OK,I finally picked up a 8 1/4 rear yesterday (thanks Mark).It's out of a 1976 Aspen and is going in my 78 Volare.
I want to know who has a spool for this,will the stock axels hold up to a heathy Slant? I know I'm going to have to buy gears and bearings and such.I looked at a Auburn locker unit but thought a spool would be cheaper.Talked to a couple of guys in town running spools in thier 9" and haven't had any problems.The car is mostly street driven and there are some twisty roads around here,so I might have to go with the locker.Any ideas will be appriciated.

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SOOOOO much money spent and I keep gettin' told that I could have had a V-8

Spool on the street isn't a good thing, it puts some un-needed stress on other components of the suspension (kind of hard to turn a nice corner when both rear wheels keep going straight at the same speed)... the 8 1/4" is a nice upgrade, but it isn't a 9, 8 3/4, etc... axle... the c-clips retaining the axle shafts will eventually give up if you intend to do some heavy canyon carving. Best street options are limited slip/sure grip... most recently an interesting development for the hefty price tag is the ARB locker which you can turn on or off... there are a couple of lockers that remain locked until you let off the gas too...

Do a bit of research before you lay down the money...


-D.Idiot

I have been searching around and found one from Richmond Power Trax.I appears to work like a locker when pushing it but frees up otherwise.Have any of you used one of these? It looks like a simple installation,replaces the spider gears.The rear I got has 3.21 gears ,not the best for drag racing but street frendly and better then what is in the 7 1/4 (the thing is ready to break).I'm going to see how they work out on the street and at the track.I drive the car more on the street and I'm thinking something like 3.91 on the highway will just wear out my motor faster.

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SOOOOO much money spent and I keep gettin' told that I could have had a V-8

A spool on the street doesn't scare me IF it is an occasional driver. Anything daily driven needs a diff in it.

I have a buddy who has driven a '64 Falcon on the street for over 10 years with a mini-spool in an 8". Never had any trouble, but he never drives it real hard or in bad weather. (Rain will make you poop your pants)

I drove my junk for many years with 3.91's in it. It really didn't have too much effect on engine wear, but it wasn't the best fuel economy mod you could do.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

After driving my brother's Muskrat around the pits the last couple years I wouldn't want a spool for anything other than going in a straight line.
Granted, the pits at our local track are mostly dirt so I guess plowing with the front wheels is appropriate!

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Chris'
Autobody
Restoration
Service

I have been driving my ford ranger back and forth to work
(40 miles one way) for over a year now with a mini spool rain or shine. If you were to be ridin with me at any speed over 20 mph you would never know it was there. But parking at the local wal-mart is a different story. When i decided to install my mini spool i upgraded my 8.8 with 31 spline axles, and 5.13 gearing, which is needed when running 36x15.5R15 super swamper bias boggers ( you kinda learn to live with the god forsaken shaking after a while to). I say go with the mini spool, and if you dont like the result pull it back out, sell it on ebag and buy a locker.

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75 dart custom, 225, >10.5-1, hurricane, 500holley, erson cam, 904, 8.8 ford 3.55 or 3.91 aussielocked, 17" steelies, and much more.