[jim_dover]

i need to lock the front diff on my drove the rear is already welded but i was unsure about do the front is there any major down side to doing this like....... ?

[wyt91t]

your tyre wear will increase alot that is unless you dont snap anything else first..

[twitchy]

Hey Jim, your not Ben's brother are ya??????????

[steve]

Welcome to the site Jim!

Have you ever driven with a welded front? It's very difficult to steer when both wheels are on flat ground. So you would only weld the front if you were doing a lot of hardcore tracks.

I don't think you'd increase tyre wear at all on the front because you wouldn't spend much time with the hubs locked, you would probably want to unlock the hubs when you are not doing extreme tracks.

If your hubs are locked and you are in 2wd you will still find it difficult to steer because the wheels are still locked together and will put up as much resistance as the rear diff for turning.

With all that said, if you have no money for lockers, and all you mainly drive is extreme tracks, then go for it.

If you only do forest tracks and beach you won't like it.

[v.w.dave]

Hey Steve
A question to add to this. I have only ever had air lockers and that was on a old hilux with auto hubs. With a lock rite (not air lockers) on manuel hubs if they are set on free do they still lock up? I know that sounds like a back aswords question but I hope you understand what I am asking. I am looking at putting a lockright in my front axil and I know they are noisy but would they stil try to lock up if the hubs are free? And secondly how bad are they on tyres?

[steve]

an airlocker is the same as a welded diff, but you can turn it off, that's the "Weld On / Weld Off" button

once your hubs are unlocked and you're in 2wd, there's no drive to any part of the front diff, so it doesn't effect anything.

I like autolockers when they work properly. I don't think they are noisy at all, they go click click and that's ok, not good when they go bang bang.

No problem for tyres because when you're on the road you have the hubs unlocked so the diff lock doesn;t effect anything.

Auto lockers are always locked, and when you turn corners they ratchet freely and click click.

[JrZook]

steve wrote:

Auto lockers are always locked, and when you turn corners they ratchet freely and click click.

Technically an auto un-locker

[zookvitara]

so if one was to weld their front diff it would drive fine, just the same as an un-welded diff on road as long as the hubs were free yea? because neither the drive shafts or the diff is spinning. then when off-road, dirt/mud, grass, rocks, etc it would be ok? just like having an air locker engaged right?

[2stroker]

zookvitara wrote:

so if one was to weld their front diff it would drive fine, just the same as an un-welded diff on road as long as the hubs were free yea? because neither the drive shafts or the diff is spinning. then when off-road, dirt/mud, grass, rocks, etc it would be ok? just like having an air locker engaged right?

Yep that is right, the only problem is the inability to turn it off without getting out and unlocking hubs and taking out of 4x4. If you have ever driven with air lockers you will understand that you usually only use them when you need to, when they are engaged and the vehicle is climbing a rough track it will often self steer, if it is going where you don't want you can turn off the locker regain direction and turn it back on. With a welded diff when you are halfway up that scary track and it starts to steer you toward the trees or worse still toward a roll over you are stuck with what you have. If you had an air locker and turned it off you would still be in 4x4 but if you have to get out and disengage hubs you are in 2wd in a bad situation.

[Joe]

twitchy wrote:

Hey Jim, your not Ben's brother are ya??????????

[esky]

For a very short time, two trips, I had a welded front.
on road car was fine, couldnt tell it was there.

off road the traction was great. that was all.
steering sucked, and i like heavy power steering.
like trying to wrestle a sumo.

but the worst part was at the top of every hill climb I had to get out and undo the hubs to drive. i know some people do this anyway but I leave my hubs permanently locked.

First trip blew a CV. second trip, blew a CV. don't know how old the setup was as I just bought the diffs, but depending on what you drive buy stocks in axle and CV shops.

[money_killer]

if u weld the front up u will have to keep unlocking a hub (3 wd) so its easier for u to drive

[Gwagensteve]

Welded front diffs bring the suck.

They're great if you drive off the tarmac and straight onto extreme tracks, but for the rest of us, you will get totally sick of not being able to maneuver the car and getting in and out to lock and unlock hubs.

the dollar is good against the USD$. Even a cheap lock-wrong is better than welded for the front.

PS I have nothing against a welded/spooled rear. It's only the front they suck in.- my own car has a spooled rear and I see no advantage in anything else for my application.

Steve.

[v.w.dave]

what is a spooled diff???

[Gwagensteve]

A "spool" is a term for a replacement diff centre that has no differential action at all - it just locks the two axles together. It's the "proper" equivalent of a welded diff.

A spool isn't available for a sierra diff, but Trail Tough make a "mini spool" for a sierra/vitara- you remove the gears from the inside of the sierra diff and fit the mini spool. They are USD $109.

The advantage of the mini spool over welding is that it can be swapped from diff to diff, it's stronger, and shouldn't put chunks of weld etc through everything as it breaks.

I've welded plenty of diffs though, and it works fine, it's just that the mini-spool is better.

Steve.

[Fluffy]

even a 2L transfer case mod. wont help you? is that right?
cos the outside wheel will be forcing the inside wheel to turn more

[Gwagensteve]

Not once the hubs are locked - driven or not, that welded front isn't going to want to steer.

It's hard to describe how badly they can bind up- 31's on a sierra with manual steering and it can be impossible to turn the steering wheel.

Steve.

[zookster666]

Welded front diffs suck i had one in my first sierra when i bought it and it was impossible to turn, i took it out after driving with it on our property and even with one hub unlocked it pulls really bad in one direction.
Its just a waste of a diff if you ask me.

[mike.knew]

Has anyone heard of that you can fill your diff center with lead to get the same affect? That way you can melt the lead back out and return it to normal if ya want. Never done, never actually heard of anyone doing it, just heard it once somewhere around the traps.

[steak_knife]

mike.knew wrote:

Has anyone heard of that you can fill your diff center with lead to get the same affect? That way you can melt the lead back out and return it to normal if ya want. Never done, never actually heard of anyone doing it, just heard it once somewhere around the traps.

Don`t like it.. I can think of so many FAIL`S with that....

[ball]

mike.knew wrote:

Has anyone heard of that you can fill your diff center with lead to get the same affect? That way you can melt the lead back out and return it to normal if ya want. Never done, never actually heard of anyone doing it, just heard it once somewhere around the traps.

Shep sent me a link to a bunch of yanks with that idea. It was great for a laugh.

It started with the guy posting the tech article saying how good an idea it was. He never actually got around to fitting the diff to his car.

A stack of sheep copied him and I think they all had failures.

Lead is just way to soft to take the punishment that a diff would dish up.

For the hassle that you have to go through to pull a diff centre out, just buy either a spool or locker. Fit it and forget it.

[v.w.dave]

If I was planning on doing a little bit of everything when wheelen should I lockrite the front or just spool the rear?
If I put do put the lockrite in the front if I leave the hubs locked but it is in 2wd is it still hard to turn the wheel?

How bad is it when you have power steering (I am planning on putting P/S on in a few weeks time)

[v.w.dave]

ANd too add to that. If I was to spool the rear or lockrite the front or whatever If later down the track I want different gears will I need to replace them again or will they swop over?

[mike.knew]

ball wrote:

mike.knew wrote:

Has anyone heard of that you can fill your diff center with lead to get the same affect? That way you can melt the lead back out and return it to normal if ya want. Never done, never actually heard of anyone doing it, just heard it once somewhere around the traps.

Shep sent me a link to a bunch of yanks with that idea. It was great for a laugh.

It started with the guy posting the tech article saying how good an idea it was. He never actually got around to fitting the diff to his car.

A stack of sheep copied him and I think they all had failures.

Lead is just way to soft to take the punishment that a diff would dish up.

For the hassle that you have to go through to pull a diff centre out, just buy either a spool or locker. Fit it and forget it.

Cheers Ball, I will forget that bit of information lol

[jim_dover]

ok so thats a no on welding the front end cheers everyone for your input, its goin to be a while now anyway i'm having trouble fitting the airbox and pipes in lol