Welding front diff on a daily driver

[The Jester Race]

Forget the D28, I shouldnt have even included it in my post. Plans have always been to swap in a D35. Back to the original question, welded front diff on a DD with manual hubs, Bad idea? As for having to use 4wheel on the street, ya right, I live in sunny California. Only time I ever use 4 wheel drive is off road.

 

[86ford]

Forget the D28, I shouldnt have even included it in my post. Plans have always been to swap in a D35. Back to the original question, welded front diff on a DD with manual hubs, Bad idea? As for having to use 4wheel on the street, ya right, I live in sunny California. Only time I ever use 4 wheel drive is off road.

Give me a few weeks. My 4dr explorer is welded front and mini spool rear. If I see this thread again in a few weeks I will let you know how it went.

86

 

[Destroyer000]

if your not running it on the street in 4x4 then a locked front wont hurt you.. id lock my dd but i use the 4x4 in it on the rds in the winter.. my b2 is fully locked an boy does it hate turning.. keep that in mind...

 

[JeepRecoveryTeam]

You can run a welded or a spool frontend on the street as long as your transfer case is in 2wd and hubs are unlocked but if you lock you hubs and try and turn youll have problems. However when dealing with a spool or weld off road there great for traction, but sometimes on certin "tight" trails ive actually seen people pull one axle shaft and sacrafice tration for turning radius. even on dirt its a bi tch to make a turn or a switch back turn your truck will hop hard core and when it does the only way to keep it moving is to give it gas and when you do POP Ping ping and back to 3wd. I would recomend crom moly shafts if you do weld it up for sure. but ive seen dana 44 crom mollys snap with 37s (jeep wrangler). dana 44 crom mollys are about the same strengh as a stock dana 60. but in the end id say weld it up weld a orb style, worst you could do is break a shaft or explode you diff. which blows up your r and p. if you do id pull a few shafts from the junk yard and keep them as spairs JIC. :icon_rofl: Happy wheelin.
MIke :icon_confused:

 

[FordMan016]

welding the front can be dangerous... since the spider gears allow power to be transfer power on cornering (+10% on one side -10% on other) if you weld it, it will not want to go smoothly it will want to skip and jump.

better to save up for a airlocker for the front and a LSD for the rear

 

[The Jester Race]

You can run a welded or a spool frontend on the street as long as your transfer case is in 2wd and hubs are unlocked but if you lock you hubs and try and turn youll have problems. However when dealing with a spool or weld off road there great for traction, but sometimes on certin "tight" trails ive actually seen people pull one axle shaft and sacrafice tration for turning radius. even on dirt its a bi tch to make a turn or a switch back turn your truck will hop hard core and when it does the only way to keep it moving is to give it gas and when you do POP Ping ping and back to 3wd. I would recomend crom moly shafts if you do weld it up for sure. but ive seen dana 44 crom mollys snap with 37s (jeep wrangler). dana 44 crom mollys are about the same strengh as a stock dana 60. but in the end id say weld it up weld a orb style, worst you could do is break a shaft or explode you diff. which blows up your r and p. if you do id pull a few shafts from the junk yard and keep them as spairs JIC. :icon_rofl: Happy wheelin.
MIke :icon_confused:

Thats pretty much what I was thinking, but wasnt sure.

 

[JeepRecoveryTeam]

ok, i thought i would be fine as long as i don't weld or put a spool in the front. i have been running 44" Boggers on the rear for about 3 months now and i finally got the lift done on the front

I wana see pics please!

 

[Hahnsb2]

Lock the rear. Welding a D28 will destroy it very quickly, especially with an open rear, you're going to make those tiny little shafts and joints in the D28 do all the work. I wouldn't even recommend welding a D35, especially with an open rear.

 

[dla]

You're joking, right?

I have a Lock-Rite in the D-28 on my choptop. With 33's in soupy mud I shattered an axle shaft... the U-joint was brand new and it didn't spit a cap. But it did break the ears off the stub and twist the splines off in the diff. I replaced the shaft and then was running around in the winter with the front hubs locked in and blew a U-joint. Heard a sudden THUMP-THUMP that rattled the floorboards and pulled over to investigate. Yup. Didn't even have to have the t-case in 4x4 to do it neither.

No offense, but that looks more like a failure due to not phasing the diff to tranny correctly. Something you have to do when you lift them.

 

[Hahnsb2]

No offense, but that looks more like a failure due to not phasing the diff to tranny correctly. Something you have to do when you lift them.

You have no idea what you're talking about, please avoid future topics of this nature.

 

[Shran]

Haha. This thread is awesome.

I have been wheelin the same set of shafts in my D28 for over a year. They have the original u-joints in them from 1986 and I have never even had a problem with anything from P205/75's to 33's.

 

[dla]

You have no idea what you're talking about, please avoid future topics of this nature.

Thanks!

 

[jeffro184]

i had 31" tires a 302 and a dana 28. first time i used 4x4 i heard bang pop bang bang guess what broke and axle haha, now 37" and dana 35 and its been ok now

 

[91rangercustom4x4]

No offense, but that looks more like a failure due to not phasing the diff to tranny correctly. Something you have to do when you lift them.

that looks to me like the axle that goes from the diff to the hub i'm pretty sure your wrong dla

 

[Todd]

This is funny.

I have experiance with a welded front open rear, then welded front and lock right rear, and currently welded welded on a off road rig only. I dont really share the info anymore, because If you have to ask, welded diffs are not for you. If DD, D-28, and welded diff are in the question, its not for you.