If the detroit locker is 28 spline, and the 4.11 gears are 25 spline will they work with each other?

 

whoops. misread the question

Last time I checked all the ring and pinion need to be is the same diameter as the housing that they are made for, example: if the detroit locker is for a Ford 9" and the ring and pinion are for a Ford 9" the spline count should not matter. You will need 28 spline axles for a 28 spline locker/trac-loc/open/spool. Are you referring to the spline count on the pinion? If so I believe that has to do with your yoke.

 

thanks for clearing things up. You can clearly see my knowledge when it comes to rearends.

 

The only splines gears have are the splines on the pinion shaft. I don't recall what it's supposed to be, but it has nothing to do with the axle spline, only the pinion yoke. Any 9" gear set will install on any 9" differential.

 

So is the ford 8" inch out of a 65 have 28 spline axles?

 

I'm not sure you'd even want to put a locker in an 8". The 8" is a POS. I wouldn't throw any dough at it. Save your money and put something better in. I'd go with a trac-loc unless it's going to be a track car,I had a locker in mine and around town it drove like pewp. Noisey clunked into and out of lock-up. I drove it for a week and sh*tcanned it. Curry makes real nice drop in swaps with rear disc brakes that plunk right in.

 

While you and I seem to agree on most things, I have to disagree with you here. The 8" is not a POS. Like any rearend, it can be a POS, but when it's assembled correctly, it'll hold up to some serious abuse.

It all depends on the overall goal of the car. If you want to build a car that will run under consistant abuse, go for the 9" upgrade, otherwise the 8" should hold up just fine.

Dave

 

Most Mustangs have 28 spline axles, although some of the higher end ones had 31. I believe the 6'ers are 24.

31's are 1.5" in diameter and the 28's are like 1.315" I believe..

 

Well, it's just my opinion. I weighed the idea of putting some money into mine and after adding up the dough for gears, installation, and a Track-loc, plus I wanted disc brakes (and the options for an 8" are more limited) it just didn't make much sense to me. The other advantage to a 9" is, because of its popularity, the after market parts are more available and generally pretty cost effective. The Currie units might seem like $$$, but if you add up all of the labor and individual parts it's actually a pretty good deal IMHO because it's such an easy pluck and chuck operation and can include a variety of disc options. I did an 8.8 swap because I was still in College at the time and low on dough so it worked out to be a pretty good deal for me as they are pretty cheap and readily available, but unless you're planning on changing rims like I did it won't work because the Fox ones are a bit wider (I went with some 17" Bullets and 245/45/17's). And though I guess POS might have been overstating it, my point is that if I were to do it again I'd just do a Curry 9" swap. I still might so I can use a G-bar, but that's down the road a bit. I wouldn't recommend the 8.8 swap I did. Sure in the end it worked out, (it's a fairly strong setup 33 spline axles and 3.73's with track lock and cobra brakes) but because I tried to save some money I ended up going through a lot more grief i.e. the Detroit locker situation and it ended up costing damn near what the Curry unit would have anyway. Oh well... Lesson learned. My Scottish genes keep gettin me in trouble like that Just my $.02 on it from learning my lesson the hard way.

 

I dont think there ever was a 31 spline 8", just 9"...not from the factory anyways. I have heard that aftermarket is starting to make 31 spline 8" stuff now.

As far as a noisy locker, I got the soft lock detroit in my 9". I love it, never did hear it, and as long as you stay off of the gas in a corner it works great. Its just when you get on the gas in a corner that it will chirp the tires.

When I broke my second 28 spline axle it broke the soft lock parts in the detroit, not a big deal. I called eaton and they said just leave the soft lock parts out of it and it will be an old school detroit (I hear it now). I was inside of it anyways converting it to a 31 spline, which brings up another point. If you are going to be drag racing this, go 31 from the start. Its alot cheaper to just go ahead and buy the axles and a 31 spline locker front the start rather than buying the axles later and then spending another $200 upgrading your detroit to a 31spline($100 for each side gear!), not to mention it broke the 9" case when the load suddenly came off of it (broke the pinion support bearing socket).