Rearend and suspension - 7.5" diff.

[malibu_matt81]

My plan is to beef up my 7.5" rear, but there are some issues I need to iron out.

As far as suspension, I am overwhelmed with options for the trailing arm hardware.

I want to be capable of bolting on a rear sway bar, in addition to boxed upper and lower control arms. Do Lakewood lift bars allow this?

How good are lift bars in comparison with regular Edelbrock boxed ctl. arms?

Has anyone tried Lakewood or Edelbrock Anti-hop brackets? (the ones that bolt between the housing and upper ctl arms)

I guess in general, what's the best setup for a cornering, street/strip terror?

Last question, are the center sections of 7.5 rearends cast iron? Hope not, cause I wanted to weld some big triangular gussets between the housing and the axle tubes....

Thanks for any help!

 

[monte olrac]

you should be alright with boxed control arms (aftermarket) ,wheel hop should only happen with leaf spring vehicles so i think its a sales pitch, and of course you know it's a cast iron carrier "G.M" wouldn't have it any other way, but you do need to completely weld around your axle tubes where they meet the housing. so what are you going to do for the internals?
i would go with some nice 28 spline axles and a powertraxs locker, at least you get rid of those spider gears

 

[Phoenyx]

I have a 7.5 in my Malibu. It's rebuild axle to axle with 3.73s and a limited slip. Put one of those rear end covers on that brace the bearings too.

For my suspension, I have the stock springs, KYB shocks, Edelbrock anti-hop bars, Edelbrock double adjustable trailing arms, Edelbrock rectangular boxed lower trailing arms, Edelbrock tubular braces, and an F-41 sway bar.

I had the trailing arms, braces, and anti-hop bars installed at the same time. So I can't say 'alone' how much difference the anti hops made, but as a package it made a huge difference. No wheel hop at all. And no squat, the back of the car actually goes up when I launch.

But I do have a bit of an issue with the Edelbrock double adjustable uppers. When you buy them, they are susposed to be ready to bolt in if you don't want to change the factory pinion angle. But mine came loose and had to be taken in and adjusted. So make sure they get tightened. And, with these uppers your rear will feel a little sloppy. Adding a rear sway bar helps this out alot.

I would not reccomend the adjustable arms unless you plan to do alot of track time. The solid ones will be good enough. If I could go back I would have gotten the solid ones instead of the adjustable ones.

 

[Phoenyx]

you should be alright with boxed control arms (aftermarket) ,wheel hop should only happen with leaf spring vehicles so i think its a sales pitch, and of course you know it's a cast iron carrier "G.M" wouldn't have it any other way, but you do need to completely weld around your axle tubes where they meet the housing. so what are you going to do for the internals?
i would go with some nice 28 spline axles and a powertraxs locker, at least you get rid of those spider gears

No, these things hop like a bunny with both wheels spinning. I have had 3 different g-bodies with limiteds lips, and they were all the same. They would hop so bad, it would only take about two seconds and my ashtray would be empty.

But no hop at all after installing the aftermarket arms.

 

[monte olrac]

[quote="No, these things hop like a bunny with both wheels spinning. I have had 3 different g-bodies with limiteds lips, and they were all the same. They would hop so bad, it would only take about two seconds and my ashtray would be empty.

But no hop at all after installing the aftermarket arms.[/quote]

well i had posi on all 3, two regals and my current monte) i don't have wheel hop what so ever, maybe my tires just never really hooked up

 

[Phoenyx]

I think how tall the tires are makes a difference too. I have usually run between 22"-24" tires. But I remember there was a time on my old GP that I threw some 27" burnout tires on for the weekend. And it didn't barely hop with those on. And all of mine have had stock or close to stock engines. Maybe more power spinning the wheels makes a difference?

Another thing, if you're gonna be doing this to your car. Go out and buy a bolt in trailer hitch. It will tie your rear frame rails together, plus a little extra weight behind the rear wheel never hurt any ones launch. I plan do get one for mine in the next couple months.

 

[maliburacinfreak]

ive had at least 20 g-body cars and never had any of them wheelhop

 

[malibu_matt81]

OK, so... I think I'm going to go with Edelbrock boxed uppers, lowers, anti-hop brackets, and mount brace kit. (The sway bars will come later.)

As far as welding, how do you weld the cast iron housing to the steel axle tubes??? Stick weld with a special rod, or what?

Oh, and as far as internals, I'm gonna go with 28 spline Moser axles, the regular Motive Gear 3.42 R&P, Timken bearing install kit, a Jeg's bearing support cap, but I'm torn on the carrier...

Any opinions on the following? Detroit Truetrac (lim slip), Auburn Gear Pro (lim slip), Richmond Powertrax? (posi). The powertrax sounds the best so far to me. It is 100 bucks more though... but oh well.

 

[Phoenyx]

No welding required for the anti hops. Just have to drill two holes in the housing. As for brand, shop around a bit. There are a lot of other companies that make the same thing, just as good, but for a lot less. As for the sway bar, do like I did. Just get one from a junkyard. I only paid $50 for mine.

 

[malibu_matt81]

Ok, cool... I didn't know that about the anti-hop bars, thanks!

But, I mean, how do you weld the cast iron differential casting completely to the steel axle tubes, to strengthen the unit against torsional stress...

You can't weld cast iron to steel as far as I know, but everyone keeps telling me I need to weld the tubes up to the housing...????