so what do you guys think? we have talked about welding the stock u-joint clips in. and welding the caps. i dont break axles or u-joints on my front 44. the clip pops out... cap comes off.. then both axles are junk. will stock axles hold up to the strenth of a ctm with full clips? or would macining the axles down to accept those clips make it too weak? i know some of u guys run this way. how does it hold up?( dont have $$ for chromoly axles yet.)

im tired of doing this...

if your not breaking U-joints just get full circle clips for stock U-joints and save your money for CTM's and warn shafts. I don't thinkit would be horrible running CTM's and stock shafts but I would plan on upgrading to take advantage of the U-joints.

how and where do u get full circle clips for stock joints?

Why don't you just tack the caps on like you mentioned?

Originally posted by liveaxle
Why don't you just tack the caps on like you mentioned?

I've had great luck with welded caps.

so u weld them on the outside of the cap too the axle ears? got any pics?

Dude, stock axles and CTMS!!! :rainbow: :rainbow:

I would put $$$$ that you are blowing the caps outa the shafts and then the yokes go right after that!!! The problem you are going to have is first you have to grind the area all the way around the yoke for the full circle clip, then, know whats going to happen? You are going to oblong the yoke on the weak ass crap stock shafts and spit the clip. We have tried the full circle clips, on 297's and the cap literally breaks around the clip. Just weld the caps into the shafts and be done with it, and you might have to replace a joint here and there like i did because the neelde bearings get chewed/spit out, but you DO NOT blow the joints, if you do, then YOU NEED WARN SHAFTS/CTMS!

thanks CRASH.. you dont have to yell @ me.. just wanted some info.

lol, if i was yelling, you would have known, I do that to get my point across. I come from a club that has a vast amount of knowledge that comes from experiance and its hard to get your point across to some people...

how hard is it to replace a joint after it has been welded in? thats why i want tosee a pic, so i know how much and where too weld. can you do a trail repair on a welded in joint?

Man, i knew i should have taken a picture of when i replaced a joint on wedsnessday. Mine are welded in, and after a # of HARD runs the short side joint had actually tossed the bearings outa 2 caps, and one cap actually broke 2/3 of the weld on 1 cap, needless to say, if they wre not welded in, i would have tossed a cap when i was fully gettin it..
Here are the pics when i origionally built my RC44..
http://www.pnw4x4.net/crash/thetoy/rc44/RC26.jpg
http://www.pnw4x4.net/crash/thetoy/rc44/RC27.jpg

As for replacing the joint, no biggy, just grind the welded area, digging the grinder more inboard on the cap, smack it with a hammer till you can see the cap line in the metal, piece of cake....

thanks CRASH, thats what i wanted to see. i would think that the heat from welding, would make thejoint fail earlier than normal. whats your expierence? hey crash, do you ever break an axle, or u-joints( when your gettin it)?

I tryed welding in the caps and every one i did it to the needles broke up and came out after about two runs to the hammers. I had better luck not welding them. If you want some cheep strenth get the spicer 760s they seem to hold up much better than the 297s. MY cusin has broken about 20 297s and then switch to 760 and didnt brake one of them only the shafts after that. Now we have both gone to CTMs and Warns. No brakage yet:D

I would cool them down after welding with water. Have yet to blow anything apart yet, but the broken weld/bearings went durring my trip to the con.
Randy has some good points, but it also has to do with how you drive your rig, how much weight, how big of a motor bla bla bla..
Just give it a shot, not expensive and easy to do. And another thing when you use a 297-x joint, you can pump them full of grease when you are done

I've been running 760 last couple of runs with no brakage. I also tacked the caps in four places on each cap. I haven't thrown a cap yet, but until I do I think crashes weld is a little excessive. :D

THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING. I HAD HEARD IN 3 OR 4 SPOTS not all the way around. i guess if 1 thing works fo u ...keep doin it!

Excessive?? Umm, when it broke 2/3 of the weld, where otherwise if it was a "TACK" it would have tossed the cap? I don't consider it excessive, i have a grinder, and carry spare stuff to replace it with....

Originally posted by crash
Excessive?? Umm, when it broke 2/3 of the weld, where otherwise if it was a "TACK" it would have tossed the cap? I don't consider it excessive, i have a grinder, and carry spare stuff to replace it with....

Maybe your welds aren't that good. :flipoff2: :D


I just tagged mine in 4 spots after that caps started spinning. No problems since. I didnt want to cook the cap too much.

2stroke---just like crash says....even with the full clip the ridge "erodes away" and the cap walks out destroying everything. Tried the tack weld of the half clips also. Same thing....caps ends up walking out. Now I have the CTMs and the Warns. I believe all issues are gone now...and it looks professional. check this out http://dreamwater.com/zuk/warnaxle.html

Looks really good zuk (drooling)

:D thanks for the update Zuk... i wish i could spend that $$ right now. im gunna try and weld my caps in soon, unill i can afford the cool stuff:emb:

Originally posted by crash
Excessive?? Umm, when it broke 2/3 of the weld, where otherwise if it was a "TACK" it would have tossed the cap? I don't consider it excessive, i have a grinder, and carry spare stuff to replace it with....
IMHO, you dont need to weld them that much. The yokes must have been super wobbled out for it to break 2/3 of the weld. The cap had to rock back and forth in the yoke to only break 2/3 of the weld. If the cap had spun, it would have broke all the way around.

As far as welding them, I have only ever used just one small tack on the clip and the cap. NEVER had one spit out yet.

A side note, they were brand new shafts when i built the 44..

How about a bet, lets go get it and see who spits a cap first :flipoff2:

:bounce2: :bounce:

Originally posted by crash
A side note, they were brand new shafts when i built the 44..

How about a bet, lets go get it and see who spits a cap first :flipoff2:

you will be betting with a 35sp/35sp 60. I tossed that 44 crap away. Still want to take that bet?:flipoff2:

Originally posted by crash


As for replacing the joint, no biggy, just grind the welded area, digging the grinder more inboard on the cap, smack it with a hammer till you can see the cap line in the metal, piece of cake....

LOL you need to elraborate more.
Mine used to suck replacing the joint, grind it down, beat it with a hammer, grind it more, hit it harder, screw up the yoke :D
And forgot doing it on the trail.

Just buy another axle.
I never welded that much, just made long tacks covering about 75% of the total cap, and yup, like crash, the welds to brake when the cap turns after a while, but at least you can catch it before it goes, its not hard to climb under and look for the broken welds

Originally posted by welndmn


LOL you need to elraborate more.
Mine used to suck replacing the joint, grind it down, beat it with a hammer, grind it more, hit it harder, screw up the yoke :D
And forgot doing it on the trail.

Just buy another axle.
I never welded that much, just made long tacks covering about 75% of the total cap, and yup, like crash, the welds to brake when the cap turns after a while, but at least you can catch it before it goes, its not hard to climb under and look for the broken welds
i have custom length axles.. so having spares gets expensive!

I think if you eliminate the U joint as a problem area, you'll just start breaking the shaft at the splines, where it necks down.

Chromo axles with stock joints would probably be stronger than CTM + Stock shafts.......