weld spider gears?

[stonetrail]

I was talking to my friend who just welded the spider gears in the rear of his truck, is this a bad idea to try?

[bartonmd]

It's not bad at all, if you only drive off road, and aren't ever in a situation where you want to turn and both rears have traction, and the fronts are on a low traction surface...

- Wears tires out on the street
- sucks in the snow (not wanting to turn, and cutting your rear end's traction in half when turning, so you do a lot of doughnuts when you don't want too)
- Hard on shafts and carrier in the rear end

Mike

[stonetrail]

I have to drive my tb every day so probably not going happen. Thanks for the advice.

[glfredrick]

We do it all the time, and I'm planning on welding the rear of my Ranger truggy at first (until I can spring for an ARB and 3 spline axles).

On the street, you will drag one tire around corners, as the slower wheel can't release as the vehicle makes the turn. Something has to give, and it is the tire. On slippery conditions, while you have double the traction, you also have no way to halt side-slipping, which is rather disconcerting in snow and traffic. In an open rear axle (spider gears work correctly) one tire will always be there as an anchor, just rolling along, holding the vehicle somewhat straight. That is taken away when they both spin all the time.

Oh, and of course, it is harder on the axles. I've seen them twist off during hard acceleration around corners if one tire doesn't skid.

If another axle is in the plans and you need instant traction, give it a shot. If you need to run that axle, don't. It would be ruined for repairs and need, at least, a new carrier plus all the internals to bring it back to stock condition.

Weld the spiders by first carefully cleaning any axle grease, drying well, then pre-heat to just under dull red with a torch. Weld with high nickle rods or good wire in a MIG. Clear out all the slag so it doesn't get between other gear surfaces. You can weld the entire carrier into a lump or just weld the spiders together so they remain removable (good luck with that...). Don't even mess with what is called a "fozzy locker" where you weld a lump between the teeth of the side gears so they can rotate a bit before hitting the lump. That is the ultimate in stupidity because moving just a bit is worthless in the carrier, and anything that moves will slam and break faster. Either make them solid or don't weld.

[fishsticks]

We tried welding what was left of the spiders up in my 8" midway through the Labor Day wheeling trip I was on.

Bottom line, we couldn't get the carrier to stop sweating oil before we ran out of torch fuel. The welds didn't last more than the test trip down a gravel road.

Make sure all the oil is out of the metal you're trying to weld to, or you'll be an unhappy camper.

[chevy6bt]

are there any lockers available for the rear of the tb?

[fishsticks]

If you have/upgrade to an 8.6, there's a ton of options.

For the 8" found in the short wheel base models, the G80 is your only option.

[BSalty]

I saw a guy with welded spiders at the track (drag racing) pull his front tires off the ground on launch broke his weld and the car came down facing the stands at full throttle. Kinda soured me on welding them.

Was a good show though.