When are Pro gears needed in dana 60

The car is 3100 lbs runs 9.50's currently footbraking. Broke a couple teeth off the pinion gear yesterday. 140 runs on US gear 4.30 ratio. Pro gears were not reccomended by strange when I put this together but since it's broke I wonder if they misinformed me. Thanks

"Pro gears were not recommended by strange "
That's funny. They recommended and installed pro gears for my Dana 60 unit that I purchased from them years ago. My car is 3600 lbs. trans brake with low 1.30 60 ft. times.Car runs mid 9's on motor and high 8's on juice.I run a 4:10 ratio and Never had any problems yet!Hundreds of passes!
Mike

Strange told me I didn't need them either. I run standard US Gear 4.10. 90 passes so far. Foot brake 1.32, 9.25,147 @3340 lbs. I was told standard gears would be fine. I can tell you I experimented with the pattern when setting them up. By adding .010" additional pinion cup shim the pattern covered an area nearly twice as wide on the face of the tooth. I thought it looked pretty decent to start with but it kept getting a wider contact patch as I went. I also made sure I had proper pinion and side bearing pre-load.
Doug

Strange told me the pro gears would be needed of the car was a lot heavier, even said that should I decide to T-brake it that I would be fine with standard gears. It broke them with the foot brake and mid 1.30's in 60 feet. Very best it's gone in 60 is 1.30. I'm considering a T-brake so before I fix it was looking for others experience

I was able to get the street gears to last 2-3 yrs foot braking before I broke the teeth on the pinion. I installed another set and got about a year on them when I switched to the trans brake. The Dart was 3150 lbs and ran in the upper 9's. When they finally became available, I ordered a set of 4.30 pro gears. Ended up purchasing another car in the off season and never used the gears. I was faced with replacing street gears every year or installing a set of pro gears. Since I never got the pro gears installed, I'm not sure how much more life they would have provided.

Just broke my strange 4.30 gears too.
Lasted 2 years.I just bought Motive pro gears.

If you already have a street gear of the right ratio in your car run it until it breaks.If it breaks a stock gear,then you will know you need a Pro Gear.If have neither go ahead and buy a Pro Gear at the start.

after breaking my 8.75 I built a dana 60 and automatically went with a pro gear since I was running a T brake, been in the car for 7-8 years now 5 years with the current motor, pulled the cover last winter during my back half job and they looked like new, I have been told that a pro gear has a softer heat treat to with stand the shock but would wear quicker, so far I haven't noticed any excessive wear.

Ran 9.0's at 3,400 lbs for years with a street gear and aluminum spool. Had 1.27 60 fts. Added a bunch of tire and dropped some weight. Started breaking street gears. Installed Pro gears then started breaking 727 planetaries. The 60 ft was no better after solving the gear problem it is simply how hard the tire hooks.

Leon

hi, the pro gears are made out of 9310 material, the street gears are 8620 material. its in their catalog. you can soften up a 8620 set to make them last longer. it's an old jr.stocker trick from the 1960/1970's. all there were 8620 gears. lots of breakage.