Spider gears?

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Hey everyone, I am relatively new to working with rear axles and frames all together so anyways I was talking to a mechanic the other day about how my Cutlass has an open differential (1 tire fire) and how I would love to switch to a posi/LSD. He told me (and these were his exact words) to "weld the spider gears together" in my open differential. I have no clue what that means or what he was talking about but if it can be done so I can spin my wheels like crazy without replacing an axle that would be great. Please let me know what this means and if it's safe and a good idea.

 

[breeaad]

Hey everyone, I am relatively new to working with rear axles and frames all together so anyways I was talking to a mechanic the other day about how my Cutlass has an open differential (1 tire fire) and how I would love to switch to a posi/LSD. He told me (and these were his exact words) to "weld the spider gears together" in my open differential. I have no clue what that means or what he was talking about but if it can be done so I can spin my wheels like crazy without replacing an axle that would be great. Please let me know what this means and if it's safe and a good idea.

Doing this will basically make your rear end a spool, where each wheel is going to turn the same speed all the time. So on the street, you are going to get tire chirp when turning, and in the rain you will be prone to spinning the car out. The welds WILL break at some point as well. Its a cheap quick fix to a traction issue, but you will eventually end up upgrading.

 

[CWPottenger]

Bad idea for a street car. The fact a mechanic would suggest it is a bit troubling... A junk yard posi is any easy pull and put from a junk yard and $$$ ahead in the long run.

 

[YaoGuaiCutlass]

Yeah, didn't think it sounded like a good idea. What G-body cars can I get a posi from? Specifics? And how do I tell?

 

[olds307 and 403]

It will be very hit and miss, probably more miss in G bodies. You could try a 89 or older S-10 or Astro van. You could also get the 3.23 to 4.11 gears out of them. I know most Astro vans have 3.23 gears. The S-10 especially a 4x4 would have a better chance for a posi. Just count the axle spline, needs to be 26 and the number of teeth on the gears for ratio.

 

[Bonnewagon]

A unmolested rear will have a metal tag on one of the cover bolts that says "limited slip" or "posi lube only". Then there is the axle code located on the pass side facing forward axle tube which will say what gear ratio as well as if it's posi or not. But I have seen crooks try and pass off an open rear as posi so the absolute best way is to open the cover and have a peek. The gear ratio is stamped on the side of the ring gear as well as on the face of the pinion gear. It will be two numbers like "13:31" and you do the math. The posi gear carrier will be obvious. Hey CW, " The fact a mechanic would suggest it is a bit troubling" does not surprise me at all. I know of a shop where the mechanic had a pinion seal leak but had never replaced one before and the owner told him to " just slap it in". So he did, with an impact gun- the now noisy doomed rear lasted about a week before it exploded.