Heres the old age question once again should i go with a 12 bolt or a ford 9". i was gonna build an 8.5 but decided that; why spend so much cash on a 10 bolt just go all the way for the 12 or 9" so witch is better? i'm a hardcore chevy guy so the thought of a ford 9" was out of the question but i have been talking to people about them and they are starting to sound intresting.:confused:

What about a Dana 60? You can get a bolt in Dana (Moser) cheaper than either one of the others, and it will be just as strong or stronger. They look real cool under the car too. The 9 inch has more parts and is more expensive that all of the others. The 12 bolt is good for most serious street cars that see some drag racing.

i haven't heard too much about dana 60 all i know is that its mopar right? but i also heard they are much heavier then the ford 9 and the 12 bolt. but i think i did hear something about the dana 60 and the 12 bolt bieng merged together. my car right now has good power about 500 hp but my goal is to make my car @ least a 10 sec car but would love a 9 sec car. so i will be putting a more powerful engine. and its gonna be a street strip car.

Dana 60 all the way ! A Ford 9" takes more power to turn than all the others. A Dana 60 costs the same to build as a 12 bolt. A Dana 60 is stronger than a 12 bolt. A Dana 60 is actually lighter than a nodular 9".

Next....don't think a lil' 8.5 can't take the abuse. Mine has been in my 64' since 98' and has been deep into the 8's in my 3000 lb. street/strip car....o.k....it's more strip than street but still gets driven on the street nonetheless.

As far as merging, the Dana is a Spicer product which is the original manufacturer of the 10 bolt and the 12 bolt. They (Dana, Spicer, Federal Mogol, Eaton) are all one big happy family (have been since 1932). Think of a Dana 60 as a 12 bolt on steroids, the Dana is bigger and is 40 pounds heavier than a 12 bolt but it is still close to 30 pounds lighter than the 9" rear. That extra Dana 60 weight is all steel reinforcing all of the critical places on the rear end. The Dana 60 is a Mil Spec rear end used in all half ton and three quarter ton trucks in the US forces (including the HumVee). It has been to war for decades and was used by top fuelers until they went to the 11" rear end that they use today (they never used a 9" because a stock 9" out of the junk yard isn't as strong as a stock 12 bolt out of a junk yard, and the Dana was already starting to break with over 4000 horse power top fuel rails).

Even the 11" is not totally indestructible either, as there were two rear end failures in the 2006 racing season attributed to a broken rear end; but they are pretty tuff. People see them and think I just have to get myself a 9" just like my favorite top fueler runs. Not realizing that the 11" has grown 50% bigger than the stock 9" it resembles.

The "strength of the 9" rear comes from the fact that the pinion is run lower on the ring gear so that the actual contact pattern between Ring gear and pinion gear is nearly twice the area of the twelve bolt. This spreads the forces out over a greater area but at the same time generates more friction (parasitic looses) in turning the gear over. That is why there is a 3% to 4.5% reported increase in parasitic looses with the 9" compared with either the Dana 60 or the Spicer 12 bolt rear end.

Big Dave