Anyone ever tried to keep a 10 bolt together like this? On a six speed car it would probably be a lost cause but maybe an auto with forged axels it might do the trick.

 

I have been working with cryogenic metal treatments for two years now. I am not too inclined with automotive skill, but I would probably not go with a cryo treated 10 bolt. Cryo treatments reduce weakness due to the stresses attributed to casting and forging metals. However, it is no cure to make up for superior engineering such as found in a 12 bolt rearend or 9 inch.

 

Put the money in the bank and start saving for a 12 bolt.

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Hear LT1 cam WAVs, DIY head porting: members.***.net/gmarengo

'95, !CAGS, CAI, ForceII, Hooker Shorties, 14.2@103

 

Right, your gear might last longer and show less wear, but the added cost will offset the benefit. Then you still need better axles, a strong diff, better yoke, weld and gusset the tubes, better caps, support cover, crush sleeve eliminator, c-clip eliminator, etc. Then you've spent more than half what a 12 bolt or 9" costs and still have a weak rear end. The higher gears for 6 speeds - the pinion gear is really tiny and can flex a lot and build up a lot of heat so there's no way around that. Sometimes they live, but when they die, they die ugly.

 

To add to my previous, with your A4, and especially with street tires, you can do some of the stuff I mentioned and it will probably live. There's just a lot of weak links in there. When you get a 12 bolt and you've ripped the 10 bolt outa there, with them laying side by side, you'll say "I'm glad that ugly thing is out of there" Anyway, that's the way I felt. But I had built my 10 bolt to be strong and sold it to a M6 guy, and as far as I know, it's still out there tearing around.

 

I know there arre physical design limitations of a 10 bolt, adn 12s are much beefier, I work in a FbodyShop and we tear about 3 10 bolts apart a week and put about 3 or 4 12s in a month. The cost is not really that much to get the stuf treated tho, $2.50 a pound. Gears, differential and axels weight about 100 pounds altogether, or you could get forged axles and just treat the differential

My point was the process is becoming more available to the public and costs are coming down so would it be benificial. ive heard of guys having gears re heat treated to make them softer so they give a little instead of breaking-so cryo treating would be detrimental to gears then right?

Ive seen dead nuts stock and aftermarket geard 10 bolts go consistant 10s in A4 cars and even survive a half dozen high 10 second passes so they arent as bad as every thinks they are.

I am just looking for ways to make a 10 bolt last (longer) I cant quite afford a 12 bolt right now, and i can get them for alot less than the average guy on the board here can get them (Strange dealor) but still too much

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1997 Sebring Silver Camaro SS 6 Speed, Bone Stock
13.52 @ 104.2
***Fastest Bolt On LT1 listing***
Eastern F-Body Association

 

Looks like you could do it(cryo) for an experiment and let us know what happens. I met a guy at an engineering trade show that had Carbide coated gears, and I thought that would be the rat's ***, but it was over $500 for ring & pinion, so I said no thanks. If you can keep the axles from breaking, at least if something goes, the wheel might not fall off and wreck the quarter panel. Aftermarket gears are tougher due to the nickel, which makes them give a little as opposed to the stock GM gears that are more brittle - which is the effect you are trying to achieve, but your way sounds cheaper if it works. If you are going to heat treat -anneal, or temper for toughness, whomever does it had better know what he is doing. It is true that there are some out there which are living on the edge and not breaking, just like some guys are making 500 hp on stock bottom ends, but there are plenty of breakages where the axle/wheel falls off, and a lot of guys dont want to have to constantly worry about it, so they swap it out. really depends on where you are going with your setup. If you are going to build 400 hp and race twice a year, then the 10 bolt is good. If you eventually want to make a lot of power and run slicks at the track, you may need the beefier rear end.