welding spiders

[Adam]

I wouldn't start off arc welding on your spider gears. There are different rods for different material and you'll get better or worse pentration and strength depeding on what you use and how your welding is. I wish I could tell you about all the numbers but I honestly don't have a clue about them. I just know there is a LOT of them.

Basically if your mids welds are inconsistent, I would not do your gears.

[Buffalo Phil]

use JB weld.

[snowblur17]

corey did this to my 8.25.

worked good, but i was on 33's.

Looks good to me. my 27spline may look like that in the near future

[Zullock Holmes]

bahahahaha i was waiting for that pirate 4x4 thread to show up

[Mike]

whoever owns my old jeep is still running around with the spiders welded so its held up, and lasted almost 2 years on 33s

[Even]

Some pretty good tech in this post from Pirate4x4 about welding spiders.....

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...welded+spiders

repost

[stinky]

heres an ancient post i wrote up on marlin a few years back:
well here she goes.....

1. pull the third out
2. pull the carrier out
3. pop the ring gear off
4. brake clean the piss out of the carrier(you want all the gear oil and
any oils OUT of the metal)....see if you can find someone with an old oven, n leave the pregnant dog in
there for an hour or so at like 400, that'll boil the oil out of the pores
5. then use a 1/8" E7018 stick rod(you wanna use this rod cuz it has a substantial amount of nickel
in it)...or if you can get nickel rods off someone or even buy em, run around 80-95 amps
you'll want a rod high in nickel, since the carrier is cast
6. then while its still hot(gotta weld cast while its pre-heated), just weld the spiders to the carrier,
and weld the spiders to the center pin... and since your re-heating the center pin(which is
already heat-treated, you will want to cut some piece of 1/4" plate to fit in the little windows
on the sides of the carrier to tie the sides of the carrier together(in case the carrier were to
crack, the plate will keep it together.
7. just make sure you keep everything hot while you weld on it, try and control the heat in the
carrier too, cuz if it gets too hot then it'l warp the ring gear mounting surface, then once your
done welding it, keep it some where it'll stay warm for a while and
that it takes a good 3-4 hours to cool down.... cuz if it cools off to fast, you'll have a Pokinit load
of subsurface cracks inside the cast, then when she gets torqued hard enough,boom!!
8. once its cooled off completely, you might have to do some clean-up so the ring gear will fit back
on....

not alot of people take their time when welding diffs, but if it's your only vehicle, that you drive
everyday, then do it right the first time.... then have fun destroying tires!!! haha, you'll get annoyed
after a while of it CONSTANTLY scrubbing, around EVERY corner.... and parking lots on warm days, haha,
prepare for a ton of people watching you park.... cuz your gonna be squeelin allllllll the time....


Some people may disagree with the ring gear removal, but its a whole hell of a lot easier to clean the spatter out of it when the ring gear is off.... and also spatter hitting the teeth on the ring gear will cause tiny stress fractures in the already heat-treated metal... might not sound like much, but after a while, it could cause a failure

ENJOY!!

and yes, you wont have a 3rd member to pull out, but the same goes for the carrier

[stinky]

heres a set of spiders i welded up for my buddy's runner...its the 4 spider setup out of a v6 toy 3rd...and yes, it is overkill, but its not comin apart haha



and another happy customer out the door

[OWEN]

I have done about a dozen of them and never had one fail, here's what I do.

Remove the carrier (don't forget to mark the bearing caps for reassebly)

Remove the ring gear

Clean thoroughly with brake clean or carb clean

Preheat with a torch

Weld with 7018 1/8" rod at 130-150 amps
Two passes on each side of each gear and then gear to gear

Allow to cool naturally (should take about 5 hours if you had the right heat)

Clean very thoroughly with a chipping hammer, chisel, wire brush (This can take up to an hour, but kiss your bearings goodbye if you leave a bunch of crap in there)

Reassemble


I used to Mig weld them but Stick is easier to get in the tight spots and seems to have less spatter. I also had a few welds crack upon cooling when I Mig welded them.

I have never had one fail... My friend runs his in his f350 with a built v8 and 40" boggers and beats the crap out of it. Has held up for 4 years now