Because they were parts I needed to replace anyways. My 4.10s were going out because an unbalanced driveshaft threw things out of whack. I left those gears in there for the next two years, waiting for them to fail so I could rebuild it. I had previously bought all these parts (except the new axles) two years ago, so these things were just sitting in my garage UNUSED. I "threw money" at my current 10-bolt because it still had some good parts on it, but the axles were chewed up bad, due to bearing failure from insufficient lubrication (due to a leaky pinion seal I neglected to replace). Since I basically had all the parts prepurchased for this rebuild, I only needed to spend $250 for the new hardened axles & bearings, in addition to labor costs of having everything professionally installed. So, even if 10-bolts were cheap, you honestly think $200 for a STOCK 10-bolt would be better than having a fresh, fully-built 10-bolt for $300 more?? I'm not made of money (currently), but an extra $300 is a laughable expense. I basically spent $500 to have a freshly-rebuilt, beefed-up, and professionally-installed rear end...which if you do the math, is 5 TIMES CHEAPER than buying an aftermarket 12-bolt. It's almost 6 TIMES CHEAPER if you include the cost for having the new 12-bolt via freight to your doorstep. $500 vs $2500+...now who here is "throwing their money away"??

Your driving style and goals for your vehicle are clearly different from mine. With 6000rpm launches, you're obviously trying to squeeze every little bit of performance out of what you have. Me? I like to drive my car more "conservatively"- parts last longer that way. If I desire to go faster, then I just increase my power output. You might be able to squeeze 10's out of an N/A car that's been significantly lightened, where I've got subframes, rollcage, subs, power everything, A/C, you name it. Hell, my car is a portly 3700 lbs w/o me in it, and I'm a 250 lb bodybuilder!! I don't subcribe to the philosophy that "lighter is better". If my car weighs more, that just means I'll have to add more horsepower to go faster. Do what you will though, it's your money and your car...

Once again, your priorities are clearly different from mine. My fiancee, both our families, and I want a wedding. I have no problem spending my money on a nice wedding. It's (hopefully) a one-time thing, and I have the rest of my life to build up my car...

 

Oh, what I said WAS mature. I just call it as I see it. I wasn't implying anything either. As far as accepting other people's points of view, you've still failed to grasp the reason I criticized your posts on this thread. I wanted you to ELABORATE. You can't just state an opinion without supporting it with facts or explanation, otherwise your argument is weak and will inevitably fail in making your point...

WOW, it's posts like these which only confirms my derogatory statements towards your logic and mentality. Read my posts AGAIN. The parts I replaced WERE NEEDING REPLACEMENT ANYWAYS. So, to put my car back on the road, I either need to buy a junkyard rear end for $200-$400 (to get one cheaper, I'd have to maybe wait for a good deal to pop up, which could be months from now...), replace my damaged parts with stock-replacement parts (GM wanted $600 for a pair of OE axles), or upgrade to the less-expensive, aftermarket hardened axles for $250? After labor, I ended up spending a total of $500. So tell me, why do you think my choice was illogical here...?

 

And you know why those gears tend to break? Because they're in a flimsy housing that suffers from stress-induced distortion (unless properly supported). This distortion allows for all sorts of rear internals to be thrown out of whack, and given enough time, will ultimately result in mechanical failure.

I don't care for all-out drag racing like some members here. I love quick straightline acceleration, but I prefer tight corners and high-performance handling. This would be apparent from my fully-modified suspension (there's no suspension part I've modified on my car).

You're right, it is an opportunity to upgrade to a 12-bolt, HOWEVER, my current fianancial situation prevents me from taking advantage of this opportunity, and as another member put it, I'm just "buying time". It's currently much more affordable for me, and in my case, the upgraded parts were as cheap or cheaper than throwing a junkyard rear underneath there...

 

NOW, back to topic, does anyone have any ideas how I can further "beef up" my 10-bolt? I don't care if anyone here thinks it's a stupid or pointless idea, I'm looking for constructive responses to improving my 10-bolt's strength. The stronger I can make it, the longer the rear will last. If the rear is in good condition when I finally upgrade to a 12-bolt, then I will have an easier time recouping some of my money invested by selling off the 10-bolt...

 

My friend is on his 13th 10 bolt, so building it up=waste of money.

 

Good job. Way to skip through all the posts explaining the purpose of this thread. BTW, who cares if your friend is on his 13th 10-bolt? As far as I know, he could be excessively hard on his car, not to mention, if he installed those gearsets himself, may not have done so correctly. I've had my camaro 7 years now and have not gone through 13 rear ends. I've only gone through 5, but I found out that these all broke because of a bowed/unbalanced driveshaft. Basically, I told the bodyshop who repaired my rear-ended camaro to check the driveshaft. I assumed they did, and for the next 1.5 years, I'd break a ring & pinion every 3-4 months. When I figured out it was the driveshaft, I had it serviced, but by then it was too late, and this last rear end had been damaged. Instead of hassling with repairing it right away, I decided to wait until it went out to install new gears. It ended up lasting me another 2 years, before it started whining really bad, which I think was partially due to the long-neglected pinion seal leak (lack of lubrication) So, aside from my unbalanced shaft, I would have never broken a 10-bolt in the 7 years I've owned my camaro. Now, tell me again why I'm wasting my money...?

 

IMO there's nothing wrong with beefing the 10-bolt up if it doesn't see a lot of abuse.

BUT, you did say that you are planning to get and install a 12-bolt. How long that will be, should be the deciding factor in your decision to beef up the 10-bolt. If you're only talking about a couple of months, I wouldn't bother. If you're talking about a year or more, then go for it.

If nothing else, it's a little extra peace of mind knowing that you've done what you could to make what you have stronger.

 

yea what he said

 

Those were my thoughts. I planned on waiting at least a year before upgrading to the 12-bolt. Before then, I wanted to rebuild my tranny (because it needs it), then upgrade my current aftermarket torque arm to a Spohn "fully-loaded" chrome-moly torque arm. I also want to replace my old, worn carpet, & remove my sound deadener/insulation. I intend to replace the OE sound deadener with a lighter, more efficient spray-on deadener. This winter, I'm converting it to a t-top car, so as you can see, even if I could afford a 12-bolt right now, I've got other priorities that come before it. I'm pretty easy on my car anyways, and when I do finally upgrade to a 12-bolt, I may pound the hell out of my drivetrain, but until then...

Anyone else with other suggestions? The only things left that I can think of are axle tube braces and welding the housing ends all the way around the axle tubes...

 

Didn't realize from your 1st post that you already had most of the parts laying around and just needed the axles. I've broken my 10-bolt 3 times before I put in the DTS 12-bolt last summer. 1st time was the OEM LSD burnt up so I put in an Eaton (very happy with it) LSD and 3.73 gears with support cover, etc. Lasted a year before the ring gear lost 3.5 teeth on a 1-2 shift (A4 - tires chirped but not WOT). Had a drivetrain shop replace gears and bearings with solid spacer this time and a year later the pinion gear let go. On a 1-2 shift. The TransGo kit hits 2nd harder than any other car I've been in and it has taken it's toll on the 10-bolt. Of course, the set-ups may be a factor. When I pulled the bearing caps, the shims and carrier about fell on my head -- no pre-load what so ever

In your situation I would've thrown the new parts in it, too. If the parts weren't laying around, I would've just replaced the axles (or was the carrier chewed up, too?) and saved the rest for the 12-bolt. I kick myself in the butt for not just parking the car for the couple of months to save up for the 12-bolt the 1st time.

Congrats on the marriage thing, and best of luck with it.

 

Yeesh...
If you drive conservatively then the "logical" thing to do is to buy another 10-bolt and take care of it instead of letting it run out of oil.
Zexel Torsens are great for street duty only as long as you don't have an agressive clutch. If your motive was to "beef up" that rearend then you've taken a step back.
Axles are not the weak point in the 10-bolt.
You asked, "watcha think?" and there are those who gave you opinions. You did not like them and started in on the whining about your wedding and your finances and blah blah blah blah.... I gave you a "whatcha think" response since I've had a Zexel and an Auburn and an Auburn Pro and an Eaton and an Eaton 800# HD... so on and so forth...
It's your money, but IMO you are throwing it away. Especially since it's only going to be used for the street and everything else that was mentioned in your dissertation.

P.S. Regarding this scenario:
Your comprehension skills are **** poor. I'll entertain this just for your sake, however. Where did you get the above from this:
If a person wants a Vette and are stuck in the situation you are in then they should make due with what they have and SAVE THEIR MONEY before making such a major purchase. Making due doesn't mean buying "beefier" components on the current car to "beef it up..." You doin't need an Economics degree to figure that out, do you?

 

If you don't want to know what people think, don't ask the ****ing question in your post. If you actually had some brains you wouldn't spend money "beefing" up a 10 bolt when you said you are going to get a 12 bolt anyway, you should have put that money aside for a 12 bolt. And my friend worked at a rear end shop, so he knows how to set up the gears, and he also had other people set them up to make sure, and he still breaks them every 2 months.

 

Dude, ignore the ****ing moron.

Anyways, when is Nick getting that 8.8 in there?

 

Not any time soon, he broke his crank pulley racing a liter bike friday night, which bounched around and shattered his opti, a bunch of coolant lines, took a fan out, and his radiator, and scored up his crank snout too... I was watchin from the side of the road, I thought he blew up, but it was just coolant/oil getting on the headers... He has alternate transportation right now, so I don't know when hes going to fix it. He doesn't want me to tell anyone what he bought and I don't want him getting pissed at me for tellin everyone, so if you wanna know talk to him...

 

I know what rear he's getting....but as far as his "setup" changing, I know about that too.