# 69 gto 10 bolt axle



## Judge501 (May 21, 2017)

Hi all ' I'm new to this forum and need some tech help! How much hp could I put through my 69 gto 10 bolt axle running on standard wheels and tires?


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## Pinion head (Jan 3, 2015)

Welcome to the forum. How much hp? Believe you mean how much Torque. How much will depend on the style of rearend & how the rear is torque loaded. 
-Near flawless condition A-body HD Safe-T-Track Pontiac 8.2 10 bolts have been run routinely down into low 12's in the 1/4 mile on PolyGlas & Wide Oval G70-14's, Pure Stock Drags & other venues. Near 450 gross hp/3750-3800 lbs with driver.
-In lightweight early RA Firebirds, a few well prepped Pontiac HD 8.2 STT rearends have been known to live down into the high 10's on slicks. 
-With the small pinions of 3.90, 4.10, 4.33, & 4.56 Pontiac 8.2 gearsets, the nodular iron center housing incorporated in the special HD STT rears helped minimize pinion deflection. Pinion deflection is what will eventually take out a gray iron 8.2 rear ESP when built with a small pinion & thick ring gear & subjected to repetitive hard launches. The standard duty 8.2 axles just like the gray iron standard center housings are both a huge weak point. 

Have repeated this so any times, but some don't get it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Pontiac 8.2 rears are not HD Safe-T-Track rears, less than 1% are, instead, the typical 8.2 10 bolt consists of a weak gray iron 8.2 housing with standard duty axles. Having picked up the pieces from way too many blown up gray iron posi 8.2 rears, as a differential builder, it's just much easier to not throw waaay over a $1000 into "upgrading" a gray iron housing 8.2 rear with Moser axles, new gears, & a Auburn Pro Series or Eaton posi carrier. Maintaining or building a putt-a- round cruiser, the gray iron 8.2's can live a long life. Attempting to repetitively throw 100-200 more ft lbs of torque at the R&P in the weak gray iron housing, than what this differential was designed for, the limit will be reached even in a 3700 lb A-body that can only 60 ft in the high 1.8's on bias plys.


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