I WAS comparing a stock carrier to stock carrier, not my nodular........I didn't just fall off the potato truck! LOL......
stock to stock the 9" i'd run from, before i put any real power to it
As for weight of Dana over 9" Where did I say 50-90 lbs? I think you are on the conservative side on your weight calculations,But never the less,18lbs is 18lbs more weight, so "it is heavier" anything heavier is heavier period.Every lb is E.T. lost.
You didn't you said
Too heavy is not a 18 lb difference, too heavy is 70 lbs and better.
Chipping of the teeth,I'll stick to my guns on that one, not saying what you are saying is not part of it.
You can stick to those guns all year, but the housing flex is not the teeth chipping , very different when you actually have a failure from housing flex.
In reality it is also because most all of the ring gear sets are imported now, and made of cheap chineese metal.
I agree and there are china copies of good brands that even the boxes look good.
BUT not all of the gears are from china, Precision, Nitro, Dana, US gear, AAM are all good companies, Motive is good too but some of there gears are from all over, but ask someone if they want the $250 gear or the $150 gear, and their issue is usually their own fault
That is also why you can hardley get a ring gear setup that won't make noise no matter how hard you try.
That's not always true, i do many diffs and they don't make noise, there are some gears cut differently and can make noise, Richmonds bigger ratios could have noise issues.
Noise issues most times are because everyone can do it, it's why i have let more people go and continue to do them myself.
But after all you said, why then does the whole racing market sell and build 9" Fords for performance/racing, and not the 8 3/4"
Lastly, my point was, if you dump the same cash (or less) into a 9" as you do a 8 3/4, you will have a much stronger diif.But if you are a die hard Mopar guy, and can't handle other makers parts in your car, then a Dana or beefed up 8 3/4 is the way to go.
They like to lose hp maybe, i have no idea why the aftermarket and so many people chose that diff over a Dana to flood the market with UPGRADES to make it survive.
Again i believe the 9" is just supported because of the ease of use, it is most definitely not the strongest and best diff to use for performance.
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