How do the clutches get burnt up or worn out in the first place? Are they hard to replace and do the cost much? I'm really liking the idea of just burnin the gears together and calling it a day. I see that some see it as a concern to not weld it but I know multiple people that have welded the rear or have spools in them and have no problem at all.

 

i have ls in my front and it turns fine when everyone said it wouldnt

 

My truck has L/S front and rear, if I'm spinning 1 tire, I'm spinning 4. You just need to pack the clutches tighter.

You can probably order the kit to rebuild the L/S unit from summit or through a parts store. It burns out much like a clutch from a transmission, it just wears away. But that takes quite a while to happen.

 

ya i could buy a kit to re build it but i dont have the money to do that right now so im going it weld her solid for now. later on down the road when i have the money i will swich to one ton running gear and ox mechanical lockers. but for now weld will do just fine.

 

Botch the weld job or break it wheeling you will be without the truck until you find some $. I'd leave well enough alone.. but do what you want. Reminds me of a saying: To be old and wise you must first be young and stupid.
Please don't take that as a jab at you, I'm 42 and haven't quite hit the old and wise part of life yet.

 

THIS^^^

I started building my truck when I was in high school. And I regret just about anything I did to it at that time because most of it was hacked together in a rush and on a tight budget. I've had to go through and redo just about anything I did with tougher parts, better welds, and I've probably spent twice as much money now because of it.

My advice before about fixing the L/S unit was pointed at fixing your truck the right way. And if you can't do it the right way, leave it alone until you can. There's more than one way to do it, but welding it is not the right way.

 

Agreed. If you have no money, dont go costing yourself MORE MONEY

 

@bashby no offence taken. I totaly understand what you mean. My Grampa was always was telling me to leave my quad alone when it didn't need to be tinkered with. But I always did it anyways trying to always get a little more speed and power out of it. But there is a difference between doing a hack job and doing it as absolutely cheep as possible like me. If you know how to weld them correctly there're is loathing to worry about. Drive with your brain instread of just hammering down when off road and there won't be any problems.

 

Or instead of just driving with your brain, you could build a truck with your brain and NOT weld the spider gears...

Cheap as possible is going to turn into a hack job. Welding the rear end is an example of a hack job. You could rebuild the L/S, or even put a locker in, but instead you wish to go the cheapest and least effective way possible. You're going to cause yourself way more trouble than you need to. Take the advice from everybody here that has some kind of experience. Obviously it's more experience than you have with the subject. Learn from what we've all done and what we've all seen. We're trying to do you a favor and keep your truck operable.

 

Exactly. A paid $86.00 for a mini spool in my Dana 44 rear (XJ). Trust me, doing a project the right way will lead to more quality jobs in the future. The reverse is also true. Hack this to "save money" and you'll be more apt to hack the next project. (Like tie rods or something that could kill you or someone else).

 

Do whatever you want, It is your truck and your money. I have welded one truck, and 2 jeeps. We never broke any of them, but it was absolutely terrible to try to drive anywhere. We ended up fixing them with lockers and/or LS units. It works, it helps go off road, but it sure sucks everywhere else. Don't have money to repair it correctly, why bother.

I had a friend of mine that has a chevy 1500 that he baught from a mechanic I used to work for and the rear axle was clunking and whining so I ordered a master kit for it and tore into it one saturday and found the carrier wasn't even shimmed tight in the housing, the L/S was totally burned up, the ears on the carrier had been bent, distorted, and broken and braized back together.

I told him to fix it right since he has a wife and kids and no mechanical abilities, I told him that there was no way to properly repair what he had and he needed a new carrier at least. He barely had enough money to buy the bearing kit so I spent all day trying to build it so that it would hold tegether and a year later It still is running.

Moral is you would be surprised what will hold up sometimes, and for how long.