which rear axle/transmission

[Martin]

I was shopping around on Craigs list for a rear end. 9" Ford truck axles are a dime a dozen, so that cant be what I want, right. Narrower 9" (torino) axles can be had, but for more money. What about 55-7 Chevy rears, I saw a couple of those pretty reasonably priced, are they any good?
Any other ideas? The car has to be driveable on the highway as I live out of town, so I cant get too carried away with gearing. I have pretty much settled on a manual/overdrive transmission, any ideas for good donors there? Engine will be a GM crate, probably a ZZ4.

 

[RPM]

Tire size enters into this also, but if you are going to use an OD trans then I would think about 3.73 rear end ratio. I have a 700r4 with a 3.73 and it works out pretty good.

 

[Baby Huey]

I was shopping around on Craigs list for a rear end. 9" Ford truck axles are a dime a dozen, so that cant be what I want, right. Narrower 9" (torino) axles can be had, but for more money. What about 55-7 Chevy rears, I saw a couple of those pretty reasonably priced, are they any good?
Any other ideas? The car has to be driveable on the highway as I live out of town, so I cant get too carried away with gearing. I have pretty much settled on a manual/overdrive transmission, any ideas for good donors there? Engine will be a GM crate, probably a ZZ4.

The Old Chevy Rears have been used for many years, problem is the housing is kinda thin, and the radius rod brackets tend to break out or crack, so be carefull there.
The 9" PU rears are OK, kinda wide, usually around 68" or so. Some of them (the older ones) have the 5 on 5 1/2" bolt circle. So thats not too popular with the fancy wheels... Yes, you can redrill em, but thats a lot to go thru, mise well buy a car axle.. On the plus side the PU 9" usually (not always !) have 31 spline axles....
Jus my 2 bits..... "BH"

 

[GT63]

Don't forget about the dodge 8 3/4 axle. It has the nice smooth pumpkin housing.

 

[RPM]

The S-10 truck rear end works good, unless you are making a ton of HP and can hook it up. Most of them are the 3:73 ratio. They have a 5-4 3/4 bolt pattern so wheels are plentiful. About 55-56" wide. The pinion is centered and you can put a nice chrome cover on it.

 

[Brucer]

a good cheap rearend is the ford 8.8.. alot of used gears around for them you can put the support girdle on the housing and that looks cool and adds strength...
the downfall of the 8.8 is the center housing has the 2 upper mounts for the upper control arms, but a grinder and cut-off wheel can take care of those.. ive seen the 8.8 drum brake rears in the salvage yard for $100 and up to $450 for the disk brake rear from an explorer.

the 8.8 is a good solid rearend.

 

[donsrods]

There are two rear ends I like, one is the S10 and the other is the 8 or 9 inch Ford from midsized cars like Mavericks, Mustangs, etc. I like them for the simplicity of cleaning unwanted brackets off of them (only spring perches) and they are also decent rear axles and attractive.

The S10 4 x 4 has a 2 inch wider track that helps in some cases as the 2 wheel version is pretty narrow. The 4 cylinder stickshift ones have deeper gears and also some are posi.

Don

 

[Youngster]

My favorite is the 8" Maverick, As Don says nice clean housing, good gear selection and right width.

Ron

 

[Keeper]

The zr2 model s-10(blazer,jimmy,sonoma) has an 8.5 or 8.6(97 and up) rearend. 97 and newer have discs 94-95 have drums. All have 3.73 and come with limited slip (g80)

They are pretty strong rearends, I have a 95 zr2 with 33 mudtires and I take it offroad when I can. So far no issues. Should be able to pick one up pretty cheap.

 

[Geo27T]

Don't forget about the dodge 8 3/4 axle. It has the nice smooth pumpkin housing.

Thats what I am using with 390 gears in it.