Quick survey about welding a rearend.....

So here i am a poor college student, with a basic offroad jeep. I enjoy doin some of the stuff up around mt baker, and some runs on walkervalley, runnin 31's now (lookin for a set of 33's also ) on stock axles and a homebrew 4-4.5 inch lift.

so im looking at some options for me rear axle (and that one only) and im wondering, should i keep the axle (its a 91 XJ sport with manny tranny), wait the year or so til i get the money for a locker, or just weld the rear end. A few of my buddies have welded, and they dont seem to be expienceing many issues (save the ocasional chirp and lunge around tight concrete coners, which is to be expected), so this seems to be my choice atm, but im wonderin others opinions. SO ifanyone out there could give me there choice, and a few reasons why i should do it that way; thatd be amaze-a-zing.

oh and i should mention that i dont do to much driving cuz im in college, and friends and public transportation make up most of my means of travel.

like i said any info is good info.

-thanks

Here's my feeling on it from having done it myself. On trails, its fine, obviously, but on the road it sucks. Lets face it, whether you're driving to and from the trail or a quick run out to the store you still probably put more miles on road than off road unless you're actually trailering it. I decided to go weld the rear in my last build and I hated every second of it. I rarely drove it on road because I live downtown Portland and I walk and take the MAX everywhere but if I did drive it it wasn't fun, a little wet pavement and that rear end lets lose everytime you turn.

Obviously when you get that chirping from the tires it adds to tire wear but its because the tire is skidding, the outside tire has lost traction because its turning slower than the inside and is chirping across the ground, you already know that I'm sure, but you throw in some wet pavement and you lose the chirp because its no longer skipping its sliding. Every single time you hit the gas hard, turn a corner, rain, snow, etc. it becomes a problem. I did it and I would never do it again.

If I were you I would be patient, enjoy wheeling your rig the way it is. As I actually saw today, and a few people most certainly learned, a basic, nearly stock XJ can still tackle many an obstacle in the NW. Save your money, find someone on CL and buy a $50-100 Dana 44 rear end, over the next year save some money and build it, gears, locker, superior axles, etc. It'll be a fun little project to work on while still having an operable rig to come on trips with and before you know it you'll be ready to drop that bad boy in.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days, I'll be posting some pics of our trip today, I'm sure they'll be inspiration for what an open open rig is still fully caable of. I'm locked in the rear, I can't afford the front either, we're all on budgets and progressively building. The other two XJ's with us were open front and rear and they did nearly everything I did. They tackled almost all of the Archers in TSF.

This is just my opinion but have fun with what you have, save up and do it right the first time, it saves you in the long run.....

A welded or spooled differentail is a hazard in a street vehicle. I would only do it in a straight out dragster. My personal experience comes from Ford Mustangs and they like to hop around corners when welded. In a vehicle with a higher center of gravity all I could forsee would be a roll over. So far running open / open in an XJ in the NW has simply resulted in the need to back up and try a slightly different line occasionally. Finesse rather than brute horsepower.

E's95XJ said:

have fun with what you have, save up and do it right the first time, it saves you in the long run.....

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Truer words have never been spoken. If only I had learned this earlier!:doh:
-Ryan

E's95XJ said:

They tackled almost all of the Archers in TSF.

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LOL.. I tackled all.. You don't need to lock it.. just a buddy to help you ROCK IT ! !

GlueNTape said:

LOL.. I tackled all.. You don't need to lock it.. just a buddy to help you ROCK IT ! !

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LOL, Thats right, and when you're rocking it and the tires start smoking they get sticky enough to launch you outta that hole.......HELL OF A SHOW DAVE!!

There are LOTS of opinions on this subject and they are almost ALL correct. Because they are TOTALLY based on priorities that are different.

Here are my thoughts:
1. It is a great cheap way of providing a TAD if the axle can handle it. I have seen D35's (I assume this is what you have) hold up to this much better than most people expect, however if you drive it on the street that added stress will probably do more damage to the shafts than that off road stress. And you should expect it to break eventually.
2. Assuming breakage, you should have spare shafts and probably a whole spare axle to stick under it if it doesn't work out. They are readily available for next to nothing, but I would have one prepared before you weld yours.
3. I have a spool in my Jeep. It is trailered most of the time and I am very happy with it. Over the last months I have driven on the street several hundred miles and the spool doesn't bother me at all. Tire wear and stress on the axles would be my primary concern with this.
4. I did have the opertunity to come down Chinook pass this weekend with the Jeep in very light snow on the ground. I was EXTREMELY cautious of the conditions particularly with the spool in the rear. However, it seemed to do ok with the precausion. I would not want to do this very often!!

I hope this helps.
Michael

[FONT=&quot]My XJ is spooled in the back, it is a trail only rig now but it used to be my DD and I drove it quite a bit, including some long trips as well as winter driving in snow and icy conditions.

It never really bothered me, I just adapted my driving style to the issues around a spooled axle. To some extent I actually preferred it to a lunchbox locker, as a spool is extremely predictable. I did find that I would chain up when icy due to the spool wanting to cause the jeep to slide in the corners so that was annoying.

That being said I was also running 38" tires and 1 tons. When I had the 30/35 they both had lunchbox lockers. If you keep an eye on Ebay or the for sales sections on boards like this you can usually pick up a lockright for fairly cheap, cheap enough even for a college student, witch is what I was when I started building my XJ.[/FONT]

If you don't drive that often, I'd assume that means you don't wheel that often either. I'd question why you thought you needed it? I had a lockright in the rear of my Chevy and hated it. Never could I get on a cloverleaf onramp (when wet) without ending up in the grass. Like others have said, spools, mini spools, and "Lincoln Lockers" are much more predictable and also sketchier in the ice and snow. If you weld it, don't do the puddles in the spider gears, weld those babies solid to the carrier. Don't be shy either

I had a friend I wheeled with regularly that had his rear axle welded up. It was a dana 60 and for the most part just a wheeler but he drove it to the trails and at higher speeds you could tell the rear axle was not balanced, it would vibrate pretty bad. Might be something else you want to consider, it won't be bablanced no matter what you do.

jeepboy381 said:

it won't be bablanced no matter what you do.

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I am not sure what you mean about "balanced"?
How does this have to do with the welded rear axle?

Michael

2xtreme said:

I am not sure what you mean about "balanced"?
How does this have to do with the welded rear axle?

Michael

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When you weld up a differential it is no longer balanced, you have different size welds with different amounts of metal all over in the carrier. It won't be balanced by any means. A couple of Toyota guys had similar issues back when I was in high school. It does not shake violently but it is noticable and it is not good on your differential. No one ever had problems breaking them but I would never even consider doing it unless the vehical was a pile.

well... .went down to the local pull-a- part and picked up an extra dana 35, so come wednesday im gonna weld up the current one, and keep the extra as a back up. So that is my solution. and we'll see how it goes

Welding a D35?

Welcome to the click...click....click....BOOM! club.

Bad idea....even with spares.

I broke a D35 shaft in a parking lot, when my ARB locked up after I hit the switch by mistake.

Now some advice you did not ask for....can we assume that you have already armored it up? Rails? Plates? Recovery points? If you have not done all of that then I would wait before doing anything to get you further into trouble, drive it open till you can afford the proper parts, it will make you a much better driver.

Rev

Rev Den said:

Welding a D35?

Welcome to the click...click....click....BOOM! club.

Bad idea....even with spares.

I broke a D35 shaft in a parking lot, when my ARB locked up after I hit the switch by mistake.

Now some advice you did not ask for....can we assume that you have already armored it up? Rails? Plates? Recovery points? If you have not done all of that then I would wait before doing anything to get you further into trouble, drive it open till you can afford the proper parts, it will make you a much better driver.

Rev

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The last statement is one that should be scripted in Gothic text and entered into the Jeep bible. Everyone can benefit from learning to wheel with open diffs. It gives you more of a sense of patience and skill in picking the proper line on an obstacle. Most of us have probably seen fairly new wheelers just point and hammer down on a given obstacle when they lock their rig before learning to drive properly on the trail. The result is usually expensive.

understandable, and yeah i got recovery points and im puttin on the rocker rails at the same time as welding (at least thats the plan)

and yeah i understand that dry pavement is gonna be a pain, but ive come to terms with that.

Atownatheist said:

understandable, and yeah i got recovery points and im puttin on the rocker rails at the same time as welding (at least thats the plan)

and yeah i understand that dry pavement is gonna be a pain, but ive come to terms with that.

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but luckily it isnt very dry in bham

indeed. especially now that it is "winter" and by that we mean ' not august'