Gun drilled axles

[wikd69]

I have been looking at this option aswell. I currently run moser 28spl c-clip axles for some added strength over stock as i have added nitrous. I am going to be narrowing the rear this winter and want to upgrade axles. The only way i can get any decent axle spline in a 8.5 10b is to go with the 33 (highest spline option) and a spool. I do not know if i will like this as it sees alot of street time. I figure 33 splines are overkill for me and thought that gun drilled and star flanged would be plenty strong yet lighter.

I may have to look into Strange or MKW options though.

I was looking to upgrade rears but i am confident the 8.5'' will hold up to my peezly low 11 times and will be much cheaper.

This is probably a bit of overkill for the thread topic, but I'll provide this for those looking at narrowing 12-bolts, etc. I'm not sure what you can do with your 10-bolt - is there a Locker available for it ? If so, you may be able to do pretty much what I did here. If you're interested, I can provide you with the Visio file I used to produce these drawings, etc. All this stuff is drawn to scale, so it'd be pretty simple to adjust the design drawing to fit your housing width / flange needs, etc. If you don't have Visio and would like a custom drawing, contact me and I could perhaps modify the drawing to fit your widths and provide you with a design doc for use by the folks doing the narrowing. This may be old hat and a lot of overkill for those of you who've narrowed a thousand rear-ends. I'm obviously not one of those.

You could maybe do this same thing and use a spool, but I cringe at the thought running a spool on the street with all this rubber on the road. Big block Chevy, manual steering, monster rear rubber with a full spool. I'm not man enough to drive *that* combo everyday on the street

On the Camaro I went with 33 spline axles because they were the toughest I could get for my standard GM 12-Bolt housing and new Detroit Locker, and with Moser cuz they seemed to offer suitable hardware for a good price. Beyond that, as I recall, there is an aftermarket 12-bolt housing available which allows you to run the heavier carrier along with the stouter 35 spline axles. For me, that would have been a bit of overkill, at least in terms of what I want to do with the Camaro. Attached is a design doc I put together for the shop I engaged to revamp my 12-bolt housing - I went with Pontiac/Olds housing ends, replacing my original small GM housing ends (which also used c-clip eliminators) and had the shop install the new Locker and order my axles. After I got it back home I added the Aerospace Components disc brakes, etc. It turned out pretty well though it took a chunk of change to get the work done and all the new parts ordered. I ended up powder coating, etc., a cost and bother you might not need to fool with. Below the drawing is a shot of the finished rear-end just prior to installation.

[BILTIT]

As this will be my first narrow job any info is good info. There are lockers available, just have a hard time spending the loot for one over a spool. I have power steering so it should not be as much of a nightmare on the street but alot of wasted rubber for sure, and i run soft tires for traction on the street so they would be gone quickly.

I will be replacing my housing ends to get rid of the c-clip design. I have not decided which ends to go with yet. I will probably stick with the drums for now unless i can find a decent price on a disc setup.

I do not have visio? but would appreciate any info you can give me.

I am looking at going to coilovers but not sure it is necessary, split mono's and caltracs should suffice, depends which is the cheaper route/better option.

[wikd69]

As this will be my first narrow job any info is good info. There are lockers available, just have a hard time spending the loot for one over a spool. I have power steering so it should not be as much of a nightmare on the street but alot of wasted rubber for sure, and i run soft tires for traction on the street so they would be gone quickly.

I will be replacing my housing ends to get rid of the c-clip design. I have not decided which ends to go with yet. I will probably stick with the drums for now unless i can find a decent price on a disc setup.

I do not have visio? but would appreciate any info you can give me.

I am looking at going to coilovers but not sure it is necessary, split mono's and caltracs should suffice, depends which is the cheaper route/better option.

If you give me an idea of what width you need, outside-to-outside your drums, as well as desired pinion offset, I can dummy up a drawing for you. I'll have to figure out what the correct backspace (housing-end to outer axle flange) should be when using drums, as it varies based on housing ends, etc but I can rough something out pretty quick.

The guys at Aerospace recommended use of the Pontiac/Olds housing ends because they were simple and stout. I don't recall the rest of the conversation now but I followed their lead and was quite happy with the result. The only thing you have to really worry about is making sure the folks who weld the housing ends align them square to the housing and with the same rotational orientation - I had to send the housing back and get one of the ends rewelded because it was not aligned with the other - i.e., when mounted, the brake calipers were out of alignment with each other when looking from the back. I had some choice words with the welding shop, the goobers. I don't think it really matters whether you're sticking with drums or going with discs, the housing ends work the same. Tho come to think about it, you'll likely need to get new backing plates for your drum setup, regardless of which housing ends you select.

If you do go with the Pontiac/Olds housing ends, you might be able to locate a set of OEM backing plates that would let you reuse your current brake drum / master cylinder setup. That'd be a bonus I would think. There may also be other benefits to staying GM. Reuse of your existing drums would let you use a Pontiac bold pattern on your new axles which would let you re-use your current wheels, etc., etc. You might have to drill out the drum pattern to fit larger wheel studs (I'm using long 1/2" studs - you are most likely using stock 7/16" studs), but that should not pose a big problem. Lots of what-if's and supposition here, but it's a start.

Here's the Moser housing end diagram:

http://www.moserengineering.com/Pages/diagram.html

And as you might suspect by now, I was OCD to the point that I did a design drawing for the x-member required for my coil-overs as well



And here's a shot of the new coilover cross-member, installed in the ride. The coilover kit (DOM tubing with brackets) was about $35 from Alstons. Alston is located here in Sacramento so I'm able to drive over, talk to their tech guys and pick my parts up directly. I opted for single adjustable coilvers though you'd likely want to get the double adjustable. Please don't look too closely at my welding here <g>.



Hope all this junk helps

[BILTIT]

I will see what i can do for measurements, it may be a few weeks or so. I am building my new ''project'' garage right now so the car is sitting in my existing until the new one is done, then the fabrication begins.

I will most likely make my own shock mounts and weld on the axle ends too. I am going to have the machinist at work make me a jig for holding/locating them true.

Yup, running 7/16'' studs now but i would upgrade to 1/2''.

Thanks

[wikd69]

I will see what i can do for measurements, it may be a few weeks or so. I am building my new ''project'' garage right now so the car is sitting in my existing until the new one is done, then the fabrication begins.

I will most likely make my own shock mounts and weld on the axle ends too. I am going to have the machinist at work make me a jig for holding/locating them true.

Yup, running 7/16'' studs now but i would upgrade to 1/2''.

Thanks

Cool beans, just grab me when you need me.

Two last additional things to consider:

First: Dunno if you want them, but you can provide for use of wheelie bars by including welding brackets on the new housing - that way they're there if ya need them without requiring you to purchase the actual wheelie bars now. I went with S & W Racecars bars - they're out of Pennsyvania.

Second: In your design, include a couple of tie-down hoops welded onto the housing itself. This is another one of those common sense things that I obviously did not consider when I went through all of this. I trailer the Camaro quite a bit and tie-down is a b*tch. I have to wrap axle straps around the outer housing tubes and it's a pain in the neck. Had I included a couple of tie-down loops on the housing, trailering would have been a lot easier on my beatup old bod. As it is, I have lay down and wriggle up under the wheelie bars to tie things down. At my advanced age, that's hard on the parts. Mondo 'd-uh' on my part.

[ytnova]

Glad to see moser upped there warranty, but this is from mark williams website:

8. Why do I see axles advertised as “Alloy Axles” so cheap?
These axles are actually produced by an OEM axle forging company whose main business is making axles for the truck and construction industry. The material used is a carbon steel, common to OEM axles. It is not usually regarded as an alloy steel as advertised. The manufacturer produces the axle blank and the advertiser cuts the axle to length and splines it. These axles are made from the same material as stock axles and receive the same heat treatment. The only difference is that they are available in shorter lengths and with different splines.

For more info checkout this webpage:
http://www.markwilliams.com/axle-txt.aspx

[chpcamaro]

hey BILTIT
there's a company call tom's that makes (a i guess billet will discribe it best) weld on ends that are made for the 10 and 12 bolt chevy rear ends that allow you to use bearings that are pressed on the axle like a ford 9inch and you can still use all the stock chevy brakes as if you still had stock ends
if you need more info just ask
rob

look here http://www.tomsdifferentials.com/catalog.asp?pg=8

[BILTIT]

Yup i was looking on his site, that will most likely the route i will go, thanks!

Woohoo, they have a 35 spline spool!

[ytnova]

I think I paid @900 bucks for the 35 spline axles, axle bearing/c-clip eliminator, spool, spool bearings and 5/8 drive studs. All mw stuff.