Читать книгу Ford Differentials - Joseph Palazzolo - Страница 26

A unique 7075 billet-aluminum pinion cartridge with a washer and retainer ring, which are installed after the pinion seal, is another common upgrade for off-road applications. This setup is typically used with the 10-inch gear. The positive retention helps to protect the seal and makes certain that the pinion seal does not pop out of the cartridge during off-road use. This setup is often used on units installed in Trophy race trucks.

A previous version of this style of seal retention just used bolts to retain the pinion seal. That style was a little better than just the seal alone but was not ideal. The seal was still vulnerable to damage from hitting something from the top or bottom. Typically the seal then pivots on the bolts and still ends up failing. The counter-sunk retaining ring arrangement from Currie Enterprises cured all of these potential failure situations.

This is a typical modified pinion cartridge. It has bolts with washers to hold the seal in place.

This is a much better improvement over the bolted-style retention. It uses a counter-sunk retaining ring arrangement to better retain the seal in place.

The 9⅜-inch third member is often mistaken as a 9-inch. The top horizontal rib curving down on the right side is the easy indicator of this imposter. This axle has no aftermarket support for parts or upgrades and is not a good candidate for any performance application. The only reason to utilize this axle would be if you are performing an all-original restoration.