Well, I guess you could weld it up...lincoln locker. But I don't think you would like driving it on the street anymore. Is it strictly a trail truck? If you weld it all up in the rear end it will loose the ability to differentiate around corners. As the outside wheel (in a turn) travels the furthest, the inside does not. In the case of one that is welded, the inner one will try to travel the same as the outside one and it will "spin-out" around every turn. As you can imagine, you would go through a lot of tires. It will probably affect your steering too, as it will try to push you in more of a straight line as you make a turn. the reason for that is if the inside tire gets good traction...it and the outside tire want to continue to push....the direction will be forward, even though you are turning. If I were you I would not do it. Just settle for what you have now, until you can replace it with a correct set up.

 

Id say try and find an open carrier and weld it up, shouldnt be too much, you have to get a new carrier to get a detroit anyway/ Now you have me wondering is my 14bff is open or G80'd. I bet it isnt, because I remeber being high centered in snow and having only one spin no matter what.

http://usor.topcities.com

 

Well, I know I need the open carrier and thats not a problem to get; and yeah the truck will get driven on the street.. I can deal with the driving problems, but the tire wear concerns me...

Lots of the guys around here run welded diffs, but most of em got vehicles to boot around town in.. Looks like detroit it is the way for me.

Beat up 78 GMC 3/4T Camp. Spec. 350/465/205; needs less work. 265/75R16 BFG M/T

 

On ck5 there is an article on how to weld up a 14 bolt(open) without ruining the carrier. And if yours is a G80 then you need an open carrier to put the detroit in anyways.When my G80 in my ten bolt went i just took it apart and filled it with molten lead, and it works good. i havent had trouble yet(knock on wood).

1981 chev K-20, 350,t400,208,10bolt front,14Bolt ff,4.10. daily driver, a 1995 gmc

 

Well there's a thing, a locker has all the good things of a detroit without the bad. You trade off a bit of tire wear for the amazing ability for the detroit not to slam back in jerking you two lanes over. I say in a 14BFF the only way to go is welded. I know I sure as hell would rather have understeer all the time, than understeer half of the time and jerky odd ride than dangerous banging in an out. Plus you cant beat the price. Also, the detroit almost never unlocks anyway apparently (I'm not too sure), or so the owners I've talked to say. When they say they've only heard the banging a few times, thats the times is when it unlocked.

Or maybe not, but on a huge truck with a 14BFF its not gonna matter, might not want to try it on a Sami though.

Anyway.....

http://usor.topcities.com

 

well, for as big a fan as i am of the detroit locker, i would say either way you'll be happy. RJ is roight. it doesnt disengage too often, but i think he has skewed the truth a bit as far as how much it pulls. we drive 6,000# truck....a little engagement doesnt make a lot of dofference. now in a sami or jeep it might be much moire severe, but i really dont care sicne i dont drive one. seriously though, dont worry about the "terrible handling" of the locker. its simply a myth.

---Peacock posted this

'96, richmond 3.73, detroit rear, cold air, dual flowmasters, new drive-train,

 

I would weld it. I'm assuming you do see snow quite often, and slippery roads are the only drawback in my opinion to a welded rear. It does wear tires, but its hardly to a noticeable degree. heres the article on welding a 14bolt: http://www.coloradok5.com/welded14bolt.shtml

 

Well, If I weld er I don't think I'm gonna go thru the hassle of getting one of the guys back home at the shop to strip a open diff for me and ship it way the hell; although I guess it might be easier...


Ben427, I am interested in your lead method; never heard of that before.. COuld you explain a couple more things about it? What'd you heat the lead in? Where'd you find such a quantity of it? and did you just plug the holes where the axles come thru and just pour the lead in until it wouldn't take no more??

From the pic of the exploded G80 that someone posted in the G80 RP0 thread, I'm thinking their might be a way to weld that sucker up if I take it apart..

Gonna have to do something, I almost got stuck exploring a back road yesterday... glad I didn't go down that hill; I dont think i woulda got up..

Beat up 78 GMC 3/4T Camp. Spec. 350/465/205; needs less work. 265/75R16 BFG M/T

 

I'm only going to lock the front diff. That way I get the added traction when I need it or choose to use it.

http://www.geocities.com/custar/index.html

77 Chevy K20 8"lift 36" TSLs

 

We have a couple of crucibles i used to melt the lead in, just use a gas axe to melt it. Plug the holes with wood, except one, and fill with lead till it aint taking no more.I got a bunch of old wheel weights from a tire shop and used those. It works quite well. And the lead leaves a little bit of give in the diff it shouldnt hurt anything ive got about 5000 miles on mine and no metal in oil or anything yet.

1981 chev K-20, 350,t400,208,10bolt front,14Bolt ff,4.10. daily driver, a 1995 gmc

 

Well, filling the case with lead sounds like fun; but I doubt I'll be able to track down the stuff I need to do it..

I've read the article at coloradoK5 where they weld some of the valleys in the spider gears to essentially 'lock' the diff up; and I was thinking that I might be able to do the same with the G80 gears..

Look at the pic below,
http://yeagerd.home.mindspring.com/TablePics/limitedslip5.jpg

Looks like if I were to weld up the three pinion gears ala the spiders from CK5 I would have locked the two side gears together... The one side gear that is labeled obviously shows splines to accept the axle so I'm asumming that the other side gear piece also has female splines...

Now I'm not quite sure how the wizardry of this gov-lock works, but do you guys think this will work??

And If I'm just removing the carrier and pinion do I have to do as detailed of a gear setup to reinstall it??

Thanks

Beat up 78 GMC 3/4T Camp. Spec. 350/465/205; needs less work. 265/75R16 BFG M/T

 

Yes If you torch the side gears and the spiders togather it will lock it. But it looks like you would have to weld everything with the case split in half and it will probably be pretty hard to keep the alignment of everything correct.

72 K-10 72 Jimmy with 86 Blazer body = King of the hill!

 

Why dont you just lock the front?

http://www.geocities.com/custar/index.html

77 Chevy K20 8"lift 36" TSLs

 

It isn't bad at all to weld the side gears and spiders together with the case split. basically, you just leave the gears together in the one case half and then weld. the case half holds the side gears and spiders in place. This is how it works on an open carrier at least. also, removing the carrier is not a big deal on a 14FF. unbolt the axles, slide them out far enough to clear the carrier, unbolt the carrier and drop it out. just be sure to put the bolts and bearing caps back EXACTLY as they came out. you shouldn't need to do anything with the pinion, and this way no adjustment of the ring and pinion will be necessary. On CK5 they just welded into the spiders, I welded my spiders and side gears to each other.

 

Thanks for all the help guys; I got a quote for about 600 bucks for a detroit locker shipped to me from a canadian distributor, and I just can't justify that sorta money right now.. Unless I come across a used unit, its gonna have to be welded up..

I have been thinking about locking up the front diff; but I think I'm gonna start with the rear cause I think thats where I'll need it most.. When I get back to the rocks and trails in Vancouver it'll probably get locked; but for the time being it'll stay open.

From looking at the exploded view of the fullcase G80, it seems to me that one should be able to pull the L.H. Case off without disturbing the pinion(spider) gear to side gear arrangement..

IF this works then I should be able to weld up the gears in the conventional manner (welding spiders directly to side gears)

but if it doesn't work I think I'll have to weld the spiders up like CK5 such that they can't turn.. To me this doesn't sound like a very strong situation - when you drop the hammer it would introduce quite a shock load onto those gears...

Looks like I'm gonna have to take that bugger apart and see for my self...

Whats the best rod to use to weld gear steel???

Once again the SFA forum comes thru for me!!

Beat up 78 GMC 3/4T Camp. Spec. 350/465/205; needs less work. 265/75R16 BFG M/T

 

I was planning on putting a Detroit in my 14 bolt as well. But, I think I will weld in the voids on the spider gears as mentioned on the CK5 site. This gives you the opporunity to switch back to an open axle in the future. All you would have to do is replace the spider gears.

Zepplin
74 Blazer
TH400, NP205 and 496 stroker waiting to be put in!

Pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/zepplin1976