[fourby]

Hey all,
well I'm new here & was wondering what are you opinions welded diffs? The sierra I just brought has one & i'm not sure if I should replace it...
Thanks in advance.
Luke.

[lump_a_charcoal]

They are great off road, and illegal on road.
They will wear your tyres more quickly and place additional strain on your axles/diff.
They are cheap, effective and reliable.

[fourby]

Cheers for the prompt reply mate.

[want33s]

If a welded diff lets go it can/will destroy the whole centre.
If a (mini)spool is fitted the worst that can happen is you snap an axle or possibly strip a crownwheel or pinion.

IMHO mini spool is a much better option than welding and has the benefit of being reversible if you decide to change to an auto or air locker or even go back to standard.

Jas.

[appsie]

i run a welded rear,its as said great in the bush but crap on road and i dont like to drive it on road with it.It is cheap tho and suited the 4b side of things.

I have broken a couple of them and it has destroyed other gears in the diff centre so as said by jas the mini spool would be the better choice here for all his reasons.I am trying to chase up a spare carrier so i can go the spool route.

matt

[tOngEh]

What does a mini spool do?

[lump_a_charcoal]

locks both axles together without the need for welding.

[tOngEh]

Oh.... which means, its a full locker?

[twitchy]

Welded diffs............ Maybe just best I say no comment.

not a locker as such but full time locked.

[NT_TOM]

This is what happens when a weldie brakes

[Gwagensteve]

That's a front though. It's not going to be easy to weld one of them strong enough to be sure it wasn't going to break, and in any case, welded front diffs are a a fair PITA to drive with offroad in my experience.

I've welded quite a few rears and they're pretty reliable - it was the first thing I did to my old 1.0 rear diff.

I now run a mini spool rear and that's all I could ever see going in the back of mine, however, I don't DD, mines a LWB, and runs narrow tyres.

Steve.

[money_killer]

its the best budget mod u could ever do

[zukenutter]

I've never had a welded diff so I can't speak from experience. That said I think in the long term it would be a reverse economy. You'd wear your tyres in half the time and at $150 or more per tyre $400 for a auto locker seems quite cheap. Also there's the cost of replacement axles etc and the time spent under the vehicle.

If however you have an old beater that you don't spend much time, if any, on road with it would probably suit you perfectly.

[fourby]

Cheers all, For my First post I'm very happy with the response..

Cheers to a good forum!

Luke.

[grimreaper]

the guys runign an mini spool what was the cost for one of them

[want33s]

grimreaper wrote:

the guys runign an mini spool what was the cost for one of them

My mini spool cost US$97

[Gwagensteve]

zukenutter wrote:

I've never had a welded diff so I can't speak from experience. That said I think in the long term it would be a reverse economy. You'd wear your tyres in half the time and at $150 or more per tyre $400 for a auto locker seems quite cheap. Also there's the cost of replacement axles etc and the time spent under the vehicle.

If however you have an old beater that you don't spend much time, if any, on road with it would probably suit you perfectly.

That's a pretty big assumption zuknutter. I'm not sure that a welded diff 1/2's tyre life, and I'm not sure an auto locker has exactly the same wear rate on tyres as an open diff.

You're also assuming that a welded diff will break axles and an auto locker won't, and there's "more time spent under the vehicle" as a result. Tell that to the guys who have had auto lockers in and out numerous times trying to get them set up right.

It's clear that you're not a fan of welded diffs, and that's fine, but your assumptions aren't necessarily the case.

Steve.

PS mini spools are now USD $109 Each + shipping.

[kenn]

ARB Air Lockers rock..

[joeblow]

welded diffs i hate. auto lockers i hate (i've had both). both require the driver to be half decent in tricky on road situations. the 'its just my off road toy' just doesn't cut it, as vehicles have to be on road some part of the time. both will lead to excessive axle wear, tyre wear, driveline wear etc.

and encouraging people to use spools or a welded diff is poor pr.

[steve]

bah, a welded diff is just a air locker, with no switch