UPDATE! My t56 and ford 8.8 swap! FINALLY onto rear swap!

[olds307 and 403]

Well after chasing a driveline vibe which probably is due to an axle issue, I'm throwing in the towel on the 8.8. I put in adjustable lower arms to mess with pinion angle, and its perfect, but still vibrating at highway speeds. It still needs to be narrowed, new axles, upgraded carrier, and for what? I picked up an open 8.5 diff for $450 and I'm going to build that and put it in.

This makes sense. You get good gearing stock, I wish there was one around here for anywhere close to that. The 9" housings are the other one to consider. $600 housing, $100-$200 for good ratio, used gears and carrier, then whatever Moser would charge for custom axles. That is our local prices.

 

[JAMCAR223]

It's not worth dorking around with anything else than a GN 8.5" Bolt it in and be done with it. I bought mine from out of state, non-posi. Drove 5 hours one way, turned around and came home. I stole it for $250 though Then installed a Detroit Tru-Trac gear carrier. Loved it ever since!

Nice score. And you were able to spread the cost out, that way. We all know what an 8.5" "normally" goes for, and it could still need a rebuild, also.

 

[81cutlass]

It seems like the mcleod TOB fail a lot. How did yours fail, did it just leak? If you keep blowing through them and my howe and adapter bushing project works let me know and I can build one for you. It's awesome that they keep warrantying it but taking out the trans is not fun.

The 8.8 swap seems either really successful or people have issues with them. Maybe its just because I'm not a fan of them in a G body but a lot of them seem to have little issues that compound and people go another way.

2 steps forward 2 steps back!

 

[Bar50]

This makes sense. You get good gearing stock, I wish there was one around here for anywhere close to that. The 9" housings are the other one to consider. $600 housing, $100-$200 for good ratio, used gears and carrier, then whatever Moser would charge for custom axles. That is our local prices.

You may purchase a housing and axles for $745
http://www.quickperformance.com/QP-GM-1982-1992-F-Body-9-Inch-Housing-Moser-Axles_p_40.html

If you go with Chevy bolt pattern axle retainers, you can use 70-up Camaro or Chevelle brakes (way simple, did this on the first one).

I scored a 31 spline 4.10 truck center chunk for $150. I added a $65 dirt track spool, no complaints. Plus like $80 for new bearings and seals.

 

[olds307 and 403]

You may purchase a housing and axles for $745
http://www.quickperformance.com/QP-GM-1982-1992-F-Body-9-Inch-Housing-Moser-Axles_p_40.html

If you go with Chevy bolt pattern axle retainers, you can use 70-up Camaro or Chevelle brakes (way simple, did this on the first one).

I scored a 31 spline 4.10 truck center chunk for $150. I added a $65 dirt track spool, no complaints. Plus like $80 for new bearings and seals.

Shipping would be murder, the $600 Canadian housing in driving distance, I could get him to add whatever housing ends, pretty sure he uses Chevy bolt pattern retainers and I would make sure it would end up a 1/4-1/2" wider so no more rubbing slicks with stock rims. I need my stroker Olds 403 done and my BOP TH350 beefed up first. Then I would see how much the 3.42 geared with Yukon open spider gears with a girdle cover 7.5" can take.

 

[Bar50]

The weak spot in the 7.5 is where the axles neck down to 26 spline.

Bummer on shipping to Canada. I have used both Moser and Quick Performance housings without issue.

 

[marcar1993]

It seems like the mcleod TOB fail a lot. How did yours fail, did it just leak? If you keep blowing through them and my howe and adapter bushing project works let me know and I can build one for you. It's awesome that they keep warrantying it but taking out the trans is not fun.

The 8.8 swap seems either really successful or people have issues with them. Maybe its just because I'm not a fan of them in a G body but a lot of them seem to have little issues that compound and people go another way.

2 steps forward 2 steps back!

I kept having them leak down. One day I had no pedal and a puddle under the car for the first one, the next one started engaging the clutch while stopped and holding the pedal down (pressure leak down). I haven't had another issue yet, but lets see what happens.

And yeah, the 8.8 could be straightened out, but at the cost involved, I'd rather just do an 8.5 once and be done with it. All I need to do is swap my u joint back over (maybe shorten the shaft, it is the 7.5 shaft) and pull out my bolted in 8.8 stuff and put the stock stuff back in. So much simpler, and I know it'll work.

 

[olds307 and 403]

You may purchase a housing and axles for $745
http://www.quickperformance.com/QP-GM-1982-1992-F-Body-9-Inch-Housing-Moser-Axles_p_40.html

If you go with Chevy bolt pattern axle retainers, you can use 70-up Camaro or Chevelle brakes (way simple, did this on the first one).

I scored a 31 spline 4.10 truck center chunk for $150. I added a $65 dirt track spool, no complaints. Plus like $80 for new bearings and seals.

Shipping would be murder, the $600 Canadian housing in driving distance, I could get him to add whatever housing ends, pretty sure he uses Chevy bolt pattern retainers and I would make sure it would end up a 1/4-1/2" wider so no more rubbing slicks with stock rims. I need my stroker Olds 403 done and my BOP TH350 beefed up first. Then I would see how much the 3.42 geared with Yukon open spider gears with a girdle cover 7.5" can take.

I kept having them leak down. One day I had no pedal and a puddle under the car for the first one, the next one started engaging the clutch while stopped and holding the pedal down (pressure leak down). I haven't had another issue yet, but lets see what happens.

And yeah, the 8.8 could be straightened out, but at the cost involved, I'd rather just do an 8.5 once and be done with it. All I need to do is swap my u joint back over (maybe shorten the shaft, it is the 7.5 shaft) and pull out my bolted in 8.8 stuff and put the stock stuff back in. So much simpler, and I know it'll work.

The 8.5" shaft is much beefier, I wonder what the little 7.5" shaft is good for power wise with high strength U joints?

 

[Bar50]

Stock drive shaft will withstand big block nitrous wheelies and go 10.0's at least.

 

[marcar1993]

Update again!

8.8 is gone. JUNK, 0/10, do not recommend.
After futzing with this thing forever it just never rode right, had some issues with wierd vibes with all new bearings and new axles. I picked up a strange S60 and put it in last May. While it was costly, it is bulletproof and had no issues what-so-ever right out of the box.

McLeod throwout bearing #3 was junk. Lost it in November. I found out that Modern Driveline makes an lt1 t56 conversion bearing now using a tilton slave, so I moved over to that. Installed right in place of the old McLeod, and it seems to be working great with a few miles on it. Time will tell, but the reviews on tilton throwouts are MUCH better than the McLeods.