welding an 8.25

[88manche]

Its a 29 spline out of a 99 xj. stock shafts, 3.55 gears. how well would it hold up to wheeling?

i do some rocks, mud, slick trails, stuff like that. Im usually pretty hard on the gas.

Example:

 

[tbburg]

Welded difs are at the mercy of the welding. There's kind of a problem getting everything clean enough to get a good solid weld, and if(when) the weld lets go, you're screwed. As for how strong it is, well, it's not as strong as a spool. You definitely wouldn't want to drive it on pavement. It would hold up to what was shown in the video easy enough.

No, I don't recommend it.

 

[XJ Beater]

mines been welded for 4-5 months now, daily driver, holds up just fine, does great in the woods and not too bad on pavement either, snow=sucks though

 

[Fidget360]

basically, it depends on how much you weld it and how good of a welder you are. weld at just one point = fail quickly weld at all four possible points = pretty strong

 

[CanMan]

Mine has been welded for 3 years, 1.5 of that DD'n. Im not too easy on the throttle either, luckly I havent broke anything yet. It'll definitely wear the tires fast though. Ill be doing an ARB hopefully soon though.

 

[thechief86]

i kinda sucks in parking lots, but i don't think you'll break it, if you do a good job weldering it

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

nick, you have two rigs, do it! If they made a mini spool for the 8.25 i would say just spend the $75 on one of those.. but they dont.. so get to sparkin'

 

[89xj]

i would think/hope a driveshaft ujoint would go before a proporly welded rear, especially since it still has stock gearing.

 

[95' heep]

you'll be fine, I has been wheeling on a welded locked D-35 on 34" TSLs without a single problem

I recommend you to NOT weld the side gear to the carrier because the carrier is some kind of cast that will crack/pop as it cool like if you try to weld mild steel to cast iron differential housing.

by the way, in the video was it necessary to go that fast? just go fast enough to make it, to tread lightly!

 

[88manche]

i forgot to say i used to daily drive a 2wd, lowered, spooled 71 ford pickup as a daily. it really wasnt that bad. i still drive it, but its under construcion (new cab and front end sheet metal, engine, trans, etc) right now.

as for the welding, i work at a ford truck store that has a fab shop. we put dunp truck beds on cab & chassis freightliners. even though i have a good machine, im not a great welder.

and did i really need to go that fast, yes. the trail was slick and steep, almost straight up. i was going maybe 10 mph.

what im really concerned about is the tire walking out if i break a shaft or something. how hard is it to break an 8.25 like that?