Xanity

As the title of this page has likely got you reading this, you may be expecting spam.

Sorry, but the real deal is that over the years, my father and I have replaced everything functionally on my 89 V6 accept for the rear end. It has always made an annoying whining noise and seemed unstable (compared to their mint 92 V6). I wanted some suggestions from you guys:

-Where to buy a new one? or...
-If rebuilding it would be just as logical?
-How much this usually costs?
-What businesses do this sort of work?
-How were your experiences when you had to do this?

Thanks for any feedback!

AlkyIROC

There is no such thing as a V6 or V8 differential in a third gen. They're all classified as a 7.5" 10 bolt diff although in 1986, the ring gear size was increased to 7-5/8" but still fits on the same carrier. Some cars in the late 80's got a performance diff which is the Borg Warner 9 bolt. It's only slightly stronger with a 7-3/4" ring gear. It's a completely different diff and the only thing it has in common with the 10 bolt is the external mounting points.

Before anyone can offer suggestions, you first need to find out if your 89 has 10 bolts on the rear cover or 9 bolts.

If you want to upgrade to a stronger diff, the only options are an aftermarket 9", 12 bolt or Dana 60. None of them are cheap.

Xanity

My camaro is a ten bolt. Also, I'm not wanting to add any power to it, I'm just trying to get it as close as I can to the state it was in when it rolled off the assembly line.

AlkyIROC

Hard to say what kind of condition the gears are in after 22 years of use. If it's a posi, it's probably worn out. If it's just an open diff and you don't want to upgrade to a posi then you can eliminate that extra cost.

New gear set, new 7-1/2" posi for 26 spline axles, installation kit (bearings, seals etc). Any good driveline shop can change the parts over for you. Worst case is the axle and/or axle bearings are also worn out. 7-1/2" 10 bolt parts are easy to get and are cheap.

For the average person, this isn't an easy job to do. You need knowledge on how to set up the gears properly. The hardest part is that there's shims behind the inner pinion gear to set the depth. Once the bearing is pressed on, you can't take it off to change the shims. A good driveline shop will have a bearing machined with the ID slightly larger so that it will just slide on and off while they change the shims. Once the proper shim is selected, the new bearing is pressed on. Normally the shim that's behind the bearing is what's used on the new pinion but not always.

The next hardest part is tightening the pinion bearing to get the right preload on the crush sleeve. It takes a lot of force to crush the crush sleeve and a car sitting on jack stands doesn't give much room to do it.

For the time and effort it takes to rebuild a diff, it can be a lot cheaper to just have a driveline shop do it. Sometimes they may even provide a better deal on parts as they can inspect and know exactly what it needs so you don't need to but incorrect or extra stuff.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

Cross posting it in the history forum made it seem as such.

Throwing parts at something doesn't help unless the problem has been addressed. You haven't said one single thing that solidly establishes the rear to be at fault.

Do some searching and reading on this forum until you come to grips with the pinion angle being a possible problem in your car, rather than throwing money at a rear-diff that isn't necessarily faulty.