Spider Gear; Alternate solution to swapping my rear axle and putting in a LSD

[AE86DriftMayhem]

I am looking for a alternate solution to swapping my rear axle and putting in a lsd so I am looking into welding my spider gears, I am using my car for drifting, but as of right now its also my daily driver untill i can get my other car on the road. Will i have any problems driving my car on the street, turning, rain, etc...??

[hachiroku-fc3s]

Yes, your drivability will go kaput. I hope you have a history with auto-x because you will need to be capable of controlling the car. Have you drifted with the open diff for a WHILE? Can you predictably control your drifts consistently. Even in mechanical LSDs, you will experience trouble turning in reverse and such but with a welded diff, parking is a chore.

[mranlet]

I've seen daily's with welded diff's. They hop going around turns at low speeds but other than that I don't think that there are any problems.

-MR

[AlexPfeiffer]

Dont be scared to weld your diff. Its alot of fun. The car is break loose around pritty much everything when you drive fast. You will crash if you lack skill, expecially in the rain. The tires will chatter when your in parking lots and around slower corners but who cares. Its cool. Just make sure when you weld it, dont weld the gears to eachother but weld the 2 main gears that the axles are inside to the actual housing. This will be the strongest way. If you dont do a good job with the welding then the gears will break and will probably blow the ring and pinion gears also.

I had a welded diff for many many years.

[ACDSupra7]

You rule Alex.

[soultron]

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
Dont be scared to weld your diff. Its alot of fun. The car is break loose around pritty much everything when you drive fast. You will crash if you lack skill, expecially in the rain. The tires will chatter when your in parking lots and around slower corners but who cares. Its cool. Just make sure when you weld it, dont weld the gears to eachother but weld the 2 main gears that the axles are inside to the actual housing. This will be the strongest way. If you dont do a good job with the welding then the gears will break and will probably blow the ring and pinion gears also.

I had a welded diff for many many years.

Wow, I can see why people listen to you now.
pros know everything.

[marshun]

well judging from the question, i dont think he'd have the skill to drive that thing everyday. i had a welded diff in my old hachi and its true, if you go through a turn remotely fast then the back will slide. not a whole lot of course since it isnt intentional. but you get the idea.

[Xantos]

i remember seeing somewhere (monster garage, some other show like that, i dk), that doing that is dangerous. Something about the weld breaking or something like that. actually now that i think about maybe they were saying it was a good idea, i'm just gonna shut up. do what you wanna do, its your car.

[AtroXR7]

its extreamely dangerous... and you cant go back. Get a spool, or save for an LSD unless you're not gonna take the car on the street. It doesnt matter how good you think you are. The reason doing stuff like that is illegal is because when you loose control, you're putting others at risk.

Other things... having a locked rear doesnt just mean you'll slide around corners... if you hit it too early, the car will push... that means when you mean to take a ride turn and slide a bit, the car hooks and will push staight out into oncomming traffic. If you've ever driven with an LSD than you know what thats like. The beauty of LSD's is that you can "tune" them to lock at a specific point and you'll quickly learn to control that with the gass pedal... with a welded rear... there is no contol, the car slides or hooks.... ALL the time.

Also, when you eliminate play from part of a car that is supposed to allow play, something else in the car has to take it... You're gonna burn tires like mad, bushings, suspension links. Every think about why the wheels hop. It almost never because the tire is just comming in and out of traction, its because other parts of the car are giving... that hop it probly a bushing being stressed to its limit, and back a lot of times, really fast. With my car... If i replace the IRS bushings with polys... wheel hop practically dissapears, and the wheels eat it all... its on my list...

Just think about it and educate yourself first... there is a VERY good reason why they only used locked rear ends on drag cars and oval track cars. Road cars alway have LSD's