Welding up the rearend here real soon and need some input on either filling the carrier almost full of weld OR doing like this writeup at coloradok5 where they only filled in about four of the teeth slots on each of the side gears.

http://www.coloradok5.com/welded14bolt.shtml

I don't really plan on putting a lockrite in there in the future so I'm not totally concerned with saving the carrier HOWEVER it looks like alot less welding doing it the coloradok5 way.

Which way should I do it?

Thanks.

I've heard to just weld the spiders together, don't really know why though. Perhaps the cast (i think) construction of the carrier would lead to problems with welding? Just a guess

chad

I welded up my rockwell today. Do it the ColoradoK5 way. That puts the strees on the carrier itself, by trying to force it apart. Welding the spiders TO the side gears puts the stress on your welds, and does not allow any movement at all, which creates more stress in some situations, IE: cornering.

Good Luck

Weld the gears to the carrier and to each other. I have had mine this way and it works good. I blew the R&P and the welds held great. When the gears went it shook the shit out of the truck. Felt like someone hit the truck with a Mack truck.

Originally posted by jeeper111
I welded up my rockwell today. Do it the ColoradoK5 way. That puts the strees on the carrier itself, by trying to force it apart. Welding the spiders TO the side gears puts the stress on your welds, and does not allow any movement at all, which creates more stress in some situations, IE: cornering.

Good Luck

I stand corrected, and that does make sense...

btw jeeper111 how the hell do you fit the driveline in you sig in a YJ? Just curious

I weld the sidegear to the spider so that there is no movement. The way colorado5 shows will work, but I bet it is more likely to break as the gears try to push away from each other

yes i know someone who tried the colorado5 way and it wil definatly break! they allow just enough movement that it will shock load the spider and side gears and they will eventually let go. weld them up right. gears to gears and gears to to carrier is the way i have seen hold. if you just weld the side gears and spider gears together all your force is on the pin. this may be ok on big axles like d60's, 70's, 14 bolt's, etc. but the pin can break when it is done like htis on smaller axles.

I'm doing my 14 bolt tomorrow and it looks like the CK5 method is the only way you can do it on that axle. Am I wrong? Since it's a split case, you can't get in there with a rod when it's assembled. And if you just goober everything together chances are you won't be able to get everything lined up and the halves back together.
Unless: you do their method just to line up the parts correctly, verify fit, and then burn it together like you would a Dana carrier?
14 bolt is a good candidate for welding IMHO since if the welds break it's all stuck in that two piece carrier and shouldn't send chunks through the r and p.
Yeah yeah, you were asking about a 60...

Weld the gears to the carrier!

I tried to save the carrier in my D44 by just welding the gears to each other. This was the result (Twice!)
http://archiegallup.homestead.com/files/BrokenD44Gears.JPG
The teeth will shear off the spider gears. After asking around on here ( http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26162&highlight=Mini+Spool+D44 ) the general concensus from folks that have done it is to weld em to the carrier. Thats how I have it now and so far so good :D
Hope this helps.

There wasn't very much welding done in that last pic. I like to get some real beef in there. In the old days (before Everybody had a mig) we would throw some nuts and bolts in the weld area and burn them in for additional filler.
I prefer not to weld to the casting of the carrier, but I know people who have done it without problems.

IF you have a DANA axle...weld the piss outta it...the new carriers are about $50-$75 new. The 14bolt carrier remains even if you buy a locker and they are $250 new...this is why people are only welding the spiders on the 14bolt. Just in case they go locker later....

Here is the RC D60 we welded up for my CJ

http://jeepcj.homestead.com/files/Dcp_0560.jpg



See more axle pics at http://jeepcj.homestead.com/axle.html

Regards

MT
:usa:

Damn MT, that's a buttload of welding. I didn't weld the side gears to the carrier, just the side gears to the spiders. I welded the teeth that are contacting together, then put in a piece of filler metal, and welded that all together. The first time I helped a buddy weld one up, we welded it to the carrier and ended up having to reset the gears cuz the carrier musta expanded or somethin'.

Easy

well i can show you a way that has been tryed and tested on front 44s and for 60s or any thing that you dont have to go in and pop out c-clips. weld spyders to sides and sides to syders on both sides and then take a rectangle piece of metal 3/8 thick or even thicker and drop it in on both sides and then weld it all the way around. Never has caused problems as of yet! 6 years going on 7

The problem with going balls to the wall with the welder is you're welding heat treated metal which will make it brittle.
I know one guy who welded it like that who has wheeled the wee out of it for almost 20K miles and it's fine and still welded. Mine's welded like (i've got a full size) that and it took a heavy beating (front tires off the ground and bouncing on the rear) just this last weekend and it's fine. A guy up in Canada is the one who came up with this way of welding it...calls it a "Fozzy locker".

This is how i would recomend doing it.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/ubb/uploads/222222ll.jpg

the filling the voids method is the correct way to do it
if you are worried about the 'slop' hammering it apart (which i really doubt will occur) then be a little more careful with filling and grinding the voids to make the freeplay less.

the detroit has a ton more freeplay then filling the voids and much smaller gear teeth and the sides and spider look to be better metal, granted less teeth

Good info guys.

From what I've seen, the advantage of the coloradok5 way is to save the expensive 14 bolt carrier mainly cause all the lockers fit inside that carrier...detroit included.

I'm leaning towards the "weld the crap out of it" method mainly cause I'm not hearing about people breaking it very often using this method. Also, it is a dana 60 which has a relatively inexpensive carrier (unlike the 14 bolt).

Tanks:beer:

PS As for resetting up the gears (like EasyXJ mentioned) cause of heat warpage on the carrier changing the pattern...I'm putting in new carrier bearings so I have to do this anyway.

I welded it up last Friday morning. Welded everything together then put in two more spider gears out of a dana 44 and welded those in place. I don't think it's gonna fall apart:D

As for welding the side gears to the carrier...I did it on both sides. However, on one side the weld worked fine....on the other side it cracked straight down the center of the weld:confused:

Originally posted by Tankota

....on the other side it cracked straight down the center of the weld:confused:

that is what happens when you weld to cast. to prevent this preheat the cast you are welding to with a torch.