Welded Diff help

[natvet]

The roller bearings looked and felt good. I will clean the axles and take some pics of the bearing surfaces for yall to gander at. I have the 3rd member out and will clean it up and take some.pics to see if yall see anything amiss. At a minimum should I replace the roller bearing in the end of the axles?
Thanks for your help and good eyes
Nathan

 

[Dread Scott]

Could someone briefly explain why one would weld together moving/meshing parts?? I’m at a complete loss trying to understand this. Thx

Scott

 

[DangerNoodle]

Could someone briefly explain why one would weld together moving/meshing parts?? I’m at a complete loss trying to understand this. Thx

Scott

Spider gears allow for wheels to spin independently of each other since one wheel rotates more than the other when driving around corners, but it also causes one side to spin when you lift a tire or change the weight distribution when wheeling. Lockers lock the axle shafts together so both sides receive equal power and both will spin. Welding the spiders does the same thing but is much more permanent. It's as close to a free locker as you can get, with a lot of on-road performance issues.

 

[Steamer]

Could someone briefly explain why one would weld together moving/meshing parts?? I’m at a complete loss trying to understand this.

This YouTube vid might help. "How A Differential Works"

 

[Tennessee80]

Yeah, when it is welded it would be fully locked 100% of the time, so on road performance especially in full turns or corners could be sketchy. At least the lunchbox locker can disconnect, going around the corner, which is why you hear the ratcheting noise when pulling into parking lots

 

[Dread Scott]

Thank you for the education, guys. I’m not much into hard off-road stuff, mostly pavement and forest service roads/trails. The video was especially helpful.

Glad the OP got his welds cut out and hopefully the fix is easy!