Hi guys, this my first post on the hotrodders forum. I am a member of performanceyears, dieseltruckresource, and dieselplace, so this isn't my first go round being the new guy. I am posting this because I am a little tired of the pontiac only guys, and the closed minded attitude I see over at performanceyears. I am not trying to knock that site, because it has it's niche, it's just that there is a wider sampling of gear heads over here, and that is kind of what I am into.
Here is the deal, I am building my 72 pontiac Lemans into a resto-mod, and with that in mind, I just wanted to get your opinion on my newest hairbrained idea for a rear axle. I want to put a Jaguar jag for search's sake rear axle in my full size cruiser.
The center section is a Dana 44, with a few minor differences to the american version. It has inboard disc brakes, with parking brakes. A dana 44 is as strong as a 12 bolt as far as I can tell, with the exception of the smaller pinion shaft inthe Jag model. I suppose there are some weak points to be afraid of, but I don't think this would be a bad way to go.
My reason for going with this is, when you launch with a normal rear axle, the driver's side tire always tries to plant harder than the passenger's side tire. this is due to driveline torque. With an independent suspension, the torque is transmitted to the frame, and only the torque going with the direction of the tires is transmitted to them. the other deal is a lot of the jag rear ends came with posi, all of them came with disc brakes, and they were mostly in the 3.05 to 3.50 ratio neighborhood. This means I don't have to have axles made, buy a disc brake setup, buy a 9 inch housing or a 12 bolt housing, probably change the gears... I have found like 3 of the jag rearends complete for less than 500 within 50 miles of me. I can fab up the mounts for the axle, and get it set up.
Dealing with my p.o.s. b.o.p 8.2 inch open drum brake rear is out of the question with 450 hp, and about 550 torque.
Here is the deal, I am building my 72 pontiac Lemans into a resto-mod, and with that in mind, I just wanted to get your opinion on my newest hairbrained idea for a rear axle. I want to put a Jaguar jag for search's sake rear axle in my full size cruiser.
The center section is a Dana 44, with a few minor differences to the american version. It has inboard disc brakes, with parking brakes. A dana 44 is as strong as a 12 bolt as far as I can tell, with the exception of the smaller pinion shaft inthe Jag model. I suppose there are some weak points to be afraid of, but I don't think this would be a bad way to go.
My reason for going with this is, when you launch with a normal rear axle, the driver's side tire always tries to plant harder than the passenger's side tire. this is due to driveline torque. With an independent suspension, the torque is transmitted to the frame, and only the torque going with the direction of the tires is transmitted to them. the other deal is a lot of the jag rear ends came with posi, all of them came with disc brakes, and they were mostly in the 3.05 to 3.50 ratio neighborhood. This means I don't have to have axles made, buy a disc brake setup, buy a 9 inch housing or a 12 bolt housing, probably change the gears... I have found like 3 of the jag rearends complete for less than 500 within 50 miles of me. I can fab up the mounts for the axle, and get it set up.
Dealing with my p.o.s. b.o.p 8.2 inch open drum brake rear is out of the question with 450 hp, and about 550 torque.