Soul Coughing

I was coming back from work tonight, on the road that leads to my house when i decided to get on it a little in 3rd gear. It had been raining all day and that this point there was a slight mist coming down. I open it up in 3rd gear, the turbo spools and the back comes out, as i had expected it to, and controlled it in a nice little slide when suddenly i heard BAMMMMM! I quickly let off the accelerator, put the clutch in and i heard a horrible noise directly related to the speed of the car.

I shouldn't have been too surprised as when i was changing the diff fluid a few days ago i had found three tiny pieces of a tooth on the magnetic plug. I wasn't too sure if it had been when i broke an axle at the track or if it was when i raced a friend in his 550whp Terminator. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYo4ombQjJE At this point it is obvious that it was in fact the later instead of the former. I had about 45k miles of boost on my stock differential with thousands of fast shifts and WOT pulls, but only a few launches (one where i broke an axle). I can't be too angry as i am now putting out 475whp and more importantly 365ft/lbs of torque.

I guess the question now is, what do i do when i have a blown rear end. Should i just buy another stock diff or should I invest in a more reliable solution. As far as i have found, the two choices most readily available, without me designing my own diff holders, is to get the InlinePro diff kit, or the puddymud rear end. I would love to hear first hand experience with both kits! What you've done with them and what has or hasn't broken!

AndyFloyd

man that sucks, i hope mine lasts as long as yours did!

camuman

side note, is that speed tape on the rear window?

sorry to hear the problems with the rear. it lasted well beyond what people would expect considering your mods. i would just buy a used one and pop it in, but thats me. upgrade it and you could break the next weekest point, hopefully an axle, but potentially the tranny

jwa4378

I don't have the full-on PuddyMod, but a Comptech reinforced cryo treated one. The main necessity is the solid sleeving on the pinion gear where it enters the diff, and stronger end caps (Puddy's are just stronger versions of the Comptech straps... same theory, more contact surface area).

I think he told me that my setup would be good until around 550rwhp (identical setup took some abuse from a car that was putting down that power level around Sebring).

For your current power level, the PuddyMod is a bit overkill. If you are going to end up increasing the power again, it might be a wise investment, to give yourself the operational headroom.

Plus, Puddy's service is second to none. Good communication, and he will call a spade a spade. If you don't need it, we will not recommend it. Good guy.

John

nightcrawler7188

with regards to Puddy

if i were you, i'd just get a used stocker for $500 or so and don't launch anymore. i don't think it's worth the $$ to upgrade to the comptech housing or puddy since your ring/pinion gear is obviously the weakest link.

jwa4378

^ Puddy's solid steel sleeve fixes the pinion issues. Cryo treating fixes any weakness in the ring gear. The end caps are still weak, and can lead to half-shaft play if you wheel hop off a launch. If the end caps stretch or fail, the diff will fail, regardless of what else has been done to it.

I am not positive, but I believe jcarlton (who owns the cryo company) said the failing end caps appeared to be due to improper casting of the parts from the manufacturer. IIRC, He said that cryo'ing helps eliminate any weaknesses. It will not prevent certain situations from happening (really high HP wheel hop), but it will prevent the diff failing @ NA power levels (and there have been plenty of those documented).

I posted his price list into a recent diff thread in this forum. I think it was ERL's thread.

You can get the whole she-bang, or a la carte what you need.

John

nightcrawler7188

i only say what i did earlier because my cryoed 4.77s in comptech reinforced housing broke on me