You weld the spider gears in the differential to create a spool. It is known as a lincoln locker. It would be completely locked all the time and pretty awful to drive on the street, but it would be perfect for your ranch. I would make sure someone who really knows what they're doing welds it up (or just do it yourself). If done right, a welded diff is pretty reliable.
Which gear ratio should I go with?
- Thread starter MonkeyMike
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You weld the spider gears in the differential to create a spool. It is known as a lincoln locker. It would be completely locked all the time and pretty awful to drive on the street, but it would be perfect for your ranch. I would make sure someone who really knows what they're doing welds it up (or just do it yourself). If done right, a welded diff is pretty reliable.
That refers to welding the spider gears together which locks the left/right axle shafts together. A crude locker that is aka a Lincoln Locker. Lincoln coming from a brand of welder
If this Jeep is just for going around on your ranch, I'd think a Lincoln locker and stock dana 35 axle shafts would be fine honestly. It isn't the end of the world if you break it out there I'd imagine. The reason I'm so cautious with my Jeep is because most of my wheeling is 3 hours away. I would hate to pay for a 150 mile tow because my Lincoln locker failed. The guys who trailer their rig can take more risks and I think you're basically in that boat considering the jeep will never leave your property. In your case, it isn't a big deal because you can just get a tractor or ATV and tow it back to the shop to fix it.
This is not to say a Lincoln locker will fail prematurely. While a regular locker may be a little more reliable and you should probably have stronger axle shafts, I'd have no problem taking the risk with the axle shafts and just welding up the diff in your case.
This is not to say a Lincoln locker will fail prematurely. While a regular locker may be a little more reliable and you should probably have stronger axle shafts, I'd have no problem taking the risk with the axle shafts and just welding up the diff in your case.
On a ranch or not, some of which can take hours to cross, I wouldn't weld a Dana 35 differential. A broken axle shaft isn't something you want to have to worry about or experience in real life.
But is it worth investing a ton of money into a dana 35 when you don't really have to rely on it? If he has a 10,000 acre ranch, then I would agree with you. You might want to have some piece of mind if you have a 3 hour walk back to the shop. But if the cost of breaking an axle isn't that high I wouldn't invest the money in a dana 35. And anyways, "tooling around on a ranch" is a bit different than running sledgehammer in JV. If you don't have to pay a high penalty for breaking your Jeep, I would say run it. If it breaks, then upgrade it.
I've been around a few ranches and they do way sketchier stuff than welding a Dana 35 on a weekly basis.
Guess after all this great info, and investigating all parts ( including the “Kaise” ya gotta throw out)...Think I’ll keep her a virgin.....LMAO....Thanks, forum....Let ya’ll know what happens to her next...
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