Welding Diff closed

[chevypower]

I have an open diff on my Gen 3 Berlina - it really sucks, especially in the wet, the car can barely move from so little traction


Does anyone here have their diffs welded? i dont really want to convert it to LSD or change the diff, as its too expensive for an investment on that particular car, i just dont see the value in it. Any people who have done it with positive or negative experiences? I don't really want speculation or theories i understand how it works.

[Milzy]

ive heard of it a number of times and not really sure about it but heard there are serious negatives. youd just have to wait till someone experienced explains it.

[macca33]

Not only is it illegal, it is also outright dangerous. In the wet, you WILL see your arse spin around and around in front of your front end.

It will be an absolute pig to corner in.

Cheers and good luck to you if you do it.

Regards,

Macca

[HRT 8]

I have an open diff on my Gen 3 Berlina - it really sucks, especially in the wet, the car can barely move from so little traction


Does anyone here have their diffs welded? i dont really want to convert it to LSD or change the diff, as its too expensive for an investment on that particular car, i just dont see the value in it. Any people who have done it with positive or negative experiences? I don't really want speculation or theories i understand how it works.

LSD an expensive investment? It would be far cheaper than the type of investment you would be making after driving a car with a welded diff on a wet road.
Slid it into another car and kiss your insurance goodbye since locked diffs are illegal.
Have a shop around someof the motoring forums. There are often whole diff centres incl LSD for sale for very reasonable prices.

[Feenin_HSV]

just as the other boys have mentioned....welding the diff would be the biggest no no...i've done it, but in nice little cars like my gemi's or sigma's back in the day, and i can just imagine the nightmare if i was to do it on my Gen3:bawl: :soap:
if im not mistaken, its basically the same as getting a locker/mini spool? which is still illegal, and thats something any joe blow can get for $200.... but yeah, you're getter off buying a diff off one of the boys in the forum who wanna upgrade.....your call

[markone2]

Does anyone here have their diffs welded? i dont really want to convert it to LSD or change the diff, as its too expensive for an investment on that particular car, i just dont see the value in it. Any people who have done it with positive or negative experiences? I don't really want speculation or theories i understand how it works.


From some-one who has had a locked locked diff for genuine reasons....( track appilcation ) I have only one question, is this a wind-up ....or simply the :booze:talking

[chevypower]

ok thanks guys, i really had no idea there, i just know a few 4 wheel drive boys have welded their rear diffs and thought it was the best thing ever for off-road and probably is.... TransDiff will convert it to lsd for around $1000

are their better options?

[Nutter]

Welding it is basically asking for trouble in terms of heavy understeer or ridiculously slippery ass in the wet, also the welding of the gears can crack which an then jam the diff causing it to lock up once again not a good thing.

On the other hand if you think it would be fun/pratical/cheap by a minispool does the same thing ( still have all the inherent problems) but instead of breaking the weld, you tranfer breakages to other things likeaxles.

[Nutter]

ok thanks guys, i really had no idea there, i just know a few 4 wheel drive boys have welded their rear diffs and thought it was the best thing ever for off-road and probably is.... TransDiff will convert it to lsd for around $1000

are their better options?


Not a problem on lose ground, dirts sand etc, they tend to run air lockers not welded centres.

[Steve'sR8]

I welded up the diff in a HT ute I had 15 years ago as a temporary measure, big mistake, being a fairly healthy 372 cube small block the welds broke & locked the diff up causing a 360 plus degree spin on dry bitumen at 60kph. Luckily there wasn't much traffic & I ended up safely backed into the gutter with a great excuse for a 9" conversion & mini tubs.
When the side gears are welded in the differential the axles cannot turn at different speeds which is great in a straight line, but going around corners the tyres must travel at different speeds so the inside wheel usually loses traction, but it can be very unpredictable in the wet when all your power is trying to get to the ground via the outside wheel.
As has been said it is both unroadworthy & unsafe, & I would not recommend doing it to a road going car.
Cheers, Steve.

[markone2]

... TransDiff will convert it to lsd for around $1000

?


Most wise..but why not drop in a 3.7 or 3.9 and put some excitment behind the auto :)

[Nutter]

I welded up the diff in a HT ute I had 15 years ago as a temporary measure, big mistake, being a fairly healthy 372 cube small block the welds broke & locked the diff up causing a 360 plus degree spin on dry bitumen at 60kph. Luckily there wasn't much traffic & I ended up safely backed into the gutter with a great excuse for a 9" conversion & mini tubs.
When the side gears are welded in the differential the axles cannot turn at different speeds which is great in a straight line, but going around corners the tyres must travel at different speeds so the inside wheel usually loses traction, but it can be very unpredictable in the wet when all your power is trying to get to the ground via the outside wheel.
As has been said it is both unroadworthy & unsafe, & I would not recommend doing it to a road going car.
Cheers, Steve.



Im glad some one here to back up my reply, I always tell ppl if the weld breaks it can jam the crown wheel and pionion but no one beilives me. you had it happen first hand, enough to scare anyone off hopefully :hide:

[VU_SS_UTE]

Also kiss goodbye to reverse parking!

[bpm]

yeah, i dunno. i seem to find a locked diff much more predictable and controllable in the wet than the standard holden "lock up one minute, single peel the next" LSD. maybe its time for a kaaz.

[muzza]

Chevypower - welded diffs dont usually last too long in my experience (off-road dirt/mud racing) - as has been mentioned the welds can break, weld splatter can root other gears and bearings in short order etc etc.

Sounds like your tyres are more of a problem - try get some stickier/silica ones?

[Wonky]

Chevypower, being a Berlina I assume your car is an auto. Plenty of people on here have upgraded to lower ratios and have their 3.07 LSD centre sitting around. A while ago I put a wanted to buy ad on here for a friend and had quite a few people contact me with reasonably low km 3.07 LSD centres for around $300. Fitting is easy if you are mechanically minded or I was charged about an hour's labour when I had my centre replaced with a 3.46 centre.

So only $300 or so to get into a LSD, minus whatever you can sell yours for.

Even low km 3.46 centres come up occasionally for around $500 from people upgrading their manuals to lower ratios.

[markone2]

yeah, i dunno. i seem to find a locked diff much more predictable and controllable in the wet than the standard holden "lock up one minute, single peel the next" LSD. maybe its time for a kaaz.


Disagree..well set-up LSD ,backing up some Drag Radials will launch in the 1.5's till the cows come home..........

[ralcool]

Chevypower, being a Berlina I assume your car is an auto. Plenty of people on here have upgraded to lower ratios and have their 3.07 LSD centre sitting around. A while ago I put a wanted to buy ad on here for a friend and had quite a few people contact me with reasonably low km 3.07 LSD centres for around $300. Fitting is easy if you are mechanically minded or I was charged about an hour's labour when I had my centre replaced with a 3.46 centre.

So only $300 or so to get into a LSD, minus whatever you can sell yours for.

Even low km 3.46 centres come up occasionally for around $500 from people upgrading their manuals to lower ratios.

Wonky, You may be confusing diff centres with diff gears. There is no reason other than wear and / or fitment of said illegal mini spools- to swap the lsd core with any diff ratio change. However, outright LSD centre's with fitment is running at $500-800. more with new gears.

Perhaps Chevypower should consider muzza's suggestion of better tyres- or stop hooning in the wet. Drive nicely. :shock: :lmao:

sean

[XsPwr2W8]

I did this in my mates old sigma waggon, we were so lazy we didnt even pull the centre out, I just drained the oil and fed about 12 welding rods into the gears through the oil filler hole. The thing was awesome to drive, it did figure 8's just beautiful and showed up some V8's in the wet. In the end the diff out lasted the car so we certinaly got ou 12 welding rod's worth out of it. But as the others say dont do this to a new car you will kill your drive line in no time, especialy with IRS.

[markone2]

. TransDiff will convert it to lsd for around $1000

are their better options?



$300 option here.......

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VT-VX-VY-LSD-Centre-with-gears_W0QQitemZ4629449708QQcategoryZ102358QQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem

[Nutter]

Hahaha poverty packed V8's, its funny cause its true...:banana:

[Wonky]

Wonky, You may be confusing diff centres with diff gears. There is no reason other than wear and / or fitment of said illegal mini spools- to swap the lsd core with any diff ratio change. However, outright LSD centre's with fitment is running at $500-800. more with new gears.

Perhaps Chevypower should consider muzza's suggestion of better tyres- or stop hooning in the wet. Drive nicely. :shock: :lmao:

sean
Sorry Sean, seems to be some confusion here. I bought a complete 3.46 centre from a 15,000km VYII SS for $500 which seemed about the going price on here at the time (a year ago) for the few which came up.

When a friend (not on LS1) was having problems with his diff I put a WTB ad on here and had 5 or 6 offers of 3.07 LSD CENTRES for around $300 (most low mileage). They were from people who had upgraded their centres. In fact a few months back there was a post on here from someone who had upgraded and had his 3.07 centre sitting around and was wondering whether it was worth trying to sell or just dump it.

Therefore what I was saying was that if he did his own fitting Chevypower could put a complete 3.07 LSD centre in his for $300, or 3.46 if he could find one for maybe $500. Then he could still sell his own to offset some of the cost.

Gary

[Nutter]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HSV-VX-CLUBSPORT-R8-DIFF-COMPLETE_W0QQitemZ4629673885QQcategoryZ102361QQrdZ 1QQcmdZViewItem

[chevypower]

$300 option here.......

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VT-VX-VY-LSD-Centre-with-gears_W0QQitemZ4629449708QQcategoryZ102358QQrdZ1QQ cmdZViewItem

Hey thanks for that, i just bought it!

[Wonky]

Hey thanks for that, i just bought it!
OK, I'm confused :confused: (not hard to do apparently) :D

The guy has called it a diff centre with gears but looks to me like you're only getting the gears. To me the diff centre is the whole unit, housing and all which you just bolt up as a whole unit - piece of cake. Like the other eBay auction Nutter gave - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HSV-VX-CLUBSPORT-R8-DIFF-COMPLETE_W0QQitemZ4629673885QQcategoryZ102361QQrdZ 1QQcmdZViewItem

If my interpretation is correct then this guy has (possibly unintentionally) been misleading by calling it a centre. That said, he does at least clearly show in the photos what he is selling but looks like you're going to be delving into the internals of the diff which I wouldn't have thought was something for the faint hearted and possibly involves some specialised tools.

As I said above, I had about half a dozen people on here offer to sell me complete 3.07 LSD centres for the same as you paid when I was after one for a friend. I would have thought that was a much easier and cheaper option - just drop your centre, bolt the new one up and sell yours to recoup some of your $300 outlay for the whole centre.