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I made my own. Just a disc of aluminum and some threaded rod. Dealing in saws for my job I was at a customers place and cut a bunch of discs. Came home drilled a hole in them. Picked up some threaded rod and presto I had a few sets of these.
I have a set from TOM's Differential, he sales them also, ...... never installed them, sitting in the garage...so...I have the same question... does it really do anything?
I elected not to use them on my last rear end build do the the thought it would introduce much more road noise and vibration in the C3, which i have enough of that already!! and just did not seem to do much more as the stock units in rubber are very large and thin, so i do not see a lot of movement here??? ..
Bought a set, not installed them yet but my use is more drag race. You can get them from a few places VB&P has some, I went with the Vansteels because I needed something else they had a better price on at the time.
Yes these do something! they make the connection from frame to Xmember solid (they will improve handling and drag launches but more road noise is the tradeoff.) I use a 7/16" exhaust manifold stud to secure my plates, run the nut up to the old cushion mount then install disc and add the 2nd mount.....I do this for safety. I also sourced some aluminum stock 3/8" thick and made my own, you also might want to consider welding the Xmember bracket reinforcements in if your launching on drag tires. Tom's Differentials has these parts or you can cut/fit your own parts.
Just saw a thread with the Tom's and they look almost twice as thick as my Vansteels I'm sure the Vansteels will work for my purpose but someone else may find the info useful.
Not sure I would notice noise/vibration. I've got solid engine mounts, and a whole lotta motor with a crash box trans......nothing I've noticed anyway.
I have a question about these. I am going through my rear end now, and should replace the bushings while they are out. My question is, why would I spend $100+ on the rubber bushings, and then another $40ish on the reinforcement plates that essentially just compress the rubber more?? Does anyone see an issue with replacing the bushings all together with a slug of aluminum??
I have a set from TOM's Differential, he sales them also, ...... never installed them, sitting in the garage...so...I have the same question... does it really do anything?
I elected not to use them on my last rear end build do the the thought it would introduce much more road noise and vibration in the C3, which i have enough of that already!! and just did not seem to do much more as the stock units in rubber are very large and thin, so i do not see a lot of movement here??? ..
My big tires/500+ pound steel spring/ Koni adjustable shocks had terrible wheel hop when I first installed my 5 speed. I put the solid aluminum block on the front dif snubber. I tried shock settings. I was looking for the answer
I bought the tom's disks. I took all the old crusty rubber out and cleaned up the metal surfaces. The problem was cured for street tires
My big tires/500+ pound steel spring/ Koni adjustable shocks had terrible wheel hop when I first installed my 5 speed. I put the solid aluminum block on the front dif snubber. I tried shock settings. I was looking for the answer
I bought the tom's disks. I took all the old crusty rubber out and cleaned up the metal surfaces. The problem was cured for street tires
Are you saying you just use the disks? The rubber is no longer required with one of these kits? Or did you replace the crusty rubber with new bushings first?
I took box tubing and cut it to the diameter of the hole where the rubber came out of. I drilled a hole the size of the central disk bolt just so the cross member could not shift side to side.
I kept looking at it and I was so tempted to just weld the cross member to the frame, but I didn't because I saw an article about modding the cross member to lower the body in relationship to the differential.
A very interesting concept. I wish someone who has done this would chime in?
Mine still has old bushings in place....they were in good shape...and the discs added on. It's been that way for nearly 20 years and it's all still in good shape. I never added any extra reinforcement to the bracing it bolts to...even though it "looks" sorta weak....but it's never failed on mine and I pound it pretty hard.
I did add a "wing" so to speak from the center of the sombrero crossmember that attaches to the welded in crossmember behind it. It helps keep the differential stable and not able to rotate under hard acceleration. I figure it's sitting there...it might as well do something!
This the Dana 60 IRS. A stock style cover bolts to a 3/4" thick adapter on the differential. I sectioned the center of the stock crossmember to move it back the 3/4" so the stock cover would attach. While at it..I added the "wing". It just uses 4 bolts dropped through the welded crossmember.
05-20-2015, 12:36 PM
Van Steel Rear Cross Member Reinforcement Kit
