Rear end advice for racing with a 4 speed

ch1ll said
While a Dana is going to hold up to slicks and a glued track, your going to notice the heavier rear end while on the street. It’s not going to handle as well. Usually the weak spot on an 8 3/4 is that the housing flexes and that can be solved to a point by bracing the back side, but that may not be your problem. Race duty axle’s may solve your problem. A Chrysler 9 1/4 rear axle while still is heavier than an 8 3/4 rear axle may be an option.

It’s always a compromise for a street/strip car. Either you give up street manners for racing durability or you live with parts fatigue while racing for street manners.

Adding a Dana will not hurt handling or street manners.

These cars are all nose heavy in stock trim or anything close to it, and better balance improves handling far more than a small increase in overall weight will hurt it. If anything the Dana will improve F/R weight bias and may even lower the CG a smidge.

There’s a small increase in driveline losses, but that would hardly be noticeable, if noticeable at all, on the street.