saplumr

Gotta love the experts!

1rusty1

And the trolls

saplumr

Simple question. Do you speak from experience or just attempt to impress??

1rusty1

Not that I would owe you or anyone else an explanation but since you ask. The OP has a stock 05 C6. They are not talking about tracking the car or racing. No mention of planned engine mods, many 2005 owners with years of service with no issues (see the posts directly below).

Based on those conditions he should enjoy his Vette and not worry (Based on my research). Yes, I have worked on plenty of cars/motorcycles and own an 05 and researched the issue as well

If the intention is to race the car or add HP, I would of course defer to your expertise.

saplumr

Did you happen to read the last sentence in post #8? Puts it all in perspective.

1rusty1

Yes I caught the "spirited acceleration". I would imagine too much of that would cause an issue. The first three posts note that the owners have over 100k miles with no issues? I get things happen even if you drive conservatively but the reality is, if you don't abuse it, it should hold up. This holds true with anything we own. I didn't get the impression the OP had the intention of driving it hard all the time but I could be wrong. Now you understand this is JMO.

carls2004

Thought i see a post of the bulleton on changing fluid in diff, as clutch chatter and can ruin clutches in diff. - I was the unlucky one's that had [ two ] 2005 that chattered on cornering... After seeing gm bulleton i jumped right on both of them which had less than 20 th miles.. And the fluid was like brown yucky looking 50 w oil. Was told gm had bad fluid put in diffs... MMMMM my 2010 camaro [did have] had the issue and new fluid fixed it... seen lots of bad gm fluid out of factory.

saplumr

You missed my point which I clearly stated in last sentence "A majority would never have a problem".

1rusty1

I have a feeling you thought I was responding to another post below:

"ok I must say after reading this topic an some of your responses im a lil concerned I just bought a base 6 speed 05 with headers procharger an exhaust had it on dyno an its putting out close to 600 to the rear wheel I don't know if anything has been done to the diff, what is the cost to upgrade or replace that?"

I was not. We posted at about the same time and I did not see this post.

I advised the OP of a similar sentiment you had. It's not a big deal but I had something I thought I could offer the OP.

If I had 600hp to the rear wheels with an 05 differential, I was serious when I told him I would worry.

vforrest

I too have an 05 M6 Z51 that is getting a Edelbrock SC on it 1st week in March. In doing the planning I was worried about what I was reading about the diff. My tuner opened a catalogue and showed me a bracket that can be added to the original case for $200 that does what the 06 casing does...has a wider flange to resist the torque so I am putting that on as a precaution. I'm also putting on an aftermarket harmonic balancer as they have to take everything off to pin the crank so why not.

I'm just trying to do a few things that may help the longevity but I am not going to be at 600 rwhp...maybe 500-ish too.

saplumr

The support bracket will help very little. As long as your tires are spinning you have the necessary fusible link. As soon as traction is achieved the torque will produce damage sooner or later. I was originally hard headed and totally disrepsected all nay sayers....and then the inevitable happened. Mine lasted 4 years. Good luck with it.

vforrest

Thanks....we'll see. Even now with the torque I hold my breath a bit and keep my fingers crossed and try to stay in a straight line.

Keith Tedford

Basically, what I was asking was what problems people had with their rear diffs to get an idea if they were breaking in a "stock" car or after adding a lot of power. When the factory designs a drivetrain, they should have in mind that these cars ARE going to get some "spirited" driving and they should be able to stand up to that. Slicks and 5K rpm launches, well, bad stuff starts to happen, especially when power gets added too. The factory doesn't design that much extra strength as a rule. I think I am more worried about the on going problem with active handling electronics problems that people are still having. That can get you killed.
Thanks for the posts. Lots of good info there but chill out a little guys. Ragging on each other kills web sites. I know people who don't bother with a lot of web sites any more because so much of this went on and it got to be that the sites just weren't any fun.

black.z51.c6

i got a price of 3600 installed that was with changing to a 3.90 gear

COMMANDER2OOO

Thanks I need to do some research I don't know if the diff was upgraded or not it seams they did all the other performance upgrades wouldn't make since to leave that out

docrings1

Mine just blew up today on a spirited 1-2 shift. Stock 2005 Z-51 manual on stock tires accelerating to merge with traffic. Only 15k on the odo. Will get a report tomorrow from the dealer on damages. Already looking to upgrade to 06 parts...

WW7

From what I have heard and seen, slicks can break them, wheel hop can break them , but for most street driving you would have to beat the car pretty hard to break the rear.....Even if you would break the rear, there are plenty out there for sale... You can even put in an upgraded 2006 and above rear (with a few modifications) if you want..There's also an install kit from (Zip Corvette) to switch the car to the newer differential ..Not a big deal......WW
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0Jeremy@RPMTransmissions

We have seen many different scenarios cause diff failure in an 05. Basically they are a ticking time bomb. And if you mod the car you're cutting the fuse shorter every time. I have had customers who hit a bump in the road wrong and blew up their differential. Ive also had customers with 800rwhp and stock 05 diffs. It is basically just luck. If you are concerned about it change the diff and tail housing to 06+ parts (we offer the whole package to do so). A bolt-on differential brace will do nothing to prevent an 05 diff from breaking. The diffs break from the middle or out the back. The diff brace does not reinforce those areas.

darknit

They are definitely ticking time bombs. Broke my 05' diff on the street running invos. Did a spirited launch on the highway, invos hooked(rare), and split the diff wide open. Was a "cam only" car with 453rwhp/417rwtq at the time. Upgraded to an 06+ diff and my transmission output shaft broke almost immediately( weakened from previous diff breaking ). Had RPM build me a new t56 with the bigger output shaft and machine the pinion gear out of diff to accept bigger shaft and glad I did.