95 Z28 Differential

The Eaton locker I recomend is for 82 to 92 cars. With a 93 up look for a Positraction diff from a Camaro or Trans Am. Better yet get a compleate rear end with 3.42 gears. Beleave me it will wake up your automatic car. Charles

What's wrong with yours? Can it be rebuilt?

IMHO, even if it fits, a Blazer diff is a step down - it sure likely wouldn't be stronger. A Blazer has a 4.3 with about 190hp... and your z had 275 hp...

The guts (carrier?) may interchange, but the housing is definitely different... unless you've got the world's only leaf sprung 95 Z28. ;)

Ray

Factory posi units are Auburn Cone. Although they are high quality and efficient units, they aren't rebuildable.

My understanding is that all the 7.5 inch 28 spline positraction units are the same whether they are in a blazer or a Z28. These are not known to be particularly robust.

Regards

Charles, I'm looking at a raft of posi units and gear sets on ebay motors. It's a bit daunting because I've only looked at the rear end gears in my car by removing the cover. Series 3 posi units seem to be for 3.23 and lower (higher numerically) gear sets. I'm more than willing to change my gears to

3.42 or 3.73 but I don't know if just buying the gears and the posi unit is enough. Do I need to purchase a different carrier too or am I still not understanding how this all works?

I'm pretty certain I should buy a bearing rebuild package too. Driveline.com has everything I need (new) including tech support but the cost is going to be $800 or so if I go that way.... I'd like to go with good used parts for around $200 if possible.

btw, my quite stock Z with 3.23 gears turned 13.98 @ 100 mph. My other Z is the one with 2.73 gears and a worn out positraction unit. That is the one I want to fix, gear down and maybe see a little better time and speed.

Thanks

Im not 100% sure. But I beleave the 2.73 housing will not accecpt 3.42 gears. What I would do is pick up a compleate 3.42 Posi rear end at a salvage yard, and just swap it in. Charles

AFAIK, as long as the replacement gears are made for a 2 series carrier, they should fit.

Thanks for replying: I've got a better understanding of the teminology now.

The gears bolt to the carrier (actually differential which is the posi / locker / open case unit; that robust little drum with the side windows and

28 splines inside the pumpkin, where axles slide into and the spiders gears reside). The late model Camaro GM 2 series carrier spacing was originally designed for 2.73 - 3.08. However, there are lower gear sets out there that will fit series 2 carriers. At least that's what the summit racing catalogue is showing me. Two ** are series 3 and one * fits series 2. Both 3.42 and 3.73 gear sets show part numbers for series 2 (one asterisk) and another part number for series 3 (two asterisks). I will call Summit to verify this....

My guess is the spacing between carrier and mounting surface of the ring gear at some point must be increased for a series 3 gear set (3.23 - 3.78 and maybe 4.11 - 4.56) to fit a series 2 carrier. In other words, the series

3 carrier is wider than the series 2 carrier. The ring gear must be shifted away (left) from the series 2 carrier or the ring will interfer with the pinion rather than mating to it.

On the faq page of

the question is asked by a customer that when he bought the 4.11 gears to go in his 2.73 Camaro rear end, they would not fit. Driveline.com said they have a spacer to fix the problem. This tells me that the 3.23 and lower ration gears have an interference width to the pinion when mounted on a series 2 carrier. BTW, I've also learned that the only difference between the 3.42, 3.73 and 4.11 gear sets is the number of teeth on the pinion. which are 12, 11 and 10 respectively. That makes the spacer / series requirement make even more sense seeing how the ring gear will always be 41 teeth @ 7.5 or 7.625 inches in diameter.

Also,

illustrates the tear down and rebuild of 93 firebird rear end. This helped me understand two things: How the rear end construction works and that rebuilding a rear end can be done by a novice but it will be a pia until s/he has all the necessary punches, pullers and real life experience. Regards

Thanks Charles and I would do this. I don't know if it's me or the area where I live but I have called 11 salvage yards and the answer is always that they don't have anything like that at this time. I'm assuming you mean to change the entire axle housing. This of course presents another situation for me as I would be out of my league trying to determine widths and mounting points for suspension components, brakes and such.

See my post to Bruce regarding the gear set cross over. I'm in no way pretending like I know anything but I sure have been asking questions. Two of three mechanics have warned me about putting used gears in another housing. One explanation was that used gears and bearings wear into their role according to the housing they are within. Swapping them around is certain to produce a lifetime gear and/or bearing whine and potential early failure. The jury is still out as I'm listening for more advice.

Regards

I was suggesting replacing the entire housing with a direct bolt in unit. Where you would un-bolt, un-clip, and remove a few lines and reverse proceedure to install. Your rear end should be 1994 (due to abs) to 1998 direct swap from a 6 Speed car (Camaro Z28-T/A) with Posi/Locking Rear Diff. All 6 speed cars were 3.42 geared from the factory.

As for Used gear sets being swapped in to a different axle housing, I have done it. It may not be the best thing, but I get away with it. I perfer to just swap the diff, but in some cases it's not possible. Depending on the vehical I really perfer to replace the hole axle housing. Often less time, and less to go wrong. Charles

I understand now and thanks. I just need a better resource for junked or wrecked cars. I think my hurdle is that the performance stuff either never makes it to salvage or it is scooped up in a hurry. Anything online like that is always a thousand miles away. I think Summit Racing is going to get about $350 of my money for bearings and gears. I have a used differential on its way now. Wish there was a cheaper / easier way through this. What will happen is after I spend the money for parts, a local salvaged car will become available.

Regards

What area are you in? Charles