Welding Tips and Tricks

I've tore down the front axles before so I'm pretty familiar with that and yes in this case I get to tear down both wheels past the spindles down to the knuckles to get the axle shafts out of the diff. From there it's just unbolting the carrier housing and dropping it which should be it's own level of excitement since the bolts are in front while the carrier is on the other side and I'm sure that carrier is not light and will drop the moment the last bolt is out.

I don't care how it handles when I drive because I'm not driving with all wheels locked in. Like I said, only one wheel will be locked so the tree/cliff story does not apply unless I get stuck and forget to unlock one I locked after I get unstuck. As you point out though, I'm pretty sure I'll be reminded very quickly I forgot if I do

As for just removing a cover.... HA I wish The rear is like that but the front is not. If it was a cover, I'd just remove it, stick it, and walk away.

Here's a shot of the Dana 44 Twin Traction Beam which is very common in the 1987-1992 F-150/Bronco and a common setup for other models/years. They're excellent axles for baja/desert runs but definitely not intended for rock crawling but have made way there too. Very unpopular axle among off roaders unless you just happen to have one you can see that fancy front setup with all the bolts and NO F'in cover. Assholes....

entity-unknown wrote:I've tore down the front axles before so I'm pretty familiar with that and yes in this case I get to tear down both wheels past the spindles down to the knuckles to get the axle shafts out of the diff. From there it's just unbolting the carrier housing and dropping it which should be it's own level of excitement since the bolts are in front while the carrier is on the other side and I'm sure that carrier is not light and will drop the moment the last bolt is out.

I don't care how it handles when I drive because I'm not driving with all wheels locked in. Like I said, only one wheel will be locked so the tree/cliff story does not apply unless I get stuck and forget to unlock one I locked after I get unstuck. As you point out though, I'm pretty sure I'll be reminded very quickly I forgot if I do

As for just removing a cover.... HA I wish The rear is like that but the front is not. If it was a cover, I'd just remove it, stick it, and walk away.

Here's a shot of the Dana 44 Twin Traction Beam which is very common in the 1987-1992 F-150/Bronco and a common setup for other models/years. They're excellent axles for baja/desert runs but definitely not intended for rock crawling but have made way there too. Very unpopular axle among off roaders unless you just happen to have one you can see that fancy front setup with all the bolts and NO F'in cover. Assholes....

Lucky you! Haha ya doesn't look like fun

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For clarity, that's not my truck, that's just the example of what the TTB looks like. Mine looks a LOT cleaner (because I've replaced more parts) than this person's. This just happened to be the only pic with the axle part clean and still underneath the truck
I also didn't do some ridiculous lift because the TTBs don't accept them well without significant camber distortion as you can see. That's when you do an extension drop of replace with a solid axle

I always cut some 1/4” flat pieces to fit in between the spider gears to give a solid base to weld to and helps tie the gears together.

That sounds like a pretty good idea! I know I'll need to mock setup the axle shafts with the diff but I know it won't be accurate nor would I have an easy way to keep things aligned if I do get em aligned.
I think your idea will help a lot to keep things in place as I begin the tacks then beads.
Thank you