Well, I blew up the rear end last weekend on Drag Radials and I was wondering what some of my alternatives are for replacement.

Exotic Muscle sells their "Gladiator Dana 44" which comes with a heavy duty ring and pinion set, cold stabilized stub shafts, new OEM case etc......



Car will have 600RWHP through a 6-speed by next spring so I need something pretty strong.

Any suggestions?

 

Exotic muscel sounds like your only way.Nice HP sure sounds like a screamer ,let us know your ETs.

 

Ford 9"?

 

I'm interested in exactly what blew up? In addition, is anyone running a spool on the street? I realize it would be a pain around corneres but might be worth it if spiders are blowing.

 

I just looked underneath and noticed the housing was in two pieces.

I have yet to see exactley what let go, but I'll I know is it's a Dana salad now.

 

You know what I'd love to figure out?

A way to get Dana 44 axles from jeeps, cut off the axle tubes, put bearings and yokes in place for the halfshafts, and stick it all under a c4.

wouldn't that be cool?

There must be some way to get these things cheaper for everyone.

 

What causes catastrophic failure (read split cases) in the D44 is ANY driveline movement. If your case failed I can guess that it split in two at the nose (c-beam attachment point). Unfortunately C4's do not have a tranny crossmember but instead utilize a torque arm (aka "c-beam") for both the crossmember AND a structural backbone to the driveline. When you hit the tires hard (particularly stick cars but this applies to autos as well) the tailhousing of the transmission tries to move upwards. The c-beam attempts (poorly in stock form) to stop this movement; however, if there is ANY slop in this assembly it will cause sheer force to be applied to the pinion nose (c-beam attachment point) of the differential. Movement can be caused by:
-Incorrectly torqued/tightened c-beam attachment on either end.
-Worn out differential mount bushings.
-Severe axle hop (bouncing on the bump stops).
-Just the shi!!y nature of the c-beam itself. As beefy as it looks being .250" press-formed aluminum plate; it will flex under heavy torque load.

There are a few things you can do to eliminate this type of failure.
-Beam Plates (ZFDoc); these are worth their weight in gold in largely eliminating flex at the attachment points.
-Upgraded poly diff mount bushings or one step further; full Delrin mount bushings which are basically solid but not quite as punishing as an aluminum bushing.
-Figure out a way to build a crossmember for the tranny (keeping in mind that you'll also HAVE to mount the c-beam to it to maintain the "backbone").
-A custom fabricated torque-arm (preferably tubular chromoly).

As for the other type of case failure that is usually cause by something fragging inside; most notably the posi-traction unit itself. The spiders and cross-pin are notorious for breaking under heavy hits of traction. The posi case itself (nodular iron) has also been known to break. Generally when a spider or cross-pin lets go it takes with it everything else (usually because it's under high load or speed). If a piece gets trapped between the case and a reciprocating piece you can pretty much guarantee either a split case or a holed case.

It's pretty rare to see a ring and pinion failure on a Dana 44 because of its large size (8.5", same as a GM 12-bolt); usually when one fails it's because something else took it out.

That said there are a lot of things one can do to prevent it. Number one being the installation of a full spool in place of the posi-unit. The main problem with this is that unless you're very "liberal" on your definition of what constitutes a driver you probably won't want one. In the Vette they're not nearly as bad as they are in solid axle cars but they're still not great. Mostly slow speed sharp turns is the problem, but they also degrade the stub axles faster, and you DON'T EVER WANT to drive one in the rain. With regards to the stock posi unit; you can rebuild it with better pieces. We cryogenically treat these pieces quite often as well as polishing the case itself to remove casting flash. Additionally we cryo-treat the stub axles, drive spindles (the #1 killed part), half-shafts, ring and pinion, and even the case (for stress-relief more than anything else).

The D44 is a STRONG rearend provided you actually take some steps to improve it. There are people who've NEVER had catastrophic failure of one (including myself) and then there are those that have (like you). I hammered my D44 harder than ANYONE probably ever has and with the proper upgrades it will live a long time.

I've been working on a D44 "treatise" off and on for several months; maybe one of these days I'll finish it and post it.
-Jeb

 

Supposedly these are heavier duty parts...scroll down

http://www.zr1products.com/vendors.html

 

That is pretty much what Dana DID, when they designed the model 44 ICA. Would you prefer to start from scratch and "do it yourself"???

RACE ON!!!

 

But you don't find them making them anymore, do you?

So unless you want to pay 1500-2000 for another rear end, or go to a solid axle, your kinda SOL.

I think it's ridiculous to have to pay that. But most people will, if they have to.

If someone did this, they could sell new pumpkins for much less than what it would cost you to get one off of another c4. And then guess what? the dana44 from the c4 would decrease in price as well.

think about it.

 

ill post pics of my Dana 44 tonight. i have new car creation billit case , spool, all cryoed with some extra goods .

 

Maybe it's just me, but there seem to be a few differences between the vette and Jeep 44's.

Hopefully that guy that works for Dana can elaborate more.

 

REALLY!!!

Good idea. Try it!

RACE ON!!!

 

the JEEP D44 is a not an aluminum material like the corvette IRS D44. it would add a bit of weight with some modifing.

i too thought about what could be done to make it work.kind of a good idea

 

It doesn't even look like the bolt pattern's would be close at all either. One also has to have a mount for the c-beam.

I dunno, but one of these days someone will figure out a cheap enough setup to make a rear end swap not seem like such a big ouch.

A Complete bolt on ford 9" stuffed full of all strange engineering stuff was 1200.00 straight from strange for my Camaro.... I just can't see spending 1500-2000 for a stock dana 44 from another c4.

Like I said, as these cars get older, the market for something like this will make somebody make it happen.

 

There is a company making new D44's for vettes, but I can't remember the name.


But if anyone is going for serious drag racing, solid axle is the only way to go, and yes it will still be a vette even without IRS.

 

curious.. what are the folks with Vipers and high HP Supras using? How different is their design? Seems like I hear about Supras having 800rwhp but I don't hear about them breaking rears? Maybe I'm just out of touch..

 

Newman Car Creations is the company making the D44 replacement. I looks nice however, it was pricey.

Here's the contact info shoot them an email and they will send you the brochure. (Newman Car Creations, Inc. [info@carcreationsinc.com])

Mike

 

Those new D44 cases appear to be the same cases that are being produced by Newmans Car Creations Inc.

http://www.carcreationsinc.com/html_2/latest.html

These cases appear to be excellent cases, but are EXPENSIVE! Unfortunately these are the only option should one want a new case as there are no other producers of the D44 cases that I know of.

 

I have all Strange parts in my Ford 9" with the ultra case, 35 spline race axles and it's over $2500 with a new housing. I think even a low budget set up from Strange would still be close to $2000 for any sort of complete rear end.