I am thinking I will weld the spiders on my front carrier which is a 10bolt. She is a 85 k5, stock 350 with few horses and not much more torque. I think that what will most likely happen is I will snap the front carrier. After all I believe it the original. What else should I expect to brake? are we looking shatfs or front axle u-joints after that? Also when the carrier goes it doesnt usually take the ring and pinion with it does it? Like I said she dont have much power, I try to rely on traction instead. By the way I only run mud.

Charlo

BOOM:nuke: :flipoff2:

if you run mud only in straight lines, you shouldnt have a problem... but the 10 bolt carrier sucks, so you will most likely brake shafts and joints first, then the carrier would probably go

well the good news I generally do run mud in strait lines only. (steering gear box is hanging by a thread) The other good news is i expect the carrier to go sooner or later, but I would prefer not snapping any shafts althought they are easier to replace than the carrier and less expensive too I think. Hmm I wonder why I am so scared of breaking a shaft? Its not soo bad on the front. A rear shaft would be a bitch though. Fug it, kiss my ass 10bolt :flipoff2:

Charlo



watch, just for that my t-case is gonna :nuke:

First off I will say that I dont have any personal experiance with welded front diff's. What I do have personal experiance is ARB front diff's. If you weld the front diff it will have essentially the same effect on your drivetrain as an engaged ARB. ARB's and 10 bolts make for lots of broken u-joints and Axles. as mentioned before, for straight line stuff welding the diff will probably be ok, but you cant disengage it like an arb. Turning is where you will have problems, and you are have to turn sometimes. :D Just my opinion, but if you have to do any turning on any surface condition (even the slickest mud), you will eventually have broken parts to show all your friends.

Is that the general concensus? I guess it all depends on how you drive it though.

http://www.alaskaoffroad.com/images/Caribouhills01/SplinecountCH.jpg

In his right hand is the spare 10 bolt axle, in his left is the broken stub of the 3rd or 4th replacement in the last two years. This guy is single handedly responsible for the lack of used 10 bolt axles around our community! Almost everytime he turns on his ARB he breaks something .:flipoff2:

so when an arb is engaged it is like a spool? I thought it was like a locker when engaged, as in "supposed to disengage for turns" but doesnt. I see what your saying. I do only make strait lines, through the mud, I turn around on the hard stuff though which is even worse. looks like another limited slip for me :(

Yup, an arb is just like a spool when engaged. Why dont you just leave it open untill you save enough for an ARB? They are expensive but worth it. It would be the best equipment for your application and you could just turn it off when you get to the end of the pit. Better on the street than a LSD if you have to drive in the snow at all.

On my Jeep (with a pathetic little D25 mind you) I only lock 1 hub until I get into a position when I need the other locked in. Someone on this board had a great idea to weld between the gears so if you wanted to do something different you could salvage the carrier. check it out.... hold on I need to up load them

http://pages.prodigy.net/nuttyisme/spider.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/nuttyisme/spiders.jpg
http://pages.prodigy.net/nuttyisme/spidersclose.jpg

I dont know what this was out of but I dont see why it wouldnt work for a 10 bolt.
What size tires are you going with by the way? I dont think I would go any bigger than a 33 with a 10 bolt welded or you will be replacing alot of axles. just my .02

That is a 14 bolt carrier. This will allow half a turn before a tooth shears off due to being jammed into a gob of weld......I woudn't recommend this. If you are gonna weld, weld everything to everything...

I dont think it will allow a half turn but the tooth in the goob of weld could be. The guy who did this did say he has been running his this way with no problems if I remember right. Gozuki does make a valid point anything is possible. Hell its just a 10 bolt billions served.

Yeah an arb would be nice but theres no way im putting $600 into a 10bolt. Rather put it towards a D60 so I can load up on bigger tires next time around.

I saw that welding the spider gears tech acticle on CK5, looks like it might work, but I suspect the carrier will be the first to go so no use trying to save it, unless anyone thinks that the 3 degrees of movement or so might save a shaft. Of coarse having to replace a carrier with a stronger limited slip one makes an arb look better.

Charlo

What kind of, if any, pre and post heat are people doing when they weld their diff's? Also, what rod?:confused: