Welded diff

[slightlydodgy]

My mate has a hilux that he uses as his farm ute but it is road leagal (marginally) and has no mods. It is 4x4 but with open diffs and he was thinking of locking the rear one permanately (wife wont let him spend money). He runs mud grips and ocasionally goes to town in it. We used to do this to the diffs in our paddock rally cars (remember those days) and we both used to hang out with a guy who had a 9inch Detriot locker in a chevy comodore and then a chevy HT Monaro. Any thoughts

[Tread]

If he wants to keep it road legal he will stuggle to get w.o.f because as soon as the truck turns a corner on a hard surface the tyres will bounce and chirp. the whole inside wheel doing less revalutions than the outside, will put alot of strain on the axles and could break. Also welded diffs can cause issues on side slopes. A locker only engages if one wheel is spinning faster than the other.

[geeves]

He wont get a wof with a welded rear diff but if its part time 4wd he could do the front diff as this is not checked at wof time. I trust its a rangi truck!
I also cannot recommend this mod for the reasons above

[slightlydodgy]

Rangi truck? Havent heard that term but he does gravitate between wof and eb reistrations. Wouldnt doing the front diff make tight turns difficult and put major presure on the front driveline? Personally I would replace it (it only a toymota) or spend some money

[geeves]

I thought the term "rangi" came from "footrock flats" which was prime Taranaki literature.
Yes turning with a hard locked diff does get hard and things might break. The hilux front diff isnt that strong anyway

[mulover]

Personally i would never lock a front diff and auto lockers in the front scare me as they can take over on grass slopes. Welding a diff on a vechile that still travels on a public road is also not a great idea. Even if he's not allowed to spend much money, I would have a look around for a limited slip diff, they are very common for a hilux and I think he would be able to find one pretty cheap. And then he could shim it up so its pretty much locked and only lets go on the road.

[slightlydodgy]

He went and sold the hilux today reckons hes on a deal with a little quad truck
and will buy a road ute post calving (when us farmers have a life again) be interested how it goes

[mulover]

My good friend down in Invers sells those little suzuki mini trucks and the dairy farmers love them. You can get them with diff lock and heaps of other add ons, and plenty of room on the back for a couple of calfs.