Welded diff with no fluid?

[lolatclint]

alright my friend has his WELDED diff leaking little by little

and he wants to know what are the possibilities of what can happen to a WELDED DIFF if it runs out of fluid.

hes out in OC right now and has to make it back to riverside w/traffic

[Bubbles]

Nothing negative that I can think of.

[S14DB]

The ring and pinion will rub together and get red hot and fuse together violently.

[lflkajfj12123]

bearings will get hot and melt

damage to the gears possible welding together lmao

as long as its not pouring out and theres some fluid still in there he might be okay

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

just find the leak and put some gasket sealer or jb weld or something for the time being. Or just change the diff its not that hard

[lolatclint]

oh its not that he needs to fix it asap. its cause he just noticed it just now and hes at prom lol. so he wants to make sure he can make it back safe so yeah.

[HellonFire]

There is no way to know the amount of fluid left in there. But if its just dripping, and its obviously still dripping, I wouldn't worry an excessive amount about it.

But having a diff blow while driving does suck.

Tyler

[SidewayZ-s14]

lol prom.
msglength.

[lflkajfj12123]

feel bad the girl had to be driven to prom in a 240sx

[PacificDrift_Nick]

The ring and pinion will rub together and get red hot and fuse together violently.

werd happened to me on the freeway, noooooo fun

[nieko]

happened to me on the freeway too!!! LEWLEWL so not cool

[YoungGun]

Same here, that shit is not cool.

Thank god I was on a track hahahaha.

[lflkajfj12123]

then what?

wheels lock and you spin out in a firey crash into the sidewall of the freeway?

[YoungGun]

Well I saw nicks diff lock up in the rear view mirror when it happened.

Just lots of smoke and it looked like he started skidding towards the pull off wall.

[Mista Lee]

thanks for the responses guys.
made it home safe, but fucking scary driving back.

was just driving on the freeway, heard a huge thump/clank/whatever you want to call it and pulled over. few feet from where i stopped there was a puddle of i'd say 1'x1' of diff fluid. Ever since then it was just barely dripping( maybe cause there was none left? i dunno.) but, by the end of prom, which was 4 hours, there was only a small 1"x1" puddle.
sounds weird whenever i press the gas, the same sound you get when you press the gas on a go-kart.

[Mista Lee]

HOLYSHIT WTF?
So i take a look at it right now and this is what i'm seeing..
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5388.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5386.jpg
help?

[S14DB]

Time to buy a new diff cover and inspect the Ring and Pinion for heat damage.

[soreballz]

Looks like the welds broke and the ring gear shot the busted welds out the back.
So, you drove 40+ miles with that hole there, right? Yeah, you need a whole new diff now.

Tell whoever welded that thing that he sucks at welding. lol

[az_240]

Im going to agree with soreballz... metal shot out the back.

A new diff is needed reguardless.

I ran a cusco 2way with no fluid once on accident. It lasted about a mile down the road until it made a horrible grinding noise. Limped it home and put fluid in the housing but it was too late.

Everywhere I drove after that it made the grinding noise just not as bad. Turns out the bearings got worn out. About a week later the thing blew up.

[SmogSUX]

Good welds shouldn't do that. Whoever the dude is that does the Weld Lock Version whatever...he ran his car in a drift even with no fluid once and his welds held up lol...but fluid is needed.

[Jdm.I.Am]

how the hell did you manage to do that? just sent you a pm..

[iRONDONkey]

my open diff is free. come pick it up.

for $200 shipping cuz it's heavy as hell :)

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

I'll weld your dif for a small fee. Pacific drift nick can vouch for me...eric hill welded his first one that failed...I welded his second one. I have replaced 5 of eric hills diff's he can't weld a diff properly.

People need to realize to weld a diff properly you need to heat up the cast metal and then use a 220 or bigger MIG welder. And you need to crank up the heat so the teeth melt into each other. Or you can use SMAW (Arch) welder and that would work fine. Do not use a 110 Mig that will not do anything!!!!!

[soreballz]

Good welds shouldn't do that. Whoever the dude is that does the Weld Lock Version whatever...he ran his car in a drift even with no fluid once and his welds held up lol...but fluid is needed.
I've heard that story before, and I don't believe it at all. :ddog:

[ixfxi]

wow......... prom in a 240.



one thing i am glad i didnt do. one because i was drunk, two because i was getting poooooonanny in the limo.

[Mista Lee]

I thought it was acceptable since we were pimpin in a vert :P

[soreballz]

So who welded that diff?

[Mista Lee]

Powered by Max.

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

have me weld it...it will never break lol

[PacificDrift_Nick]

then what?

wheels lock and you spin out in a firey crash into the sidewall of the freeway?

yeah i was going about 45 and could hear it whine and then bang! locked up.

i was in the right hand lane and slid about 30 feet right in front of an on ramp!

but i had already blown a hole in my diff cover doing some stuff i should have not been doing :Ownedd:


HOLYSHIT WTF?
So i take a look at it right now and this is what i'm seeing..
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5388.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5386.jpg
help?

thats exactly what happened to me! i dont know how you made it home!



I'll weld your dif for a small fee. Pacific drift nick can vouch for me...eric hill welded his first one that failed...I welded his second one. I have replaced 5 of eric hills diff's he can't weld a diff properly.

People need to realize to weld a diff properly you need to heat up the cast metal and then use a 220 or bigger MIG welder. And you need to crank up the heat so the teeth melt into each other. Or you can use SMAW (Arch) welder and that would work fine. Do not use a 110 Mig that will not do anything!!!!!

werd devin did my diff and for a good price !!!




Powered by Max.

are you serious?!!!! i saw a pic of their diffs and they look BEEFY!:faint:

What did you do?

[Jdm.I.Am]

Looks like the welds broke and the ring gear shot the busted welds out the back.
So, you drove 40+ miles with that hole there, right? Yeah, you need a whole new diff now.

Tell whoever welded that thing that he sucks at welding. lol

part shop max welded that diff but it was not with the metal plate.. just the gears welded up.. :doh:

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

the metal plate seems unnecessary and I think you can't weld cast metal to forged plate metal very strongly. Don't quote me on this

[PacificDrift_Nick]

yeah dude i forgot to mention that you may need a full new diff including pumkin and all cause the weld chunks can get in to the front area and F you up real bad

[soreballz]

part shop max welded that diff but it was not with the metal plate.. just the gears welded up.. :doh:
I stand by my statement. lol

Plate or no plate, welded diffs shouldn't break unless one of two things is going on:
1 - you're making a TON of power. I mean LOTS of power.
2 - the person that welded it did a super shitty job.

In this case, we're clearly looking at option number two.

Anywho, MISTA LEE!! Pull that bad boy apart, take pics, and post 'em up.

[!Zar!]

oh its not that he needs to fix it asap. its cause he just noticed it just now and hes at prom lol. so he wants to make sure he can make it back safe so yeah.

feel bad the girl had to be driven to prom in a 240sx

LOL

/thread

[Martino]

I'd like to see some pics of this welding job. I've had numerous amounts of welded diffs and have yet to see one lock up. I only currently know of one friend who's diff broke out on the highway but just ended up working like an open diff (apparently). Is that even possible?

I just put my newest welded in my 180, however because of such short notice I had someone else weld it other than my most trusted friend who welds.

*gulp* lol

[BoostedCoupe]

my first diff was welded with a stick welder. that was a bad idea. the welds broke but my diff never got a chunk blown out or lock up. I drove it atleast 200miles with the weldes broke it just acted like an open diff from the factory. I took it out and had it migged this time. If i was the op i would be calling pbm and they would be buying me a new diff and welding it for free.

[S14DB]

The diff didn't break. If he was shooting out chunks it would be the R&P and then he couldn't drive.

Look at the fresh scrape marks on the diff cover. He backed into or ran over something and shattered the case.

[NoPistons!]

People need to realize to weld a diff properly you need to heat up the cast metal and then use a 220 or bigger MIG welder. And you need to crank up the heat so the teeth melt into each other. Or you can use SMAW (Arch) welder and that would work fine. Do not use a 110 Mig that will not do anything!!!!!

Pre-heating and cleaning makes it better but it will hold without that mess..... Just crank up the heat and pack in the wire!

I'm curious to test out mine. I MELTED my shit together on really high heat so close that i was in danger of having the wire arc off on the brass tip. We all know that's annoying and it sucks b/c you usually have to cut out wire and respool the machine.....


Alot of people weld JUST the gears together.

That is stupid. What you need to do is:

Tack the gears together first, then run a bead connecting all the gears to the case on both sides. Go back and melt the gears together. Then you can tie in beads as you like. I laid 6 complete beads per side, just to make sure there was no chance of it breaking. I'll post pics later. I keep saying it but i think i'll do it tomorrow.

You should pull the diff cover just to see what exactly happened.

It DOES look like he backed into something. Not saying that's what happened but the stress cracks near the fill hole and that large, wide scratch over to the left above the hole shows it might be the culprit.

[Mista Lee]

I was on the freeway when this all happened. Everything going fine then I suddenly hear chaos. So backing up into something is out of the question.
I'm sure i didn't run anything over either, as i had my eyes open on the road and didn't see anything.. I can understand that even if i did hit something, it would make a hole on the other side of the diff., not the back of it as i was going forward.. not backwards on a freeway..
On the way home, it was still functioning like a welded diff, and it didn't locked up.

[S14DB]

YOu are going to have to take it apart anyways. So, Drop it and open her up and we can see who's right.

I would expect a R&P failure to be a little closer to the drain and a center section failure to be on the right side.

All I can think is that you threw a Ring bolt that far to the left. Do I see parts of the cover inside the diff?

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

Pre-heating and cleaning makes it better but it will hold without that mess..... Just crank up the heat and pack in the wire!

I'm curious to test out mine. I MELTED my shit together on really high heat so close that i was in danger of having the wire arc off on the brass tip. We all know that's annoying and it sucks b/c you usually have to cut out wire and respool the machine.....


Alot of people weld JUST the gears together.

That is stupid. What you need to do is:

Tack the gears together first, then run a bead connecting all the gears to the case on both sides. Go back and melt the gears together. Then you can tie in beads as you like. I laid 6 complete beads per side, just to make sure there was no chance of it breaking. I'll post pics later. I keep saying it but i think i'll do it tomorrow.

You should pull the diff cover just to see what exactly happened.

It DOES look like he backed into something. Not saying that's what happened but the stress cracks near the fill hole and that large, wide scratch over to the left above the hole shows it might be the culprit.

Exactly what I do
I do 8 fat welds on all the gears then weld the gears to the case. All on super high heat and I try and keep the casing at like 400+ degrees so it welds better

[Mista Lee]

Alright guys, finally finished taking it off and took a peek inside..
There was absolutely no fluids left inside.
looks like a bolt came loose and was just projected at the cover. There's also some damage on the same piece that the bolt is on. will that need to be replaced?
If you look at the bolt above where the missing one is supposed to be, you can also see that one was also starting to come loose.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5401.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5402.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5403.jpg
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/initialdfreak/240sx/IMG_5406.jpg

[clark]

your ring gear is probably warped, but you can find one at a junkyard easy enough.

seriously though, out of pity for your misfortune, i have an open diff just laying around. you pay for shipping and it's yours.

hopefully this good deed will grant my passage to not having any catastrophes while driving.

[haggard240]

that's a shit load of metal shavings..

[DataXUnknown]

lol my diff has been leaking ever since its been welded, which was like 4 or 5 years ago. it doesn't leak anymore so i assume it ran out of fluid? oh well its still runnning strong! hahaha

[Jdm.I.Am]

looks like the welds are fine and it was just one of the bolts from the main gear that came loose... pm or text message me.

[s13dan]

having a rear end blow out is prolly the single most violent thing that ever happen to me in my car..45mph and the rear end just locked up, in traffic it really sux ass, almost came around on me.I had a hole almost exactly like the pics on page one. All with a stock VLSD, dunno what happened but fluid is a good thing to have no matter what.

[S14DB]

Alright guys, finally finished taking it off and took a peek inside..
There was absolutely no fluids left inside.
looks like a bolt came loose and was just projected at the cover. There's also some damage on the same piece that the bolt is on. will that need to be replaced?
If you look at the bolt above where the missing one is supposed to be, you can also see that one was also starting to come loose.

Sweet I was right.

[Mista Lee]

anyone have an extra diff cover lying around?
PM me!

[ChristopherL]

I only currently know of one friend who's diff broke out on the highway but just ended up working like an open diff (apparently). Is that even possible?

Yes it is. Happened to me on the track. All of a sudden sliding sideways was a chore. Took the diff out to check it out. Turns out the welds let go and then the hardend steel that the gears are made out of just ate the welds into dust. Was done with an arc welder and very craptastically apparently. But since then got another friend to do one and have had no problems. And the other diff seems perfectly fine, just de-welded.

[iheartmysil80]

feel bad the girl had to be driven to prom in a 240sx

hahahahaha

[Devens240]

^ that made my day lol

[Iron_Zenki]

I wanna weld my diff now :]

[JRas]

anyone have an extra diff cover lying around?
PM me!

just buy a new open diff and get it welded again, it's not worth the risk :2c:

[SilviaSR20DET]

kinda off topic but how do you guys manage to keep the rear end from flopping around as in reducing wheel hop? My gear shifter is kinda rough at times when i take slow turns. Or is it normal for it to do that? I already have upgraded tranny mounts and poly urethane subframe mounts.