I was starting my first pass at the ANRA finals over the weekend and heard/felt a big bang. I had suddenly gained about 45-degrees in pinion angle and sheared off the pinion shaft. The race was over for me on my first run. I got to thinking about Dana-ifying the car. Then yesterday I took things apart and discovered that the problem was the leaf spring perch welds had broken. The pinion shaft must have broken due to the extreme angle after the axle rotated and the pinion raised up.

So what I'm wondering now is if I should fix up the 8.75 (274 case) or take this opportunity to upgrade to a Dana. I've probably got 40 runs on the car total with this axle, and I haven't had a problem until now. Looking at the spring perches, it's obvious that the problem was poor welds that did not penetrate properly.

The car is a 3200# Duster big-block making about 650 hp and 1.51 60-ft through a 727. If I keep the 8.75, I'd be interested in knowing from you guys what upgrades I should make while I have the diff apart