[Tigers] Starting on My tiger after 20yrs - Rear end

[Mark Rense]

Well Dan, first of all congratulations on getting your Tiger project "off
the ground" and started. There are several of us here that run high
horsepower (350+) using the Dana 44 rear end on the street without issues. I
chose to go with the wide ratio Toploader and 2.72:1 gear set with posi
(thanks Gary), and with Dale's rear springs. The car has over 9K miles with
this setup, launches well and is great fun in the twisties.

 

I used the Yukon 19 spline rebuild kit
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/yga-14022  and had it assembled by a
great race shop www.henselsgearage.com

 

If you are going to race the car you've raised the ante and will have to
look into a beefed-up 8.8 or custom setup from Moser or Strange. That also
means tearing up your car to make new attachment points, those mods are not
usually reversible. Just remember that on a reasonably stock Tiger you're
limited on tire width so traction is always the limiting factor.

 

Mark

 

From: Tigers [mailto:tigers-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Doornbos,
Daniel via Tigers
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2016 1:57 PM
To: Tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: [Tigers] Starting on My tiger after 20yrs - Rear end

 

Well if the Tiger list wants activity I'm ready to trigger a discussion.

  

My Tiger shell has sat garaged for 20yrs and I've finally started this week.
I've had prior starts as well but this time it's real as the car is on jack
stands and the tires, hood, trunk, windshield removed.  I've saved 100's of
e-mails to word docs and have a pretty good idea of where and how I am going
to do this.  I'm starting at the back of the car and working forward,
mechanical systems only let's get this car on the road!  I've got one of the
bolt in FE from Mike H and get to do what I want for spindle and bolt
pattern up front so the question is what to do with the rear end?  Lots of
info available on disk brakes and don't think that will be too tricky.  With
a 5 spd conversion planned I'll put in a new posi unit with 2.73 gears.    I
also have a Dan W torque arm set up to install and will be removing the
panhard rod and traction masters.

 

In my notes though I see comments about weakness of the two piece axle.
Sandy G had a custom rear end made and posted that info here
<http://www.gtsparkplugs.com/sunbeam_tiger_axle_swap.html>
http://www.gtsparkplugs.com/sunbeam_tiger_axle_swap.html .  I've got another
e-mail saved that sums it up best from "bt" about, "Doane welded the ends
off an AH 3000 onto a Dana 23 housing from a Studebaker. The result was a
full floating axle with a one piece axle. I had a pair of axles made for it
over 12 years ago and those are still running great with many thousands of
high G racing miles. The advantage of the full floating design is that if
the axle were to fail the wheel would not separate from the car. The LAT 43
piece looks like it would bolt onto the Dana 44 Tiger housing but take the
outer pieces (bearings, seals) from the AH.

 

The stock Tiger rear end axle design has "bugged" racers since inception.
Last Saturday Ted Sutton stopped by the Tiger pits at Willow. (For those not
familiar with Ted, he was the crew chief on the Shelby American race Tiger.
He also built the first 427 Cobra.) His first question was, "Are these
Tigers still using that silly two piece axle design with a key way?" We told
him most are. He just shook his head."

 

I'm far from an expert on rear end design and options.  From what I read and
my plans to build a high hp street car, as opposed to a full on race car,
should I do something with the stock rear end?  Is this as simple as turning
up at the local 4x4 shop and at a minimum getting a single piece axel made?
I don't want to change housing because I have the Dan Walter set up ready to
install on the Dana 44.  Or is the stock axel not such a worry?

 

Thanks

dan

 

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