lincoln locker

ok im for sure lincoln(well actually miller matic 175ing) locking my rear dana 44 because im getting new gears soon but not soon enough for the hollister trip im going on, on the 5th. I want to be locked for this run and really dont care about my diff considering it will be very temporary. the question is what points on the spider gears can i weld so it will be the strongest? how have any of yours done, and how has it held up?
thanx
-Shomsky

From pirate:

"This is one of those 'ask 100 people, get 100 different opinions" kind of questions. I'll leave it to you to sort through it and decide what you think is best. Personally, all my side and spider gears are welded to each other and the carrier.

Gears to gears and gears to carrier is the way I have seen hold. if you just weld the side gears and spider gears together all your force is on the pin. this may be ok on big axles like d60's, 70's, 14 bolt's, etc. but the pin can break when it is done like this on smaller axles.

I like to get some real beef in there. In the old days (before Everybody had a MIG) we would throw some nuts and bolts in the weld area and burn them in for additional filler. I prefer not to weld to the casting of the carrier, but I know people who have done it without problems.

If you have a DANA axle...weld the piss outta it...the new carriers are about $50-$75 new. The 14bolt carrier remains even if you buy a locker and they are $250 new...this is why people are only welding the spiders on the 14bolt. Just in case they go locker later....

The first time I helped a buddy weld one up, we welded it to the carrier and ended up having to reset the gears cuz the carrier musta expanded or something.

Well I can show you a way that has been tried and tested on front 44s and for 60s or any thing that you don't have to go in and pop out c-clips. Weld spiders to sides and sides to spiders on both sides and then take a rectangle piece of metal 3/8 thick or even thicker and drop it in on both sides and then weld it all the way around. Never has caused problems as of yet! 6 years going on 7."

ok makes sense untill the last part with the 3/8th rectangular paice of steel because where am i supposed to fit that in?
just so i get this straight you mean to weld the 2 spider gears, on the sides of the carrier holding my axles in, to the carrier itself? then weld the actual gears where the teeth come together? are you saying to put the peice of steel in between the teeth kind of?
thanks

On my D60 rear I welded the gears to each other and to the case. I special uni-chrome rod that has a very hitensile strength. Going on 5years now and its been moved from one vehicle to another. Proabably overkill but the first vehicle it was in had a built up 360V8 and 35" Mud tires.

ok, what if i welded the gears together, then to the sides of the carrier/case. then put in a peice of thick squre steel on both sides of the spider gears and welded it heavily in 4 different places onto the gears? does that make sense?
oh and should i take the carrier our of the housing when doing this or just leave it in so i dont have to mess with screwing up backlash and crap?

pull the carrier (shouldn't need to worry about re-setting up the gears), remove the ring gear, cover the bearings with wet rags, use anitsplatter, use something to shove inside the splines to prevent splatter from entering, preheat and let cool naturally, weld the plates kinda like this:

BrettM said:

Click to expand...

I personally don't think you need to add any extra steel but if you want to go then go for it. Weld it in stages so you don't overheat the carrier and warp it. I would definatly take it out of the axle, if you don't you risk having the electricity go thru the bearings which causes arcing and damage.

cLAYH said:

I personally don't think you need to add any extra steel but if you want to go then go for it.

Click to expand...

I agree with cLAYH. Shomsky462, I just posted the tips off of pirate and then showed you where to put the plate if you want to. I have never used any extra material, just a lot of weld.

alrighty then. that jsut about sums it up for me.
thanks for the help and that pic is exactly what i meant and what you were talking about earlier.
thanks
-Ryan

I'm with the "weld the piss out of it" group.