I was looking through some old posts on options for a stronger rear than the stock 7.5" and saw a mention of a Dana 44 8.5" rear that was available in 1LE fbody's from 82-92. Someone mentioned that it would work in a 4th gen and I was just curious if anyone here has or knows someone who has used one? Would they be a fairly simple swap into a 4th gen and how strong are they compared to a stock 7.5? I'm very interested in this idea because a good freind of mine's boss has several 1LE 3rd gen Camaros that he road races, I was going to see if he had any extra rears from one of them for sale

 

3rd Gen rearends are 2" narrower than ours and they would have no provisions for ABS/TC sensors. If you dont mind loosing the ABS and running rims with a different offset then I don't see why it wouldn't work (if you could find one).

 

I only have ABS now and I almost never drive it in the rain anymore so I wouldn't care if I lost it. So the only issue would be that it's 2" narrower? No issue with torque arm or other mounting points? This guy I know has been racing them for 15 years or more and has several 1LE's, I know he's wrecked a bunch of them and I think there is a good chance I might be able to get one of these rears off him. Any idea on what type of power they can handle?

 

The Dana 44 didn't come stock in anything but the 25 or so firehawks that were sold. GM sold Dana 44s over the counter in the parts deparment.

The TTAs didn't even get Dana 44s.

 

Yes, I did hear they put them in the 92 Firehawks. I was reading up on them over at thirdgen.org, there was a lot of info on them there. They were apparently available through GM for years until a couple years ago GM stopped offering them and and sold their remaining inventory to SLP who sold out of them a year or so ago. New they went for $1600 complete but I heard of people picking up used ones for as little as $500.

What rear came in the TTA's, the stock 10bolt?

Does anyone else know for sure if a Dana would work in a 4th gen other than the ABS and 2" size difference? Just want to know before I start looking for one. Thanks, Gregg

 

Another option I was thinking about is what about the borg warner 9 bolt? I know it came in some of the irocs and is supposably stronger than the dana 44. I know the parts are more but im sure it wouldnt be to hard to adapt this to a 4th gen except the 2 inchs narrower and no ABS. Think it mioght be worth it?

 

I heard about that rear too, I was just asking about it over at thirdgen.org :

http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...hreadid=169096

 

The TTAs came with 9-Bolts. They are a little stronger than 10 bolts but not by much. Most of the serious TTA guys have stepped up to 9inchs or 12 bolts.

I have 100K miles on my 9 bolt, it howls like crazy and has about 300 launches at the track, most in the 1.6-1.7 range in an automatic with a stock convertor.

If you put slicks on the car with any serious amount of power... Kaboom.

Save your money for a 12 bolt.

 

Interesting, thanks for all the info. My friend talked to his boss about the rears, he has like 15 or more Dana 44's
but he doesn't want to sell a single one! He road races 3rd and 4th gens in SCCA (this guy is loaded ) and bought a bunch of them when he heard GM was discontinuing them a few years ago. He actually has a used 4th gen 9 inch that he wants to sell though! I'm not sure how much he wants for it, going to talk to him soon.