Quote:
Originally Posted by LONGHAIR
I have never seen it actually done that way. Every one I have had to deal with was done by some backyard "weldor" who "might have" splashed a little solvent around to get rid of "most" of the gear lube before going at it.
I have seen them done with not much more than some bubble-gum looking blobs that were really just blocking the roation of the spider gears....and yes, I have seen failures, imagine that. 
On a full floating axle, used off road, and properly welded....but after all of that work, why not just use a spool and be done with it?
After pulling the bearings, ring gear, cleaning the parts, pre-heating, etc. and are you really sure that you didn't distort the carrier with the heat? For about $200, you could have had the spool and skipped all of that. |
I will say when I do them I dont pull every thing ( bearings, and ring gear ) off when its for a 60 front. I heat it up a little make a pass then let it cool, then repeat that till its welded shut.
Ive even welded some 1/4" flat stock in there to make a bridge from side gear to side gear and then welded that to the spiders.
For a rear 14 bolt ( or HO axle ) its even easyer. I just remove the carrier, spit it apart and weld the spiders and side gears into a ball, then drop it back into the carrier set the carrier back in the axle and adjust the ring.
Its cheap traction, and with full hydro or even hydro assest turning is easy. If you phase the front U-joint in the axle it even makes turning easyer, its like building a drive shaft you would not build it out of phase.
Yes spools are cheaper and lockers are better but this is free and with a little time and effort a welded diff is just as good.
Jason.