Quote: ANYTHING.......CAN be broken, that is a fact. But it is also a fact that a 9" can be built into a MUCH stronger drop out style rear than an 8.75, as witnessed by the fact being that is the rear of choice under 99% of high HP race cars on the planet. The fact that ANY of those parts may or may not be an original Ford part is a moot point. It is a Ford design.....it's a 9" Ford.
The reason a DANA holds up better than an 8.75 is just because of the massive size and strength of the center section itself. The case will not flex near as much in the pinion area, even without the support bearing of the 9".
While the center strength of the DANA is a plus, its rear load design is a weakness. It is IMPOSSIBLE to properly brace the housing itself, to keep IT from flexing and bending the axle tubes. If the tubes have any length to them, they WILL bend and you can't stop it.
Any of this has ZERO to do with if you are a TRUE Mopar guy or not, it has to do with putting the proper part under your car to do what YOU need to do and it last.
Radials are HARD on parts. The tire is hooked or its not. There is no in between. You CAN'T spin or slip a radial and it still go down like a slick. A Radial DEAD HOOKS and THAT is hard on parts with a lot of power. You will bend or break EVERYTHING in the drive line if it is not beefy enough.
In our own radial car, that weighed about 2900lbs, we had a VERY well built Moser mild steel housing, that was heavily braced. The car was 60 footing in the high teens to low 20 at that time. We bent the housing 3 times. When the car got hard to push, we knew the tubes were bent. It would bend them out at the ends. Have seen it bent as much as an inch per side. Once you got the axles out, they did NOT go back in. We now have a chromoly housing, with .250 wall chromoly tubes and it is braced and built like you would a housing in a Pro-Mod. The car now goes 1.0 60fts at 2700lbs and we have NOT bent that housing. We have 40 spline gun drilled axles, a pro series spool, pro gears and both a Mark Williams or a Strange thru bolt case, depending on what gear we run. Expensive parts......yes..........but we have NEVER broken a gear or anything rear end related.
NOW........does EVERYBODY need the parts we have, of course not. What YOU need, depends on what you plan to do. My issue is with the constant "put a Dana under it" chatter every time this subject comes up. While a great rear for some applications, for others it is DEAD WRONG. And for a 3000lb radial car, that has the potential to go low 5s, like the two cars Bill is talking about. A DANA is the WRONG choice..........period.
Just because you broke an 8.75 in your 9 or 10 second car and "fixed" it with a Dana, does NOT mean that is what everybody needs to do. The proper parts are application specific
