thats some good info, and points me in the direction to just get an LSD. i dont want to hurt my truck just to get another tire to spin...

 

You'll definitely like the lsd over a fully locked one. We have a lsd in our yukon xl and it works great. As long as you don't go offroading you should like it.

 

i do go off-roading, but its when im hunting n dirt roads nstuff, use 4x4 only when needed which is rare. (This thing tears it up with an open diff in 2wd)

 

In a vehicle designed for trail riding, i wouldnt want to weld or spool the rear diff. It would make it too difficult to make tight turns. i would leave spools for the mud bogs, sand dunes and drag strip.

I would, however, consider a welded/spooled diff to go into the FRONT housing, ONLY if the truck had unlockable hubs. that way you can save money by welding instead of buying a locker. You would drive on the street normally with both hubs unlocked, you dont use the front diff. When you get on the trail, you lock the passanger side hub. This will give power to the passanger side front tire and the driver side is free to turn corners. When the need arises, you can jump out and lock the driver side diff... now you have both front tires with power.

The better option is to get a selectable locker, this is just a cheap solution.

 

i had a mini-spool in my C10 with a built 396cid and i wore out tires, even though it was a 2wd, real quick, it was kinda funny cause i saved alot on the brake pads and shoes, when i'd pull into a drive through all you had to do was turn the wheel hard and the truck would stop, like sheriff said and keep this in mind, both wheels are going to turn at the same speed regardless of what you are doing, granted the upside to having a welded or mini-spool or locker is that when you are towing or going up a hill you will feel the difference, i did, but if your driving around town....a welded rear end is not a good idea unless you have a lot of $$$$$ for tires and if your going to give your $$$$ away i have a V10 thats awful thirsty!!!

 

That's great until it explodeds and ruins everything

The ONLY way IMO is to weld the spiders to the carrier, the cross-pin is just not meant to be under that much stress, it or the carrier around it will break eventually.

 

i have put them through alot of stuff and never broke anything... and if you are running something hard enough to break that pin, that pin would be the least of your worries

 

I believe if I were gonna blow a grand on a set of locking hubs for a 2nd gen ram, I should be able to afford a locker for it.

Turning would certainly be easier with a rear spool than a front one, even with one front hub unlocked...which on a D-44 is a pretty big load on those puny U joints with a big tire.
Jes' saying...

 

You're kidding right?! That is exactly what that cross pin is meant to do!! That is why it is a solid bar of steel! The side gears in an open carrier are connected to the carrier only by the spider gears, and the spider gears are connected to the carrier only by that pin, so that pin is designed to take every bit of torque that goes through the carrier. If you put enough torque through the axle the snap that pin, the u joints will break long before the pin does!

 

exactly! in one of my old 78 power wagons, the keeper that held the pin in, some how found its way out, then at 70 mph, under power, the pin fell out, and hit the diff housing. >>BANG<< broke the housing, broke the yoks off the t-case and rear end, broke both u-joints and tore the eyes out of the drive shaft, and twisted the the driveshaft, and turned everything inside the diff to powder, other than the carrier and the pin was un touched, bad deal for me but, i cant see that pin breaking, not saying it never has, just doubtfull