a body rear end ? 8 3/4 vs dana 60

The 8 3/4 is a more efficient rear-end, it also has the advantage of the gears being held in a carrier that bolts to the housing, thus making swapping pumpkins 'relatively' easy.

Long story short, the 8 3/4 is an excellent rear end that will take quite a bit of punishment. They are becoming a bit harder to find and as a result becoming a bit more expensive. That being said, if your car is small block and you don't plan on running slicks the 8 3/4 will serve you well. If you run a high torque, high weight car, and throw slicks into the equation than a Dana 60 would be a better choice.

Here's a good article over at Bigblockdart that runs down the variations on the 8 3/4

http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/875axle.shtml

The Dana 60 uses a 9.75" ring gear. Can be built with 40 Spline Axles, has gear ratios from 3.55 to 7.13 available. Has a multitude of Lockers, spools, and limited slip differential available. Has 3.25" Axle tubes. In short the Dana 60 is the strongest rear axle commonly available for a passenger car.

The only downside is weight penalty. Depending upon A LOT of factors the weight difference can be as little a ZERO and as much as 60. Hint the only way your going to get the weight difference to zero is by buying a lot of expensive parts, like an aluminum spool, gun drilled axles, light weight brakes, etc.

The extra weight won't help you much on traction since it is unsprung weight.

Regards,

Joe Dokes