welding diffs??

Anyone done this on the X or anyother rig?? Something I am just looking into..

Jackal (Jeff something-or-other) from back in the day had welded the rear on his 2wd. He said it gave him a good traction advantage, but tire wear was really bad. The weld actually broke and the gears started spinning while running trails at GOX.

Don't even think about it.

If you buy some old POS beater trail-only rig for $1000 then go ahead and Miller-lock it. If you want a locker in a nice vehicle like an Xterra, pony up the $$ for an ARB or get really funky and swap axles or something.

Only weld them if you have nothing to loose, I have driven a couple of welded diffs and they chirp and chatter all of the time. After a very short time they were put in perminant farm duty and never hit pavement again.

It's Lincoln Lock, from the old Lincoln stick welders, that every farm boy had, not Miller lock, from the more modern, MIG welders.

I agree its not a good idea for a daily driver. A trail rig HELL YES!!! Something that drives on snow and ice HELL NO!!!

The H233B is more than strong enough to handle being welded, but if it's a DD, I wouldn't do it. It'll eat through the tires in a hurry.

If you're talking about the front, though, don't even think about it. The R200A isn't strong enough to be welded permanantly, and honestly, you'll risk breaking axles much more easily when you offroad. For DD driving, though, you won't notice the front being welded if you have manual hubs. If you have auto hubs, you'll constantly be locking up one side hub when you go around turns, which will make it much more difficult to turn, and could cause breakage on the street.

It's "insert-any-welder-name-here" locked... I hear both Miller and Lincoln used frequently.

Damn Miller propagandists....

Its LINCOLN fer chissasakes.

On Land Rovers we used to fill the carrier with lead. If you didn't like it you could melt the lead out and have an open diff again.

I was thinking about welding the front diff and using manual hubs. Would this be significantly differnt than using a locker such as the Arb? Obviously it would be more inconvenient as I would have to get out of the truck to lock the hubs, but other than that...?

It would be significantly different if you were to ever want to unlock them, like if you drive on icy/snowy roads in the winter! It'd be great to get you moving, but once you get any speed you want those suckers open!

Don't weld the front diff, while you could unlock it using the hubs, you will not have four-wheel drive without a locked front. You cannot turn for crap when that thing is locked. I only use my front locker momentarily for the most part. Also, if you are off camber, it tends to make you crab.

A front locker is nice, but you don't need it that often.

Don't do it. That's the kind of crap people do on $1000 piece'o'sh1t beater. I've seen the weld break on a jeep and it grenaded the whole diff. Bad idea, IMO.

I welded the diffs on my 89 chevy with a 454, this truck was only meant for truck pulls.... I had a pro weld these, and after 3 or 4 fairs with this truck, the welds and gears were F'D!!!! and that's only using them for a couple hundred ft a week...... could have been the HP as well I guess

I had a welded up diff guy following me to the RUbicon....until his rear tire passed him....Granted mistakes were made but that was his 3rd, and most sucessful try

LOL...well, I think I see what the consensus is. Thanks for all of the input everyone.

Start plucking quarters into the ARB piggy bank

I have a 2002 x and I welded my rear diff. I's not a dd and I only wheel it, but I do drive it to the trails which can be 100 miles away. for what I do it was a great choice. And if it does break I will just spend the money and put an arb in.