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Rearend issues
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Posted by: TheMightyWS6

hopefully someone can give me some insight on this.

i've been thinking about switching the gears in my 02 WS6 (with a 6 speed) to 3.73. a guy i know is telling me that i should put in 4.10 instead. he gave me an article featuring a class from the School of Automotive Mechanics in Houston TX. they started with a 99 SS camaro and the article describes everything they've done and what results it yielded. they put in 3.73 gears and only gained 1mph in the 1/4 mile and no ET gain.

they switched to 4.10 and gained over 3 tenths of a second and a couple mph but they said that the rear "failed 3 times in 24 runs" i'm assuming by "failed" that they mean the gears broke.

i don't want to spend several hundreds of dollars for a 1mph gain and no ET gain. and i don't really want to spend that and have my gears break after 5 runs. i've been told and read a million times that the 10 bolt rear is weak but i'm not sure in what way. why do they break more often with 4.10s? what causes just the gears to break as opposed to gears and the housing? i would put on a rear end girdle when the gears are installed, how much longer would this make things last?

the article mentioned the axles having a peak torque handling capability but didn't say what that might be. my car had 322rwhp and 339rwtq stock, now i have a catback and intake lid that dropped my 1/4 mile ET by 3 tenths. i dont' know how much power it has now but i plan on making more and that's kind of an issue with the rear end strength.

hopefully in a couple years i can afford to put in a moser 12 bolt but that's not possible in the near future.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

Posted by: EvilLS1

Higher (numerically) gears will break easier than taller gears because there's more teeth and they aren't as thick.

I've seen stock 6 speed LS1 cars break thier rear end on regular drag radials. If I were you, I'd save the money for a 12 bolt instead.

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