gear change and "locker"

DutchVDub

DutchVDub

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Milliken, CO
Yesterday I swapped out my 3.07 gears for some 3.55's out of an automatic. I picked up the factory ring/pinion for my D30 from Troy (Yellaheep) and installed a 27-spline 8.25 in the back that had been sitting in my storage for the last month or so (actually I'd picked that up from Troy aswell). So after picking up some stuff and getting all the oils I needed I headed over to Josh's (Stang5lgt) to do the work. We started with the rear and as I have a complete 29-spline setup to put in the 8.25 i decided to get the most out of the weaker 27-spline stuff and weld up the spider gears for that full-on locked effect. I didn't take any pictures as I forgot my camera but luckily Josh had his and snapped a few.

Dana 35 ready to come out
Lift031.jpg


8.25 internals removed for welding
Lift032.jpg


Welded up spider
Lift033.jpg


Resealed and ready to go in
Lift034.jpg


Is something missing? I can't remember what goes here. :D
Lift035.jpg


So many thanks to Troy for always having parts handy and even more thanks to Josh for letting me use his garage and help with all the work. Oh, and thanks to Julie for allowing Josh to help me. :)
 
The Jeep drives so much better now around town and on the highway, its almost like having it back to stock. As for any problems with it being permanently locked out back, well besides a bit of tire scrubbing when parking and taking tight turns there aren't any. This isn't my daily anyways, I have a VW for that. Can't wait to go wheeling next weekend and test this thing out.
 
DutchVDub said:
Welded up spider
Lift033.jpg
Click to expand...


Ok..... I'm confused. What exactly did you weld to "lock" that rear diff? I thought you had to weld the spiders to the carrier, all I see is some beads on the teeth of the gear..... :dunno:
 
YELLAHEEP said:
Ok..... I'm confused. What exactly did you weld to "lock" that rear diff? I thought you had to weld the spiders to the carrier, all I see is some beads on the teeth of the gear..... :dunno:
Click to expand...
If you take the two side spider gears (the ones axles go into). Leave two groves open right across from each other. The other gear isn't in the pic but it welded too. It moves a little but it locks it. Whenever the cross pin gears try to spin they hit those welds and stop. Works like a champ.
 
I was thinking it might not be too bad of an idea to go back and dothe same to the cross-pin gears aswell. Although for now I am happy with it. I took my Jeep to the dirt mound behind King Soopers on 104th and Washington tonight and climbed up the steepest section with it still in 2hi. Jeep just climbed right up w/o any problems. When my Jeep was completely stock and on the generic a/t seasonals it couldn't get up that particular approach in 4hi or 4lo.

I would explain the "what did you actually weld" question but Josh beat me to it.
 
Hmmmmm..... Interesting concept. I guess it allows for some limited movement between the right and left tires before it locks up which might be some benefit over a solid welded set up.... but then again, I could see that additional movement acting like a hammer inside the carrier and things could bind and put stress on the carrier housing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is...... Let's say you're trying to climb slick rock and both tires want to spin on the rock. One gets traction and the tire spin that was happening before that has allowed for some inertia... the other tire/axle shaft is likely to get some spring back since the carrier isn't welded up like a spool..... dunno if that makes sense, but repeated "jambing" of the welded bead into the cross pin seems like big potential for carrier failure. A carrier that has a full set of spiders welded together AND to the carrier itself is basically a spool.

I'll be interested to see how it performs and holds up. When you do swap that set up out for a locker, I'd love to see what the parts look like after a few runs.
 
Nice thing about the way Josh did this is that I can bring my 29spline shafts and spiders with me and if something breaks on the trail it'll still be easy to take evrything apart and swap out. I also have a spare 3.55 ring gear w/ carrier for the axle. That is why I was not worried about ruining these by welding them. And you can't beat the price of a locker that is done for the whopping sum of 2 arc welding sticks, maybe 20min of electricity, and some time grinding.
 
I definately see your point with the "hammering" effect. I have thought of this myself. I'll definately post up pics of the inside after I swap to a real locker and take this one apart.
 
I think it'll be ok, even with the movement. As long as the welding rod was of high enough strength and the weld penetrated well there shouldn't be any problems. ARC welding is actually stronger than MIG welding, so it should be fine.
 
Stang5lgt said:
I know there was penetration cause it was trying to melt the teeth.
Click to expand...

Good thing I read the whole post.............................:wow:
 
that is probably the most useful idea I've seen this week on here... never even though about just welding the joints on the spiders....

whoever asked the "jambing" question.. if you only weld it like the OP did I'm sure you'd get some hammer effect, but as he stated hes ready for it. If you do it solid like in the link that was posted you wouldn't have any "slack" for the gears to move and slam... I really like the idea its makes it super simple to do repairs if the spiders should fail...
 
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