Like the title says. I am going to get my spider gears welded. Whats better and why? Specific rod to use if stick welding. What kind of wire if mig? Yea I know all the downfalls of running locked rear ends but I have done it for years with spools and mini spools and I can accept the trade offs. Nope, I don't want to spend any money on this thing.

 

i'd say stick. some will cut up a welding rod and lay the cut pieces in the spider gears and fill it all up with weld.
not sure what rod to use, i've never done it.

here, weld er up like this...

 

i used my mig, just be sure to weld the spiders to the side of the carrier too and not just weld the gears together that way its stronger. i filled in the entire carrier with wire when i did mine.

 

is that off of pirate4x4? a guy was pissed on there a while back when his jeep wouldnt move after he "welded his diff"


_________________

 

That picture has been all over the web. That has got to be staged. There is no way he would have got that complete of a weld job with it in the carrier and after welding it, he'd never get i back in there...

What a lot of drift cars do when they weld their open is cut a small plate to connect all of the spiders, I've seen anything from 0.125 to 0.375 flat bar and that seems to be the end all solid method. I don't think it will make a difference which type you use but its easier to do a decent job with a MIG machine. Make sure you take off or cover that ring gear; a good dousing of anti-spatter couldn't hurt either!

 

you're mean

 

dont weld your spider gears. you can get a mini spool for like 100 bucks and then you have the option of going back to open diff. if you want to.....

 

Nickle rods work best but I've used a mig and if it is strong enough it'll work just fine. My mig will melt the spiders if I turn it up about 3/4 of the way.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I would run a mini spool but don't think they are availble for the 8.25. At least I can't find one.

 

Unless you're prepping a demolition derby car, there are few things that can be done to a vehicle that are more hack-tastic than welding the spiders.

Get a powertrax lockrite and do it right.

 

Sure I would like a lock rite or some type of locker but this Jeep is third on the totem pole. The other two have used up all the cash so it looks like welding is the way to go.

 

i took 2 wet rags and put them on the sides to keep spatter from getting into the axle shafts and becoming a cheese grater to the axle seals, also dont just clamp the ground to the axle itself or you could make the bearings weld themselves to the bearing race on accident. if i did it over id just pull the carrier it doesnt take but 10 minutes to do.

or you can weld the diff and get another open diff from the jy for less than 100 bucks if you decide to go back for some crazy reason

 

So I just got back from the farmers exchange. They had two kinds of nickel rod, 55% and 99%, which would be better? They both said for cast iron.