Welding on diff housing

[C.A.Moseley]

I'm going to make my own diff gaurd and weld it on. Even if i drain the diff i'm pretty sure the small amount of oil on the inside may catch fire and may do damage cos i wont even know it's burning. I'm not stuppid enough to fill it with water, so how do most people go about it?

[Simo63]

I'm going to make my own diff gaurd and weld it on. Even if i drain the diff i'm pretty sure the small amount of oil on the inside may catch fire and may do damage cos i wont even know it's burning. I'm not stuppid enough to fill it with water, so how do most people go about it?

Obviously removing the diff, disassembling it and draining all the oil out is the safest and best option however that does take some time.

I might have ... err I mean I might know of someone who welded a full diff protector onto a front Rangie diff without so much as draining the oil. I ...err I mean they used a Mig, used it sparingly (eg didn't weld 5 inch sections rather only 10 mm sections at a time allowing it to cool in between welds) and other than a change of oil at the end of it all ... did nothing else and it worked out fine.

At the same time, I have witnessed a mate welding up the rear housing on an old rangie diff whilst it was still in the car and emptied of oil. With the diff plug out it seemed okay however once it was finished, he put in fresh oil and went for a drive. Got back and noticed a small amount of oil leaking through a hole in his welds so proceeded to just weld the hole up ... result .... almost no hair and 2 blown off eyebrows Of course by that stage in the game we had worked our way through more than half a carton of VB and probably not thinking as good as we should have been.

Anyway, the above approaches are not what i would recommend to anyone but it is up to you. If you are patient it can be done .... err so I have been told.

Cheers
Simo

[shakes]

there was a thread about this in general tech not too long ago. dont a quick search and couldnt find it, but all the info is there!

Simon

[mickrangie]

just weld in small bursts... how mine was done

btw have yr running shoes on

[cooter]

like above just small stitch welds is all that is needed anyway weld a bit here then move to another spot so as to let the first weld cool the oil will take the heat away pretty quick anyway