Rear housing options

I have a strange S case with a 35 spline detroit locker but that's all I know about it. How do I find which bearing size it has and does that effect axle tube size when buying a housing?

Also, are the fab9 type housings worth the cost for mid/high 9s vs a standard housing? Not looking to spend crazy $ on this rear as long as it will do the job.

Thanks much.

The 3.250 bearing case will fit a stock housing.i'd think thats what you have with 35 spline.weight and hp make life hard on housings but a stock 9 with a brace will stand a lot.length of the housing comes into play too. I can tell you a 40" stock braced housing with strange 35 spline axles will go low 5's in a 2600# door car many many times.  

I think a stock housing with a back brace and some tube reinforcements inside will be sufficient. Might want to double check the housing ends needed for the 35 spline shaft OD.

I had to grind on the inside of my stock housing so the center section could drop in. It's an aluminum Strange with small bearings.

IMO some people do jump on the "fab housing" bandwagon even when they might not have enough power to really need one just cuz they want a cool looking housing. A stock/factory 9" housing with a simple back brace made of 2x3 or 1.5x3 rec tubing & the big axle bearings makes for quite a stout usable piece that will work great for a lot of cars out there. After that for even more strength on a factory 9" housing you can easily add 4 to 6 internal tubing bulkhead/braces to tie the backside of the thirdmember mounting surface to the welded rear cover's mounting surface.

The next step up with a factory 9" housing (using a housing jig table) you cut the axle tubes loose (or use new ms/cm tubes) & bury them real deep into the main housing assembly to intersect 2 added internal side plate bulkheads. But this last mod does involve a lot more work. IMO if you have enough power to need this last housing mod, this is the point where you start thinking about maybe using a fab housing vs the factory housing.

Thanks for the good info y'all.  So what's the best deal going for a stock type housing?  There are about a billion options out there it seems.

This is with 3.25 tubes of course, right?

And any idea what bs wheel I should run?

John,
Sounds like you need to work the other way with the wheel backspace ..........trust me its easier that way since you have nothing to work with right now. Get the wheel and tire you want to run and mock it up in the car with ample space inside and out. Take the measurement between the wheels, subtract the brake rotor ( x2) You want to use, Subtract the axle offset from the flange of the axle to the housing flange ( x2) -This is based on the housing end you are going to use for the brake set up each is different. That's your housing length but you aint done yet. Now you need to decide where the pinion is located in the car as far as the driveshaft tunnel side to side for the pinion offset.

TravisRice wrote:John,
 Sounds like you need to work the other way with the wheel backspace ..........trust me its easier that way since you have nothing to work with right now.  Get the wheel and tire you want to run and mock it up in the car with ample space inside and out. Take the measurement between the wheels, subtract the brake rotor ( x2)  You want to use, Subtract the axle offset from the flange of the axle to the housing flange ( x2) -This is based on the housing end you are going to use for the brake set up each is different.  That's your housing length but you aint done yet. Now you need to decide where the pinion is located in the car as far as the driveshaft tunnel side to side for the pinion offset.

X2 That's the way I did mine.

one other thing to consider is the type suspension your gona use.some factory 9"s dont work so well with 4link or ladder bar brackets if it's a real narrow setup. the center section of the housing is wide and has "flat" top and bottom that makes it tuff to work with. just plan ahead.  

cool40 wrote:one other thing to consider is the type suspension your gona use.some factory 9"s dont work so well with 4link or ladder bar brackets if it's a real narrow setup. the center section of the housing is wide and has "flat" top and bottom that makes it tuff to work with. just plan ahead.  

Lee is right. However I am going to guess its for the Falcon he has for sale in which would be a mini-tub with the leaf springs since he has decided to keep the car per our last conversation. Unless he is going to change his mind and sell me the Falcon   and has found a different project that this is for.

windsor wrote:Thanks for the good info y'all.  So what's the best deal going for a stock type housing?  There are about a billion options out there it seems.

This is with 3.25 tubes of course, right?

Yea, a factory 9" housing with 3.25" OD tubes that have around a 1/4" wall thickness can be fairly strong with just a back brace added. But even the "weaker" housings with the smaller 3" OD tubes that have around a 3/16" wall thickness will also be usable in some cars when a back brace is added.

windsor wrote:And any idea what bs wheel I should run?

For back spacing I like a rim with as little B/S as possible. That way the housing/axles can be made as short/light as possible. It causes a little more load on the axle bearings, but worth it IMO.

cool40 wrote:one other thing to consider is the type suspension your gona use.some factory 9"s dont work so well with 4link or ladder bar brackets if it's a real narrow setup. the center section of the housing is wide and has "flat" top and bottom that makes it tuff to work with. just plan ahead.  

That can be fixed in a number of applications if the bigger "wide body" 9" housing is also getting the new/old axle tubes buried deeper in the housing & tied to internal side bulkheads. Before installing the deeper axle tubes you cut the center wide body housing's width to match the placement of the 2 inside 4-link (or large spread ladder bar) housing brackets. When these 2 inside 4-link brackets are welded to both the shortened center section & the axle tubes, they in effect become the housing's external side bulkheads.

All great info gents. I really appreciate it. I just bought my wheels and tires today for mock up.  

Travis, I sent you another pm. Basically, I'm very interested.