[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by T_Raven

Good info Ron. I've wanted to use an aluminum HD-9 housing but I never thought about an issue with heat compared to the nodular case.

A few tips from experience on 9" 3rd Members to share ...
1. There are 3 carrier bearing sizes, but we never run the small one, so we only care about 2 sizes ... the 3.062" & 3.250. 3.062" is for 31 spline axles. 3.250 is for 35 spline axles ... typically for drag racing & Off Road Trucks.

2. Strange offers 3 basic case designs:
a. Aluminum HD
b. Nodular Iron HD
c. Nodular Iron Lite

You can see the Nodular Iron cases on my store page HERE.
You can see the $249 is the lite case. We run these on most street & race applications unless the power is above 800 hp. Frankly ... we run them on engines 900hp+, because they're the best overall weight to strength 3rd member. Applications where power is above 800 hp and/or the car owner cares more about durability than weight ... run the $329 version. There is about 9# weight difference.

3. Pinion Supports
The "Daytona Pinion Support is a no brainer upgrade. It allows larger bearings to be run on the pinion ... and the pinion NEEDS these larger bearings. This does not require any special ring & pinion. Just normal 9" Ford gears. But the aluminum Daytona Pinion Supports are notorious for expanding & allowing the pinion seal to push out. For this reason we do not run the aluminum Daytona Pinion Support. We only run the iron Daytona pinion support. You can see them HERE.

Best wishes.