Welding the rear diff ?

[Barto]

So I'm just wondering if any one has actually welded one of these rear diffs up? My Question is when in 2 wheel drive on the pavement how much scrub is there?. I have had to drive my Rockcrawler home in FWD o with a welded rear numerous times but with 36" tires aired down to 8 psi. it's hard to tell what's really going on back there. I'm going to try it out either way, Just wondering if it has been done yet.
Cheers Barto

[Petros]

Unless it is for off paved roads only I would not do it. the drive train is too light to do this to a daily driver, you will wear out u-joints, CV joints, bearings, tires and eventually get fatigue failures in the more expensive parts too.

There was a list member who did this, and he went through several diffs if I recall, search the archives.

[Barto]

So I am picking up my parts car on sunday so I am definitely going to weld the rear end to see what it is like.

I under stand where your coming from petros, But your talking to a guy that has had a welded diff in his daily driver for the last 6 years.

It is all in how you weld them......... lots of guys will weld them in a "fozzy" style leaving some slop/play to make turning a bit better. This is what goes bad because you can load up the diff to hard.
By welding it fully there is no play in the gears making it way stronger. I also take a piece of 1/4" plate and put that down into the carrier welding it to everything else so they can not fail.
I have done around 15 diffs like this and have yet to see one fail. From old corolla's to celica's to toyota trucks both 2wd and 4wd, all have held no problems. My rockcrawler saw the most abuse and all I ever broke there was axle shafts. It would sheer them in two but the welded third was always okay.

[offroadohio]

I never welded the diff in mine before I sold it but I had planned to. I to am an avid offroader and know the "dangers" of a welded diff. Id not be afraid to run it.

[Petros]

I was assuming the diff was welded well, it is not the diff that fails usually (it is pretty tough), it is the other parts: u-joints, axles, bearing, or even the trans.

I would not do it. A better way to go is get the rear axle out of a RWD corolla GTS or an Corolla all-trac, there are limited slip diff available to fit these rear axles, and it looks like a bolt in swap (you will need to custom drive shaft to have the aft flange changed to match the larger rear axle). These rear axle assemblies are heavier and should never fail on a tercel.

[CathodeRayTube]

It is my understanding that the LSDs in a RWD corolla GTS are ment for racing..."tourq controlled LSDs" meaning that they lock up when drifting and both wheels are on the ground...but they are basically useless in keeping one wheel from spinning in mud or on ice like our applications call for...im not 100% sure on this but everything iv read seems to point to that conclusion...

i intend on getting a rear end from a GTS...but plan to work out some form of true electrically locking diff...maybe adapting one out of a 4-wheeler or somthing...and replace the GTS stock LSD with that.