I hit it up again the next morning when the answer dawned on me. The snap rings go on the inside of the yoke. You have to press them in there pretty firm but both snap rings install just fine. I ended up loosing a needle bearing and had to go buy another one. The second u-joint, ever with the same part number on the box did not have the 1350 conversion caps on the other side. But it had the bearing I needed so it worked. The right one had grooves in the caps for the side that mounts in the stock driveshaft but the rearend side caps did not have grooves. The second one I bought had grooves on all four. So check to make sure they fit your yoke.
--note: for the 2000+ dollars we pay for these things, vendors, please consider including the correct u-joints for your customers. ( ujoint universal joint melt propane torch )

6-third member sealant) I ditched the gasket and just used silicon to seal the third member to the housing. before installing your studs, lay a 3/16th inch bead of rtv and spread it through the inner 2/3rds of the flange. This is the circle the 3rd member mounts to. You will know what I mean when you are looking at it. Make sure you get a good even spread and try not to get much into the stud holes. It does not leak

 

7-third member studs) I pulled each stud into the housing before putting the 3rd member in. This way you know each stud it fully seated. It's an extra step but doesn't take very long. I then used the same nut on each stud. Unrequired I'm sure but I did it that way.

8-painting) Paint the rearend. It's work it. I just used some gloss black rust inhibiting paint that does not require primer. My timeframe did not allow time for POR15 but the stuff I used works fine. I primered the center housing gray. It's ghetto-fabulous. ( rust paint )

9-ABS) For us 4 channel guys, it's easier to remove your stock reluctor rings by heating them up with a little propane torch and using a small prybar to left them off. Just rotate around the ring lifting a few thousandths at a time and it comes right off. Since it's cold as ****, I cooled the axles in the garage and heated up the reluctors in the oven to about 200*. They almost dropped into place and went right on by working around the circumference with a rawhide hammer. Much easier than pressing them. Also, do not waste your time grinding your housing to clear the abs sensor. Literally 15 seconds on a grinder to clear the plastic and a little metal off the mounting tab works perfectly. Not sure why anyone would grind the housing to avoid grinding the sensor unless you get tunnel vision (like me with the u-joint). ( abs )

10-bearing press) The order of pressing is reluctor ring, backing plate, bearing, bearing retainer. I read somewhere that the o-ring goes to the outside (towards the wheel). Not sure what difference this makes but I installed them that way. If you install the reluctor ring as above, the backing plate just drops on and you press the bearing. On the first, I pressed the bearing on (cool axle, warm bearing) followed by the retainer ring. Both took about 1000lbs with no more than 1500 over one spot. On the second, I pressed them both at the same time for about 2500lbs (axle and bearing about the same temp by then). just make sure you fully seat the bearing against the flange.

11-backing plates) The bearing plates must be kept on the same side. The easiest way is to take one off your stock read and put it on the appropriate axle before removing the second. It's soooo easy to get them mixed up if you don't. Shorter axle goes on the drivers side.

12-axle install) By now you should have pressed in the axle seal. Best way is to use a socket or pipe and press it in. If you are very careful, you can use a 3/8ths extention and work it slowly down into the housing. The open end of the seal faces into the housing. I always pack the groove in the rubber seal with a little grease.

I also put a little grease on the inside of the housing to slide the bearing in easier. You will notice that when you push it in, it seems to not seat all the way and might pop back out a little. That's just trapped air caught between the axle seal and the bearing o-ring. I pushed it in then worked on something else for a few minutes to let the pressure escape and went ahead and tightened it all down. I have ADD....

You will have to remove the parking brake drum shoes to access the backing plate studs. Use a screw driver under the top of the shoe and pop the shoe up out of the clip. If you are careful, you can rotate it down and clear of the axle without taking it off the cylinder. Also, this way, you don't have to readjust your parking brake however if it's a little loose, now is the time to put a few turns on the adjuster star. At this point you have enough room to put the nuts on the studs.

The studs come with lock washers but when installed, there is only about 1/2 the threads of the nut on the stud. I opted to ditch the lock washers and use a generous shot of locktite and little extra love on the torque down process. I torqued the studs down a couple turns at a time like you would a wheel. ( axles studs locktight )

13-filling the differential with fluid) - The housing I for had an NPT - 1/4in hose barb threaded into one of the axle tubes. I filled the rearend from here by just cutting the tip off the bottle and tipping it into the threaded hole. If the rearend is already in the car, this is best accomplished with the housing sagging completely. You can squeeze the contents into the housing, or if you are an ADD kid like me, put the bottle into the housing and cut an X into the top to allow the air to back fill so it will drain. Install, cut, walk away and work on something else. Repeat....


Hopefully this doesn't seem too rambling and there is something in here to help anyone along with their install. Feel free to PM me with any questions you might have and I'll try to help. Also, please post up any other tips or tricks you might have run into on your install that might not show up in the search.

 

i'll be posting questions whenever my rear end comes in i'm sure.

 

I am sorry, I get a lot of request from people wanting sponsorship for this and that. Bob

 

Honestly Bob, I figured you guys are bombarded with these types of requests. I hoped to sweeten the pot a little with the offer for specs, information and rights to the sequential turbo system I'm developing. A lot of guys try to sell the "advertisement" part of sponsorship but few bring a product (albeit unfinished at this point) to the table as well. You wouldn't believe the number of emails and PMs I've gotten, a lot from STS guys, about some sort of adaptation for that system for their cars. Guess I better get of my *** and finish it right?

Anyway, no hard feelings at all. I've seen other threads where you have posted information to try to help people and the fact that you posted up in this thread means a lot.

 

My wife an I just got in from a long weekend get-away up north for some skiing and a break from the kids. Sorry to have not been around to answer your questions about the Strange S casting and the Moser TA mount notching process. The last phone message you left was kinda out of hand so I wont be returning any of those messages.


P.S. you could have PM'ed me with your isues, I do have wireless internet access from my cellular phone.


Scott @ DLS

 

Scott, the problem is you haven't returned any of my messages since I gave you my credit card number. I left one frustrated message so please feel free to return any of those left before hand. I had questions that were left early last week and again later last week that were not in a frustrated tone. Also, you'll notice above that I apologized for the tone of the last message and explained the reasons why. This posted yesterday before reading this post...

I know nothing about your schedule and this is the first I've heard that you have internet access on your phone. But that is irrelevant. I feel like the response to my message should have been a phone call even today and not a post on the internet. I gave you a good review and recommendation and said you would probably work to correct your communication problem. So why again do I not deserve a phone call?

If you prefer the internet I still need to know:

What yoke did you send me and what straps do I need?
-The 1350 caps on the 240-0447 u-joint should not require a hammer to fit into the yoke.


-Note: Since this thread is for tips and tricks, if you buy the DLS 9in package, you will need to notch the webbing on the s-casting strange housing as it does not clear the Moser torque arm mount.

 

Like I said when we talked I have never been this busy before and I get over whelmed with messages and phone calls. I did have a few rush jobs he in MI since it's the winter time and tow trucks and snow plow guys need their vehicles a.s.a.p.

I installed a Strange forged 1350 yoke on your center section and the spicer part number for the straps is 3-94-18X.


Scott @ DLS

 

Fair enough. And again, for the record for everyone to read, I still recommend Scott's work. Maybe a little dirty laundry I would have liked to discuss on the phone rather than the internet but at the end of the day, now that I have the rearend installed, I couldn't be happier with it. I told him it was important to me that it didn't whine and it drove well on the street and it does everything I asked for it to do. As I said before, it's nice to talk to the guy who will be turning the wrenches on the setup.

 

i have been looking for this write up for like 3 days to make sure i was ding it correctly

 

Nice write up!

 

I got my stuff from Eric at Midwest Chassis. He always answers the phone there himself and is very informative and wants to get the right parts for you. I would recommend him.