One of the gear legends on LS1Tech thinks the Case material is too soft causing the gears to wander. He set it up and checked it and when it came back making noise the gear pattern had shifted.

 

Yeah, Scott was saying that.

 

hmm, lots to consider. Well, I will be beating the living daylights out of my car on the STREET, not much at the track, but still I dont want my daily driver to annoy the crap out of me by whining so loud I cant hear the person next to me talking. I already have that problem with the cutout open... But I can CLOSE that, I cant turn off a noisy rear.

So TA-Body, everything is still going good then? What gear choice did you make? auto or manual? Just curious...

 

Hmmmm. At least that's something that could potentially be fixed if Strange switched to a different material or casting process.

 

I have a M6, and had 4.10s put in. The whistling noise has limited its self back to 30-35 and 50-55 (ironically the only speeds I drive around here) But, have to listen for it to notice and it's really more of a light whistle then a whine. it changes every time I drive it, I only have 90 miles on it so far..so reserve any judgment until after I get my first hard launch at the track.

Firebirdstud, I have seen you in all the dana threads asking about them for months now. I say just add up the cons and pros of each one and make your decision. I bought mine knowing it had a good chance of being loud..but I also knew it had the best pinion angle (less parasitic drive-train loss), works with 3 channel ABS, stronger posi, and stronger gears then any other fbody rear out, and on top of all this...it's cheaper. I bought the rear with a chrome molly driveshaft shipped for 2400. That, to me, was worth the risk of getting a loud rear. The other issues you hear about them coming misconfigured..or even the noise it's self is a risk you take with any rear you buy.

 

yeah, im kind of a dana 60 ****! I am just so excited about them for the reasons you just mentioned, they are like a god-send, minus the noise everyone is complaining about... But, I am considering buying one set up by scott at drive line solutions... he says he has yet to have a legitimate complaint. He charges a wee bit more, but I think it is well worth it as I dont want down time trying to digure out why my rear sucks. You know what I am sayin? I am kinda ****, and I absolutely HATE to make bad decisions, so I research the crap out of anything I do. Look at all the motor questions from a couple years back when I tackled that in the LT1 forum. LOL. I am pretty sure that I will pull the trigger on this rear, it is by far the best out there, and cheapest. Go figure. I will still be monitoring all the dana 60 threads until the time comes... my bad! hehe. But I like people like you posting up their experiences as they go, its quite helpful.

 

Well, I got a good scare today on my way home from work.

All the sudden I heard a horrible WRRRRCRRRRASSS, and then the car started to drag like the breaks were on. I pulled over, couldn't find anything wrong.. So I took off again and the car pulled hard to the left and I heard that horrible sound again.

I was already cursing strange (sorry strange ) thinking the rear had died on me.Then I took one last look under the car and found out the pan hard bar had come undone on the left side and the rear was just flying around back there....looks like we forgot to torque a bolt heh...oops

The whistling noise has stayed, and is gradually consuming more of the mile per hour range...but isn't getting any louder. My mechanic thinks it's the brand of gears...I ordered Motives...but they gave me percesions. They only whistle when throttle is applied...you can coast in neutral from 70 and it will stop completely...kind of strange.

looks like I'm thread jacking here..Sorry i'll post the rest of my finds in my own thread heh.

 

Just to clarify.... the gear losses/efficiency are not a result of "pinion angle". There are affected by the offset of the pinion shaft centerline relative to the axle centerline.

 

So the 9" pinion makes contact at a lower point on the ring gear than the pinion on a S60? Is that correct? Thats why 9" is so inefficient, but also (probably) the reason you can tear a 9" apart so easily.

I wouldnt see how pinion angle would set them apart much... you can always change that regardless of rears.

 

Here's a quick and dirty Photoshop to illustrate what Injuneer is saying:

Note that this is not meant to show the exact ring/pinion relationship for the 2 rear ends, just a rough comparison.

 

What advantages are there of a Dana 60 over a 12-bolt? Are they lighter? Cheaper? Stronger?

 

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense to me now

 

It is cheaper, and stronger, but weighs about 25 pounds more.

 

too bad for the slight whine. I'm very happy, on the other hand, that you werent like a few other unfortunates that got NOISY gears.

 

I might still get a noisy one, I only have 115 miles on it so far.