Poor Man's Spool going in 7 5/8"...
 

... Since you cannot find a real spool for the baby 7-5/8", 28
spline rearend, I bought an open carrier from Chris in Dearborn Heights and had the spider gears welded to the carrier in all accessable spots.

Now before any of you huff & puff, my rearend shop did this for me and they said it works! REMEMBER... Redbird is now only a Drag Car, trailered! You wouldn't want to try this on the street as tire wear would be bad.

Also putting back in my GM Motive 4.10 gears (A4) to replace the 4.56 gear. Don't wanna scream the engine too hard on a 'locked in 3rd gear, 100 HP+ shot, passl

Glad I didn't sell the gears. Gonna hang on to the posi too, until I'm sure :alert:

ALSO: 4.56 gears DO hold up well in the small rearend with 10" Hoosier slicks, for anyone interested in knowing (A4) of course!:D

Both Richmond and Precision Gear make excellent quality mini spool kits for these rears. They are designed around the 26 spline axle and both work great. When you get ready to install them, pay close attn to how much spool block engages the axle splines. You want to see the engaged area equal or very close to equal with area engaged by the original spiders. Shim the side blocks as necessary to get the full center block engagement with the axle blocks. Both companies kits are around $100. A much better alternative to welded spiders.

exc. he has 28 spline axles, not 26, and Ive never heard of 26 spline axles that would fit the wider rear of a 4gen.. if your gonna buy custom axles to install the 26 spline spool, why not just buy a real spool instead?



glad to see you found that thing hink! let us know how it holds up. I had a buddy do that once on a street car. it never broke, but it sure made for a bad ride arond corners. instead of welding the gears solid, he just filled in some between the gear teeth so it wouldnt spin. that gave it a little cushion.

chris

When does it all come together? Spool, 4.10s, converter.
I want to be there for the first runs:) :cool: :D

In reply to above messages:

There is only one mini spool available for the tiny 10 bolt and it's only 26 spline. So far I haven't seen a 28 spline version but that's not saying there isn't one out there.

There is no full spool for the tiny 10 bolt either. Since the 7 1/2, 7 5/8" 10 bolt isn't a very strong performance diff, there just hasn't been an aftermarket suppier willing to invest in parts that are not designed to last.

A mini spool will work but it's not very strong.

I ran a welded up 28 spline open carrier for 2 years with no problems. It was/is a track only car. As long as it's welded up properly, there's no chance of a failure. When the welder was finished weling mine up, you could hardly tell what was side gears and what was housing. I ran mine with 4.10 gears, 9" slicks and ran low 11's.