I found this URL that convinced me to go with the 9" I have in the rear of my YJ. Thought you all would like the info.

9", D60, D70, D44 compare (http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/gears.html)

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

That missle proof 9 inch looks incredibly beefy <IMG SRC="smilies/eek.gif" border="0">!!! 1.710" 40 spline axleshafts <IMG SRC="smilies/eek.gif" border="0">!!!

I was at there shop a couple of weeks ago and they are sweet. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

They should get the job done and then some...

ya that 40 spline missle is awsome, but just the comparison of stock 9" vs the 60, 70 and 44 was enough to sell me on that rear-end. So far so good.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

good info . thanks <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0">

Great info!! Only part that I know is BS, is the use of it in the Top Fuel Dragsters. They use a 12" rear end. Who makes it, I do not know, but I know they do not use the 9".

But for our purposes, that is a good article!

Steve

They pretty much tell you that the stock 9" needs a bit work to be brought up to bulletproof status. They also dont mention that the non nodular 9" housings are notorious for bending and breaking, and that you still have an extremely low pinion, which will contribute to high driveline angles and hang down in rock territory. I can only imagine that their missile proof version costs more that an engine swap, just for a rear axle. Shoot Ill take my $300 14 bolt anyday of the week.

Looks good on paper and in most cases the 9" is a very substantial axle. Most of the comparisons in that article are items that also force the 9" to have such a low pinion.

But you wonder why Currie, who specializes in 9" axles now runs a Dana60 in the rear of their ARCA crawler. You know they have all the money and resources at their disposal to build a kickass 9" ..... why did they go with a 60?

All good opinions, The pinion doesnt hang as low as a 60 and the angle I had to use to turn the pinion up was only 15 degrees and I am running a 2.5" SOA. It really gets down to the way you use your rig. If I want to go to HP 3rd member I can fairly easy. But for now it is definatly doing the job for what I want this rig to do.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

The 9" pinion is lower than a D60.
And if you go to high pinion, then its more money and you will be essentialy running 8.8 ring and pinions. Again I would reiterate that the stock 9" housings if they are not nodular housings are notoriousely weak.
The 9" is a decent rear diff assembly,in its best configuration, but I dont care what someoines advertising propoganda tells you, its not as strong as D60 and deffinitely not as strong as D70. Its also extremely expensive in its high dollar versions. There are many junk yard axles that are much stronger, and cheaper. If you are gonna spend the big bucks for a high pinion, the 60 has the best track record of handeling abuse.

Originally posted by H8monday:
<STRONG>The 9" pinion is lower than a D60.
And if you go to high pinion, then its more money and you will be essentialy running 8.8 ring and pinions. Again I would reiterate that the stock 9" housings if they are not nodular housings are notoriousely weak.
The 9" is a decent rear diff assembly,in its best configuration, but I dont care what someoines advertising propoganda tells you, its not as strong as D60 and deffinitely not as strong as D70. Its also extremely expensive in its high dollar versions. There are many junk yard axles that are much stronger, and cheaper. If you are gonna spend the big bucks for a high pinion, the 60 has the best track record of handeling abuse.</STRONG>

i agree with H8. don't draw your conclusion from someone trying to sell thier product. talk to real world wheelers who have been there, done that, and have seen what breaks. i'm not downing the ford 9" cause we all know it is a good rear but for someone to think it is stronger than a d70....well someone has been <IMG SRC="smilies/smokin.gif" border="0"> the ol' crack pipe. i wonder why they didn't include the 14bolt?

Originally posted by H8monday:
<STRONG>And if you go to high pinion, then its more money and you will be essentialy running 8.8 ring and pinions. </STRONG>

Yes, running 8.8 r&p on the coast side of the gears even. <IMG SRC="smilies/eek.gif" border="0">

Another drawback to the nine inch is that the low pinion makes the long gear contact patch between the ring and pinion do a lot of extra rubbing generating a lot of extra heat (probably not a concern for crawling purposes) and costing horsepower.

Guys, I have a couple of buddies running this application, one with 38's spooled, the other locked, neither have had a single problem. One is even HP, spooled and does the con all the time. I agree with many of the things you all are saying. For my application, I wanted disc brakes strong R&P, and a reliable set-up. I got this rear end fairly cheap, put Dutchman axles in it, yukon gears and a locker. Anyone can break even the most built rear-ends. Depends on the application and how far you are willing to push your rig. I dont get insane, I do have balls though.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

I'm sure your 9-inch works fine for your application. My 8.8 works very nicely in mine.

But what you've offered as some sort of axle comparison is really just a company pimping its product. In the real world of four-wheeling, does anyone think a 9-inch is better than a 60 or 14-bolt? Nope.

That doesn't mean it's not a nice axle. I know plenty of guys running them successfully. It's just simplistic to look at an advertising page and think it offers valid axle comparison information. No big deal. Glad you're happy with what you've got.
Dion

hey blatant, that is all it is, a comparison. Take it for what its worth, run what ever application you think fits your rig. Just thought the info was interesting.

Great info, looking forward to my 35C breaking so I can upgrade. <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by TN Devil Dog:
<STRONG>Great info, looking forward to my 35C breaking so I can upgrade. <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0"></STRONG>


Why wait for the inevitable?

Originally posted by TN Devil Dog:
Great info, looking forward to my 35C breaking so I can upgrade.

Well I waited 2 years with my 35C to break, and it was fun trying. Good luck with breaking it....ha ha. If you really wanted you could thrash the hell out of it. They probably arent hard to break with allot of go-peddle and big rocks. Actually I am pretty shocked with the abuse it took both with the go peddle and the big rocks.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by BlueYJ:
<STRONG>Well I waited 2 years with my 35C to break...
BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

Then you just weren't trying hard enough...

Originally posted by BlueYJ:
Well I waited 2 years with my 35C to break...
BlueYJ
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then you just weren't trying hard enough...


I knew I would catch shit for that statement.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by AzJeep:
<STRONG>Then you just weren't trying hard enough...</STRONG>

Yeah, like BlueYJ, I guess I'm just not a "Hard-core" wheeler. I don't "Get-It" never will. That's why My 30/35c are still intact. <IMG SRC="smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0">

I mean, it's not like they've done the 'Con, Hammers, Moab, Ishem, Last Chance, Nightmare, Goler, Pismo, yadda yadda yadda.

And by NO means can you run 38's. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

ya my D35 finally went probably because of my fault. My traction bars broke, which had made a huge difference, and I went from 35's to 36 TSL (the TSL dont forgive). I did about 15 runs a year, they saw lots of abuse and only failed me that one time. I dont mind I wanted to go bigger and better anyhow.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

IF you see any photos of a 'Bender run, you'll see my 95, with the 30/35c and 38's. It works. I just think that the Guys that say you can't run a 35" tire or larger are drunk when they wheel and therefor have no valid knowledge or opinion, because I don't have any problems, and I don't Pussy-Foot around.

Hey D-heep

Im with you man. I had the front-end and back-end bouncing all the time with the go-peddle mashed. Hey it finally broke. I never wimped out, tried everything, tried again, until I felt I couldnt make it. See us guys that have these axles do hope in the back of our minds that they break so we have an excuse to build our heeps bigger, and badder. Guess what, as soon as you think like that it never breaks. When mine finally broke it was on a wimpy section of a trail, the jeep bound up, the CV drive line exploded, the front drive line bent, one of my rear springs decided to surpintine on me and I didnt even know that I blew the rear-end up until after the new cv drive line was in. Took it for a ride around the block and it locked up on one of the corners. Went home said to my wife, of course with a little gleam in my eye and a snikering smiling oh darn I need to get a new rear-end. Well since I was crawling around junk yards and the wheel bolt pattern was going to change, oh dam need a new front end to match......ha ha. The build continues

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by D-Heep:
<STRONG>IF you see any photos of a 'Bender run, you'll see my 95, with the 30/35c and 38's. It works. I just think that the Guys that say you can't run a 35" tire or larger are drunk when they wheel and therefor have no valid knowledge or opinion, because I don't have any problems, and I don't Pussy-Foot around.</STRONG>

Either you are lying or you don't do the same kind of wheeling we do. I broke my D35 on my second trip, and was doing an EXTREMELY easy hill. Broke 2nd on the street, but was probably due to a fracture caused by a wheeling trip the day before. In our group I've seen at LEAST 10 D35 axle shafts break in the past year, and we don't even have a large group. Interesting enough, every one of them was driver's side axles.

I know this argument has been beat to death. D35's don't work for what we do, which is rock crawling. Once you are locked with 33's or larger and you get a lot of torque going to one tire with lots of traction, the D35 will NOT hold up. Most of the axles I've seen break were only pushing 33" tires, and one of them wasn't even locked, just a TracLock.

The only thing I can figure since this comes up so often and so many people say the D35 is just fine, is that your wheeling style (due to terrain) must be completely different than what we are doing here. You can't give away a D35 here.

The only thing I can figure since this comes up so often and so many people say the D35 is just fine, is that your wheeling style (due to terrain) must be completely different than what we are doing here. You can't give away a D35 here.

Same thing here you cant give the D35 away but I am telling you that it lasted. We do the con at least once a year, and you dont get rocks much bigger then out here. What can I say maybe I got the one built on a good tuesday. Dont get me wrong I have buddies that have broken theirs on the same trails that I go on. I am not saying that you should build a D35, thats why I changed.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">

You see, I don't have any torque. I'm only at 178:1, with 4:10s, and 38x12.50 TLS SXs.

Nope, no torque here. Ahh, never mind, It's all in the driver anyhow. Ask TB, or FatKid, or Stomper if I ever go wheeling. I don't. I got all those scratches from the Mall, not from Surprise Canyon.

How many falls did you drive up? You have heard of Surprise Canyon right? <IMG SRC="smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0">

My buddy has run his Stupid 35/30 combo with 35" MT/R's in Moab, Dakota (iceman, buzzworm) and quite a few places in MN, and not a whimper from 'em.
I still think they suck, but if you drive in a sane manner they will hold up, but who want's to be a sane driver <IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

While we're talking rear ends, do any donors have high pinions?

Originally posted by southernfriedcj8:
<STRONG>While we're talking rear ends, do any donors have high pinions?</STRONG>

rears...nope

<IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

ya D35, turn it upside down. oh but you want to use this rear-end, dont you know they are unusable.....ha ha. Just sold a HP 44. good luck.

BlueYJ <IMG SRC="smilies/glasses.gif" border="0">