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:roll:I was wandering if anyone has ever welded their front diff gears together to provide a direct drive. Basically like a locker. Was wandering what the off road ride was like, how well it held up (if at all), if it caused any problems. I know this isn't axactly a good idea but I want to hear from people who have actually done it, not those too afraid lol.
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did it, not on an ex but worked good. make sure you line up the u-joints on reassembly and you can leave one hub unlocked for turns or till things get hairy.
I would honestly just do it right and get a locker. If a weld breaks on the spider gears, you'll be hating life. I've seen welded spiders implode in the diffy and basically shoot out the cover.
You will grenade those auto hubs so fast your head will spin. Do yourself a favor and buy manual hubs. As for welding the front diff, it puts a lot more stress on the shafts and u-joints than a locker because it can't unlock, and snow driving in 4x4 wont be fun (a front locker won't much better in the snow). A few people have done it and really like it, I'd strongly recomend tacking the u joint caps in place or they'll spin the clips off and spit the caps out. I'd also do an e-clip eliminator spring, you don't want to have to pull the pig out of the beam if you grenade that inner joint or shaft. If it's properly welded you'll never have to worry about the welds letting go.
Check around your hardware stores, it needs to be 1 3/8" ID and around 4" long and it goes between the slip joint on the passenger shaft, it can't be super stiff like a valve spring. The spring I used was actually 1 1/4" OD and I used a pair of pliers to enlarge it, it works good.
