Call Maksymyk's Performance. He did my gear swap and Eaton install in Sept and I have had no issues. Hes the best guy in FWB, so I was told. Plus he was the cheapest. I dropped off the gears and Eaton and walked out the next day for $465. That was new seals, fluid, tax blah blah....862-0821

I don't have the time or patience to do a gear setup and diff install.

 

In a stock 10-bolt the G80 is the weakest link if it's got one. Upgrading to an aftermarket carrier makes the housing next on the list. It's not really the gears fault teeth break off, it's housing flex. The housing on a 10-bolt flexes like a plastic bowl under load. The first signs of flexing you will see are the cover bolts walking themselves right out, and leaking. The best cover I've seen for a 10-bolt is the Mag-Hytec because is uses no gaskets and makes solid metal to metal contact with the case. (Even a plastic bowl is harder to distort with a lid securely on it.)

So basically, you can put a differential in it that can survive, but whenever you upgrade one part of something weak overall, you've really got to watch for other things too.

 

I still have the stock gears and axles with 120K on them. I grenaded the stock G80 which was replaced by an Eaton Posi and a TA girdle shortly after. I have recently broken the side gears in the Eaton Posi but it was an easy fix. If I continue to break spider gears in the Eaton, I will try a TruTrack. I was pushing ~430hp at the time, nitrous out of the hole on ET Streets.

 

Another thing worth mentioning is the tires. It's not horsepower that breaks a rear end, it's torque. The highest amount of torque the rear end could see is in first gear on a wide open throttle launch. That is the highest torque multiplication in transmission gearing and the highest torque multiplication in the torque converter. If the tires break traction, the rear end is unloaded. I see people all the time talking about certain high-powered trucks running "fine" with 10-bolts. It's not fine. A 10-bolt only survives due to lack of traction. With grippier tires on, it WILL break. So, the best advice to anyone who doesn't want to spent money on a rear end on a high-powered truck is to just run stock tires and let them spin.

 

He drags in 4wd though and he deiant drag with 1000 rwhp, he only dynos with the full power. 1 of the guys from 1320.com broke his rear dif doing a burnout in a service station's driveway on the way home after Dragweek.

A 10 bolt needs an aftermarket center section at the very least. I would also do aftermarket axles with say a Detroit Truetrac with Richmond gears. With a higher stall Torque converter, low gears and high vehicle weight(like our trucks) it only a matter of time before the 10 bolt lets go.

If you break an axle, the rear of the truck WILL be dragging on the ground.

I would NOT trust a 10 bolt rear end in a truck, if running a power adder, aftermarket TC, transbrake, slicks, really low gears, large cybes in any combination, an upgrade to a 14 bolt is necessary, and even some upgrades should be done to a 14 bolt 9.5" ring gear.
There is a reason why GM used the 14 bolt over the weaker 10 bolt in the 90-93 454SS and the 2005 up B4V VHO and the 2wd trucks as well as the new Vortec Max 6.0.

peace
Hog