welding your spider gears!

[ExplorerJimbo]

i was just wondering what the pro's and con's are for welding up your spider gears. i have a 01 x 3.55 open diff.

so if anyone could help me out id appreciate it. thanks!

 

[TheRookie]

Well the main pro would be you now have a locker. The main Con would be turning. If its often street driven dont even considder it.

 

[bmxking5]

I haven't ever tried it...nor would I ever want to do so on anything that might ever be street driven, which I believe yours is, correct?

 

[boominXplorer]

get an aussie, cheap and you have an open carrier to make it work

 

[ExplorerJimbo]

how much do they run usually?

 

[bmxking5]

229 bucks

 

[ExplorerJimbo]

yeah, mines my street driven everyday for a few more months. i was thinking about a locker but i dont have the extra money right now... guess ill wait it out haha

 

[jimbo74]

you can weld it, but you have t odo it right... and about not having extra $ for a locker... well hate to tell you this... but you wotn have extra $ for the tires after you make the rear end welded.... i have heard of people thrashing 40k mile tires in a month with only 1500 miles.....

 

[Racerx70]

Here's mine! Was ok to drive. When it wasn't wet. Crosswalks can be scary when wet My tires were starting to show more than normal wear after about 3 months, but I only drive 4 miles to work.

Also, the weird looks you get in the Grocery store parking lot are priceless.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

You do have the weld them up right. I've heard people breaking the welds and just messing up a lot of things. I personally would never do it, but possibly if it was going to be 100% towed to trails. Just my opinion.

-Drew

 

[nissanboy]

Silly web wheelers

If you havent tried it keep your opinions as opinions. I ran mine for a little over a year in snow, rain, ice, dry, offroad and onroad with no problems. True it chirps tires but if you rotate your tires every oil change and dont constantly make u-turns you will not get as bad of tire wear.

 

[Racerx70]

Silly web wheelers

1. If you havent tried it keep your opinions as opinions.

2. I ran mine for a little over a year in snow

1. Ditto

2. you've got my respect

 

[RockRanger]

I welded my ranger diff up. Have about 6000 miles on it in about 7 months. I did it cause I was broke and and cause it is my second vechicle so I dont really need to drive it everyday. Its just more fun to drive my ranger then my fullsize truck. Tires wear faster and squal pretty load in parking lots. I have run a lock right and a detroit in my old ranger so I have a bit to compare it to. I am thinking about pulling it out and replacing it with an aussie if that tells you much.

 

[nissanboy]

8.8 carriers suck in the first place... save you money and weld it till you can afford a full replacement carrier locker.

 

[TheRookie]

Well considdering i am not a webwheeler and have tried it thats pretty lame to say. Perhaps you should know who you are calling what before you bother to speak.

Now it is bad on tires, bad in foul weather, and around me will get you in lots of trouble from the law. What happens is your tires make tons of noise in a turn and here you will get pulled over for it. Lunch box lockers are cheap. Buy one if you want to be locked, that easy.

 

[james t]

I daily drove the green lantern with a spool for over a year because it was all i had at the time. You "learn" how to drive with it. By instinct you will take wider turns and stay easy on the gas when turning. Its not that bad, but when you have no heat, no defrost, no A/C, no radio, no EFI, no choke, no speedometer, no transfer case shifter boot, no seal around the doors, and turn signals that smoke inside the dash when used for more than 15 seconds its really something you dont pay attention to.

 

[NOS/86]

anyone had problems breaking axles with the 8.8 welded ? and yes you learn to drive with it . i think welded is way better than a locker (no lock/unlock) , but spools are the way to go .

to make your carrier stronger . when you weld the spider gears together (the teeth) , go back and weld the gears to the carrier . anywhere they touch . makes it super strong and doesn't break .

but this said..a aussie is nice also . or a eaton .

 

[Racerx70]

I wheeled mine hard here for about 8mo. with no issues. None of the jeep guys running 8.8's have broke axles either. Although one did break a carrier running a mini-spool. And another bent the flange on one over a season of wheeling with 36 iroks.

To note is that we have little(almost no) rocks on ours trails and what is there is ussually coated in mud or is just river rock(loose).

In fact, with my new ECTED I have run three trails and only NEEDED to lock it once. The L/S did the trick the rest of the time. Night and Day difference from the trash-lock that was in there before.

 

[old mechanic]

HEH! Back in the day we did that for our 1/4 mile runs. Thats about all we had then.

 

[Hotweels]

heh.... this is so funny to read....

i run 35x12.5 claws with a full spool...
the tires dont squeel much
hardley chirp at all...
and the only time you will notice the spool is under 30kph or when winter hit's... or it rains and you stomp on it out of the parking lot infront of a RAV4 for the first time and you end up sideways across 2 lanes of traffic in the perfect power slide

a spool is not that bad..... but with ever rising fuel costs a spool will hit you in the wallet sooner or later.

weld er up... 8.8 carriers are cheap so if you dont like it change the carrier out, simple.