[bizkit075]

Im looking to do some rear work, im goin to make my car a posi with 3:73 gears. But, should i do this work to the stock 10 bolt, or buy a 12 bolt housing to do this. Could someone please explain whats the difference in the 2 rears, thanx

[neil madsen]

What kind of HP do you plan on running? Your 10 bolt pozi should do you just find if your not going to extream for power/tork.

Later, Neil

[ March 03, 2003: Message edited by: neil madsen ]</p>

[farna]

10 and 12 bolt refers to the number of bolts holding the rear cover on. Other than that obvious difference, they have different size ring gears. In general, the larger the ring gear, the stronger the rear end. I don't know wxact sizes for the Chevy, but the 10 bolt is around 8" and the 12 bolt closer to 9" (but under... 8-3/4"-8-7/8").

The 9" Ford is so popular because it is strong and the gears come out the front in a carrier rather than the back. That way you can set the gear up on a bench without the housing and quickly change the front piece. You can have more than one carrier with different gears and easily change them after dropping the driveshaft and pulling the axles. With the Chevy (and others with back cover) you have to pull the entire housing so you can set the ring gear right. Even if you wanted to do that under the car (a PITA), it would be time consuming.

[F-1Rodder]

The 10 bolt will handle well over 350 hp even with sticky tires. On street tires, you would probably be good to 400. GM put some pretty powerful motors ahead of 10 bolts. Lots of guys will start out with a big rearend because they start with nothing and build the strongest they can get. That doesn't mean that they would break something smaller. if you have the 10 bolt, try it and see if you break it. The worst that would happen is that you would have to replace the gears and the junk yards are full of them.