I have had an axle snap before. And I have had the weld break, which saved the axle. I guess it depends what is most valuable.
I kept on welding till the whole center was full........ Never broke it though.....
Cutties are not advisable.......
Josh Curwen, 26/02/1987-26/10/2008, the world is a lesser place without you, you will be missed little Fox, game on..........
Member of the Leaf Sprung Axle Trampers ClubOriginally Posted by 7shades
Click me for epic jump video I is used the force.......
I have had an axle snap before. And I have had the weld break, which saved the axle. I guess it depends what is most valuable.
the fact that changing 3 diffs in one month sucks and costs money, the more you fill it, the stronger it will be, with pretty skinny 14s you will never break an axle not even behind a 4age never mind a 4k, if you go to the trouble of pulling the crap out, cleaning it all up and getting the welder out, you may as well do it properly.
when i say i smashed mine, one diff spat a spider gear through the side of the diff housing (welded by a reputable diff shop who does alot of speedway cars)
one the spider gears just fell apart and seized the bastard up (my job, lasted more abuse than above and was pretty dangerous, i had to rock the car backwards and forward for about 30 mins on my own in the rain before i could start pushing it and get it out the way)
third just got noisy and stopped giving drive, never bothered looking to see what was up.
4th one was filled to the brim, Duncan at top cog did an awesome job, i rebuilt everything in the diff while i was there and over filled it with good oil, and it took over 2 years of abuse and is in a friends car taking abuse today, I would have kept using it but i ended up going t way in a t series.
lockers have their place, but so do 2 ways, i prefer the latter
wheelfriends.wordpress.com
how much did it cost you mate? im on the coast and wanna get my diff locked
With a locked diff, you will always break an axle eventualy, if you use Corolla/Celica size axles. I did this, on 14" tyres. It is not the power of the motor that does all the damage, but just driving around with the axles chirping on corners. My diff was welded good and didn't fail, the axle broke. It is known to happen.
I have heard of someone draining the oil from their diff, and putting the welding rod in through the filler hole and welding it up that way. Something to laugh about I guess.
Ok guys.....
For starters welding diffs is dangerous AND illegal....
Ok now thats outa the way....
The diff in the pic at the top of the page does require more welding....
You should weld as much as possible around the side gear the the axle go through.
And put a fair amount of weld between the side gear and the smaller pinion gears..
That will lock it good and proper....
Now the reason some welded diff break is Heat....
When you guys weld your diffs what do you do....
Pull them out clean them up and throw some weld in there..
Lets think about this for a second... Your welding a HARDEND steel gear to a big chunk of cast iron.... All the heat from your weld is immidiatly absorbed buy the cast section og your diff effectivly tempering your weld making it very hard and brittle. Hence the failers... And why the guys that pour heaps of weld into the diffs don't have as much trouble.. Casue the excessive amounts of weld heat the entire centre up thus stopping the tempering of the weld..
Sooo.. The lesson is... If you want it to last and don't want to waste a hole roll of wire filling your center up the brim (which is completly pointless and bad for your diff) Just heat the thing up first....
And let it heat evenly....
A good hour in the oven will do it.... Might make your kitchen smell horid though
Failing that a big arse LPG blow torch or the grill on your BBQ...
That being said....
My friend and I have both locked diffs in the manner mentioned at the start of my post and have never had a problem....
And most have been in decently quick drag cars....
wow thats alot of effort... ive done a few diffs, none have failed
both with stick welders, i pump about 140 amps into them
i weld the spider gears together, then weld them to the casing
whack in some bolts and weld them in too
and bobs ya uncle
i want mine done soon. im in south east QLD. anybody now or want to do it?
chop and lock
best ke mods every invented
but it pisses me off when people assume your hooning cos your car is loud, has bald tires, a roll cage, fresh bake and dinted bumpers!!
Or driving in a wolf pack.
i went through about 4 borg warners welded in my old ae71 ..
got a mate to weld them up for me.. one day i was sick of it so i filled the entire centre up with weld lol
still going strong to this day taking regular beating from tar to dirt lol
1983 ae71
1984 ae71 with ke70 front
1983 ae86
ke ford laser with massive doof lol