Grenaded the rear end in the Cuda! BIG TIME

We went for a drive tonight and made our way out to a small tavern 10 mile's out side of town. When we left I pulled out on the 4 lane and decided to nail it in 1st then shifted to 2nd and KA BOOM the gears were gone! At first I thought the drive shaft fell out but after looking everything was still hooked up. I have heard that sound before in m 427 vette with a 4 speed. The ring and pinion are FUBAR. I had to get a flat bed to come get it and bring the Cuda home. Luckily I have 3 other center sections to replace it with.

Something is wrong! I'm not sure if the pinon angle is off or what but that shouldn't of happened.

I'll have to take a good look at the situation, I've got something out of wack!

was the you 3.91 set up you blew,bummer.

yep it was the 3.91's. I can't wait to pull the center section out to see what happened. Something wasn't right!

what ya gonna do throw in the 4.10 untill you get that one straight or just leave it at 4.10. Gas is kinda hight right now.

I suppose I'll throw in the 4.10 or the 4.30's for now. The funny thing was this was my 742 case and not a 489. I had a little wheel hop but that shouldn't have broken the gear's.

they broker the 742 case as the stongest because of the bearing sizr and the lack of a crush sleeve i guess thats not always true. Still you want have and trouble rebuilding it but its not cheap I would imagine

ouch, but i bet in the back of your mind youre like "heh, its all that raw POWER!" :)
maybe not, but thats what id try to imagine to cheer myself up a little bit..

I destoyed 2 7 1/4 rears before but never an 8 3/4,always thought they were bullit proof.I even managed to blow up a 727 trans. in a Coronet that i had.Literally came out in pieces,the one band exploded and took off the top of the case.The only thing actually holding the rest together was the pan :!:

hhmmm lets see, Big small block, Big Horsepower, Big Torque, and a 4spd......NAW that couldn't be it :P Well Brett I think you sort of stepped things up quite a bit when you went to the stroker and a 4spd. Don't be too surprised if you don't find anything really wrong with the rearend setup :wink:

Brett,

I bet there is a chance that you broke the main caps on the rear. My dad's 4spd 440 RoadRunner did that at the track. Your's on the street, thats a little odd. Did you get some good traction or something?

After seeing my dad's carnage, I now have Billet Main Caps and a Solid Spacer in my 4.30 geared 489 case.

Larry

you are probably right Larry now that I think about it. I'll get it out friday night and see what happened.

I wasn't getting any traction. I opened the dumps, pointed it straight and nailed it from 15 mph, blew the tires off to 6500 rpm grabbed second and it was over about 2 seconds later. I was getting some wheel hop though. I just can't seem to get rid of the wheel hop no matter what I do.

are the billet caps the same fro the 742 or 489. if so I will just get them ordered now. Larry, what elso do I need to make the rear stronger.

where can I get these billet caps?

where can I get these billet caps?
Mark Williams

I run one of his yokes I got from Hawaii.

After we broke the rear end I pulled over to the side of the road and the old lady looks at me and said"I can't believe this car broke after all the money you spent on it" she was mad at the car for a few minutes. LOL I almost laughed just looking at her expression. :lol:

Billet main caps are from Mark Williams ONLY! Trust me. THey are about $75 each and they need to be milled to fit by a machine shop to do it right, as they come about .010" large on purpose. The caps fit all 8 3/4 pumpkins.

Other than that, if you use a 489 case, get a solid pinion spacer. Sure grips will work just fine...no need for a spool.

I would also back brace the housing if you can. Mancini sells a brace for about $60 and then you need to weld it on. Don't listen to people that say you can't weld it on w/o taking the ends off due to heat warpage. Those people are just passing on bad info, as I'm sure they've never DONE it.

If you weld it on, just weld small 1/2 long sections at a time and move all around. I did mine and it was EXACTLY as straight as it was before I started. I measured with a Lazer level on a wall about 20' away, before and after.

Other than strong axles, that's it. Should be strong now!

I'll get that stuff ordered today. I'll probably get 2 set's of cap's and set up 2 of my rear's at the same time. I have a solid spacer for one of 489's just haven't put it in yet. I'll throw in the 4.30's and be nice to them until I get the 3.91's and the 4.10's done. OOOOOOR I could throw in my 4.57's and do some 65mph smoke show's in 3rd gear. :lol:

yep I talked myself into it! I'll play with the 4.57's for a while.

repeat after me
DANA !!!


:D

ooohhhh, 65Mph smoke.... that sounds like fun :)

I'll get that stuff ordered today. I'll probably get 2 set's of cap's and set up 2 of my rear's at the same time. I have a solid spacer for one of 489's just haven't put it in yet. I'll throw in the 4.30's and be nice to them until I get the 3.91's and the 4.10's done. OOOOOOR I could throw in my 4.57's and do some 65mph smoke show's in 3rd gear. :lol:

yep I talked myself into it! I'll play with the 4.57's for a while.

Mmmm 4.57s and a 4 speed. Im drooling :mrgreen:

I'll get that stuff ordered today. I'll probably get 2 set's of cap's and set up 2 of my rear's at the same time. I have a solid spacer for one of 489's just haven't put it in yet. I'll throw in the 4.30's and be nice to them until I get the 3.91's and the 4.10's done. OOOOOOR I could throw in my 4.57's and do some 65mph smoke show's in 3rd gear. :lol:

yep I talked myself into it! I'll play with the 4.57's for a while.

Thats what I love about the 8 3/4, quick gear changes :D Can't do that with a Dana. I used to put my 4.56/spool in Friday afternoons and go racing on the weekends, the Sunday evening drop the 3.91/SG in and drive to work Monday morning. 8)

Sorry to here about the gears, I wish I had that much power to blow the gears, maybe someday.

Mike