Welded rear end?

[Jason M]

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.

[LONGHAIR]

Originally Posted by Jason M

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.

This is the dangerous line of thinking that I am completely against.
It is half-a**ed at best...and potentially deadly at worst.
You really need to remove the bearings and ring gear to be able to preheat the carrier enough to do this. If you left them in place they would be damged by the heat....and if they weren't, it wasn't hot enough.

I am still not in favor of the "right way", feeling that it is more work than necessary, when a proper spool is better anyway....but the shakey mess version, No way



BTW, the point of "hard to steer" is not about turning the steering wheel. It is about making the truck actually turn. A spool has a tendancy to "push" the vehicle in a straight line. Spools or even lockers in the front can be a real hand-full...litterally.

[Jason M]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

This is the dangerous line of thinking that I am completely against.
It is half-a**ed at best...and potentially deadly at worst.
You really need to remove the bearings and ring gear to be able to preheat the carrier enough to do this. If you left them in place they would be damged by the heat....and if they weren't, it wasn't hot enough.

I am still not in favor of the "right way", feeling that it is more work than necessary, when a proper spool is better anyway....but the shakey mess version, No way



BTW, the point of "hard to steer" is not about turning the steering wheel. It is about making the truck actually turn. A spool has a tendancy to "push" the vehicle in a straight line. Spools or even lockers in the front can be a real hand-full...litterally.

Thats what make open forums great, everbodys opinion.

I dont see how a Buggy or jeep moving at 3 MPH tops will see a "deadly" situation from a bearing failure and thats never happend to my Jeep in 5 hard years from a welded diff?????

Just because it doe's not work for you, it works for plenty of off road only truck, Jeeps and buggys
And I agree a spool/weld or even a locker in the front doe's plow steer, but with tire pressure around 2-3psi and Hydro steering I manage.

Jason.