By: Andrew Wolf (Dragzine)

From OEM replacement parts to Top Fuel Dragsters, Speedmaster markets itself as the only major manufacturer that covers the entire spectrum of performance and racing machinery, and at PRI, their involvement with Street Outlaws star “Kamikaze” wasn’t the only thing on display.

Speedmaster has been hard at work in 2017 on some exciting new products, and one of those is their bolt-in 9-inch rear end housing. With this housing, Speedmaster’s goal was to offer something where the customer only needs to install their axles, install the brakes, and put it under the car without any fabrication or welding. The bolt-on axle tube options include big and small Ford, along with 28, 31, and 35-inch lengths. The housing is compatible with all stock and aftermarket 9-inch driveline components; the only caveat that the the housing requires Speedmasters’ 3.250 bearings.

“The main thing with this housing was making it lightweight and affordable. The price point on the center section of the housing is only $350, and if you buy it with the tubes and everything it’s about $500. Set up custom for a specific it’s about $600,” notes Speedmasters’ Jay Verduzco.

The race-focused housing sports a bolt-on bracing that’s used in four-link applications to give it added strength. The pumpkin of the housing is all cast aluminum and the bell ends steel.

For the racing market, they’ve taken a very similar design to the housing but in a modular form, creating a brute piece capable of handling 3,000-plus horsepower, with interchangeable bell ends/spacers for different axle lengths. Bell end spacer options include 4.5 and 8.4-inch lengths to run narrow or big tires. The housing center itself is made of billet steel, with billet aluminum bell ends and spacers. The housing shown here is set up for 40-spline axles.

In addition to drag racing applications, Speedmaster is working to move the aluminum, full floater setup into oval track racing, as well. Impressively, this piece sells at just $1,200; Verduzco noting, “we try to fill gaps in the market. Now, with the Street Outlaws, it’s opened up this new avenue. People watch the show and they want to do that. Most people aren’t going to make the kind of power they are, but they still want something that looks like it, that sounds like it, and can do some of the same things. And that’s a big market right now.”