not that im thinking of doing it, but ive see/heard about a few guys making a posi out of an old 1 legger. they wield the spider gears so they cannot turn inside the pinion. what kind of damage will that cause to the rear end and does it really work?
It'll work, for a short time anyway. Be prepaired to have an axle snap on you since they were not intended to be used in a spool type axle. Also I doubt the welded spider gears will withstand that kind of load for any period of time. I had a friend that did demo dearby and they used to do this all the time, these cars did run on wet dirt for maybe 30 minuites tops so longevity wasn't much a concern.
if you weld the spider gears together, the rear will essentially become a locker, afaik. drivability on the street will be very bad. that's why you need a limited amount of slip.
Yep, do this to all our GM derby rearends. Too much headache to do anything else. We found a rearend we liked the ratio in, welded it up & just move it car to car. The mopars & fords we run we have a 9" ford we swap from car to car with an actual spool. On dirt, especially wet dirt, they'll last a long time. I don't see it survive long on the street though. Another issue is the heat. It makes the gears brittle unless you jump from side to side a lot & allow plenty of cooling time. Do this wrong & they don't survive in mud either.
I did it once....... The Hornet I used to have has a "Lincoln locker" in it. I did it myself, and after about 9 years? of daily street abuse and 13.20's at the track, it's still going strong. (my dad owns it now) I don't recommend doing it, but if you're going to do it, let me offer some advise: 1- CLEAN, CLEAN, and then CLEAN again, until you would feel safe filling the pig up with water and drinking it. 2- Weld EVERYTHING you can get to with your welder. Weld the spider gears to each other. Weld the spider gears to the axle ends. Weld the spider gears to the differential. Use small welds, and LOTS of them. Try to keep them cold as possible while still getting good penetration. 3- CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN everything again! This is probably one of the most important steps. If you leave ONE tiny little BB in there, you know it's going to find it's way into your ring gear and grenade the rear end. Maybe I'm just lucky. But I drove the crap out of that car with the welded rear end in it, and never had one problem. I even had soft Mickey Thompson tires on it! I even drove it to the track every time I raced it. (about 45 minutes each way) Of course, it did drive like a spool, which isn't real good for the street (read that as VERY DANGEROUS on wet or slippery roads) and "chattery" going around slow corners (like in parking lots). But hey... I was on a budget, and the car needed traction. One wheel peel just wasn't cutting it. But with all that said... I would never do it again. I'll quit while I'm ahead. I was real lucky on that car. I also shortened the driveshaft myself, with nothing but a saw, hand grinder, and a welder. Not ONE vibration at any speed, and I never had to change a u-joint either. :gt: o No:
