I'm going to rebuild the axle in my S-10 here soon. These are a crush sleeve style, as we know. What I wanted to know, would it be better to switch it over to a shimmed style, or keep it a crush sleeve setup? I've read about a guy doing this with his Chevette, stating that the sleeve is the weak point of the axle. Any improvement in strength at a minimal cost I think would be worth the investment.
I believe the 8.5" is the same as well, so this question should apply to it, too.
The S-10 is equipped with the LN2 2.2, but I'd like to drop a Camaro 3.4 in it next summer. Which is why I ask this question.
Crush sleeve is certainly the common setup, and while its probably not as good in an extreme performance application as shims, In a 7 1/2 or 7 5/8 diff behind a 3.4, I would have exactly NO concern about running the crush sleeve.
Keep it stock.
Crush sleeves fail when setup too tight for the given torque load, IMO. You aren't even close to that point.
Brian
Ask someone who knows what they are talking about....
proper differential architecture is by expereince
http://www.weirperformance.com/
oldeskewltoy wrote:
Ask someone who knows what they are talking about....
proper differential architecture is by expereince
http://www.weirperformance.com/
Are they saying that the pinion itself is bending and that the solid spacer prevents that?
In reply to oldeskewltoy:
Thanks for the info. I'll take a look over there and ask them to see what they say.
Thanks for the tip!
The pinon does deflect, this is why big truck Eaton rears somethimes have out board bearings or they have a rub block so it cant deflect off the ring gear.
The soild spacer dose not keep it from happening BUT it does help keep the bearing preload the same where as the crush sleeve would crush ever so slighly with every flex. If you have high coast down forces this can help crush the sleave too like say locked rear and at the end of the 1/4 mile you shut the motor down in gear or pop a chute with nice sticky meats on the ground.
You should talk with Randy's ring and pinon. Good people who will not steer you wrong and can tell you who around you is known for good work. No i've got no conections there but am happy customer.
44
The smallest 'heavy duty' axle I can think of that DOESN'T have an inner pinion bearing, is the Dana 70, and maybe the 80. Everything bigger than that has an inner bearing, and the rub block against the ring gear is in kinda spotty use. Some have it, some don't. All the heavy duty punkins I know of, have solid bearing spacers on the pinion. This includes some 'not-so-heavy duties' like early Danas. The 9" Ford is as well known for strength as it is, for the very reason that it has the inner pinion support bearing. Without that, it'd be just more scrap iron. Occasionally even the 9" breaks, and when it does, it can be some spectacular carnage.
But the collapsible spacer is fine for stock or stock-type useage. That is to say, if it's not habitually overloaded, it'll live a long while. Get crazy with vehicle weight or traction, and maybe not so much...
44Dwarf wrote:
The pinon does deflect, this is why big truck Eaton rears somethimes have out board bearings or they have a rub block so it cant deflect off the ring gear.
The soild spacer dose not keep it from happening BUT it does help keep the bearing preload the same where as the crush sleeve would crush ever so slighly with every flex. If you have high coast down forces this can help crush the sleave too like say locked rear and at the end of the 1/4 mile you shut the motor down in gear or pop a chute with nice sticky meats on the ground.
You should talk with Randy's ring and pinon. Good people who will not steer you wrong and can tell you who around you is known for good work. No i've got no conections there but am happy customer.
44
Are you talking about a rub block that rubs against the pinion? I've never came across that. The rub blocks and load bolts that i'm familiar with are actually against the back side of the ring gear to prevent ring gear deflecting away from the pinion. The 9" Ford does have an outboard support bearing for the nose of the pinion...so why would it need a solid spacer?
Please explain how coast down forces could cause a sleeve to crush, aren't those forces basically pulling on the pinion against the front bearing?
So far, when I listen to the reasons presented for a solid spacer with a skeptical ear, they sound more like sales pitches to me. Personally, the biggest practical reason I see for solid spacers is that crushing a sleeve is very hard to do if you don't have the right tools. The only real performance advantage I've come up with so far is that if you were setting up a rear for minimum preload, a solid spacer might make that easier and may help keep a looser fitting front bearing's inner race from rotating on the pinion stem.
Well, I did plan on abusing this sometimes and just wanted to get this as bulletproof as I possibly can. If I am going to rebuild it, might as well make it better if I can while in there.
What the plan is as follows:
1996 S-10, 3.4 F-Bomb engine, NV1500 5-sp., 7.5" GM loaded with stock 3.73 gears. Might even get the trans from the F-Car if it's a manual. A small turbo is also on the table and just want to be prepared for when it goes down.
This is also a plan. I have a '95 3100 SFI, but it's the FWD oilpan and will not fit in the chassis. Oh well.
