My 9” Ford gears are cracked at the base of the pinion gear and at least one is cracked across a tooth. Ring gear looks fine. Gearset has been in the car 10 years! Gears are not Pro gears. Pinion is 28 spline and as far as I know all pro gear sets are 35 spline. My old dragster also had street gears in it and never hurt them. I can upgrade it easily to a pro set with some added parts and cost but since what I had lasted so long I’m wondering why bother spend $ for nothing.....

I used to run street gears, but broke a couple within a few year period and decided to upgrade. If I’m not mistaken we went to a small pinion pro gear. Not sure if thats 28 spline or bot as I’m no rear gear guru.

I put in a set of used street gears in my dragster, and they lasted exactly 30 runs. No more street gears for me.

All Pro 9” gears have 35 spline pinions and 1.500 diameter shafts. Requires a new yoke and carrier just to change to those gears from what I have. If I did not have so many runs on what I just took out I’d just upgrade. Doing brakes as well and the parts bill is adding up on things not expected. That’s racin !

I might "hack" a small panel out of my 10k onan to save a bunch of hours, just to get the radiator out, but I would NEVER hack and cheap out on a dragsters rear end, especially when it's your own azz in it going down the race track, of which could lock up and send you into a barrel roll.

Merry Christmas to you too....

SC,you can get a 28 spline Pro set,but they're only made in 4.56 and up.The 35 spline is 4.56 and down.

i am amazed they lasted for you ,two years max for me

I’m spending money I didn’t think I would have to either but it’s the right thing to do. Good luck Rich!

I say this with regularity ^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by dtye:
SC,you can get a 28 spline Pro set,but they're only made in 4.56 and up.The 35 spline is 4.56 and down.

I bought a complete 9" for my Nova and didn't think to verify pinion size. It is small pinion, 28 spline and I bought a 4.30 Pro gear for it. They cost a fortune (around $500) but they do make them.

I bought the car as a roller 10 years ago. Pulled the center section out once and it was fine. Did not realize or know the details about Ford 9” gearsets. Only reason I pulled it out recently was to check axles and maybe replace them. Rear was tight in a couple spots turning it by hand on the bench. A little inspection and pinion gear is cracked. I’ll upgrade it to a pro gear set. I did not find any 4.11 Pro gear sets with 28 spline pinions . The diameter goes up along with the splines on the 4.11 or 4.29 gearsets.

Hello Rich
Is that the same gears that were in it when you bought it? If so they have been there since 2004 because I had not changed them since I put the car together when it was new. Hope its still doing ok for you.

quote:

Originally posted by T. Denton:
Hello Rich
Is that the same gears that were in it when you bought it? If so they have been there since 2004 because I had not changed them since I put the car together when it was new. Hope its still doing ok for you.

Hello Trevor....Yes they are the same gears and I got our moneys worth out of them my friend.

I thought you must have changed them because I found a piece of what looked like gear tooth in the housing years ago when I popped the center out....

Its a great car and has won 3 Wallys for me in S/C and won plenty of rounds in Super ET as well. 7.40's-7.50's with a 565 and is like a Cadillac......LOL

Took me a while to get comfortable in it....but once I did I was good.

Had some frame issues but I fixed that too.....

Put an X-link in it a few years ago.


I have struggled with keeping brake rotors in decent shape as you probably did too.

Mark Williams stuff going on now and I am going to put a Pro Gear set in it.....

I just pressed the old pinion carrier apart to confirm what was there....

I have seen you racing some S/C on NHRA ALL Access....Its tough racing as all of it is.....


Good luck in 2019....


Merry Christmas !!!

UPGRADE! You can ‘get away’ with street gears and they last longer but my experience was when they go, they GO! I broke a R&P on the starting line and it wasn’t pretty- took out the driveshaft, back of the trans, wishbone & a four link bar. It sounds to me like you got lucky and caught yours going bad, but if you hadn’t then all hell may have broken loose halfway through the upcoming season! Pro gears will usually whine and hum and let you know they are on their way out where as street gears often don’t give a warning. IMO, the old theory of “you can get away with street gears in a light Dragster” became invalid once we all started going in the 7’s and dragsters stopped being 1600 lbs.

quote:

Hello Trevor....Yes they are the same gears and I got our moneys worth out of them my friend.

We for sure got our moneys worth from those. MW stuff is nice.
I have been doing some SC racing lately it is definitely a challenge lol...

I broke a set of street gears in a low 7 second 1/8th mile car. Transbrake, 1.3xx 60'. After about 20-25 runs gears started howling. Changed the oil and it got worse. Pulled the set out and the ring was cracked and pinion had chipped teeth....I wouldn't even begin to think of putting a set of street gears in a dragster at any speed or et......

Not what I would do,but hell its working for you. Since biggest advantage to pro gear is softer and takes hard hits better and if correct you are running throttle stop and probably not killing the 60' clocks,I can see where it would work.

quote:

Originally posted by BD104X:
UPGRADE! You can ‘get away’ with street gears and they last longer but my experience was when they go, they GO! I broke a R&P on the starting line and it wasn’t pretty- took out the driveshaft, back of the trans, wishbone & a four link bar. It sounds to me like you got lucky and caught yours going bad, but if you hadn’t then all hell may have broken loose halfway through the upcoming season! Pro gears will usually whine and hum and let you know they are on their way out where as street gears often don’t give a warning. IMO, the old theory of “you can get away with street gears in a light Dragster” became invalid once we all started going in the 7’s and dragsters stopped being 1600 lbs.

Right on Billy.....

My old car was 1850lbs and went high 7's or slower all its life...


This car is 1950+ and was 1.07-1.08 with injection WOT...


S/C launches are higher rpm to hit a .370 tree.....


It don't look like squat from the stands but its a hard hit..\

The pinion gear was a very low number of runs from needing A DENTIST and some implants.....LOL

No way its going back together without an upgrade now.....

My question. Would you get longer life with pro gear and be better off durability and endurance wise? Hey its only money and you have to hate money to do this anyway.LOL