Does any body know if it is possible to lock a ute diff?

yeah, open the filler plug and stuff it full of bolts :P

yes its possible, weld the spider gears together at all 4 corners should do it. Someone else can explain how do do it while maintaining strength in the steel. In my one all the welds cracked, still locked but there was a little bit of play in it.

i will go give the first one a good try!!!

No i was just curois, my old man told me that they use to just put an extra spider gear in the thing and bang thre you go!!!
But this was on a Renault Thow>

the best (make that strongest) way to lock a diff is to put a plate between the side gear and cross shaft on each side, and weld that to the cross shaft and side gears. then just start running beads of weld, joining the gears to the case. keep working your way around the diff, letting it cool a little bit occasionally. this will help to stop it cracking in the future, as eventually you almost end up in a molten ball (well, it gets bloody hot). ive found its best to keep filling the whole thing, so that you cant see any daylight through the other side.

oh, and youll need a mig, usually set up quite high so you get lots of penetration. the other way that was suggested to me was to fill it with braze or silver solder, as the heat of this wont change the properties of the steel.

im running the mig'd version in my rally car, and its great (once you learn to drive it). all you need to do when installing it is to chop the ends off the axles (make them clear the plate you put in by about 1mm).

hope that helps you

stu

just welding in the four corners to join up the gears lasted less than a month for me,
H190 A15tt

definately use plates and stuff to fill it right out

i used 4 caliper bolts to lock the gears together. it was stiff as when i first drove it but is now starting to loosen up 6wks later. anyway if it breaks my r&d tells me you can just replace centres with bluebird diffs

i think u can weld basically anything someone once told me u jam some big nuts between the gears till they jam then weld around all of it.
i also wonder what u have to do to make it all hardened again because if u heat the crown wheel it will go soft and wear out ???
maybe just take the crown wheel off before welding, and also take the axles out and cover it all in anti spatter spray ????

oh, definately take the crownwheel off. you have to have the center completely removed from the 3rd member, with the crownwheel off, and preferably take the bearings off at the same time. you will just kill the life in carrier bearings getting that sort of heat into them, it'll soften them right up.

once finished, spend a bit of time with a file and oil stone and clean up the crownwheel diameter and seat, so that it will seat properly. also make sure the bearing journals are clean and have no weld spatter on them.

i havent had one warp on me doing all of this, even with all the heat that goes into it. everyone has been just as easy to set back up once finished, with the wear pattern on the crownwheel still fine.

stu

Don't weld!! Brazing is better as it does not alter the metal properties. If you do weld it...get the proper heat treatment afterwoods. Grab some washers and put them between the side gears and get the washers brazed onto the gears.

hey 1200rallycar...how come you didn't use a phantom locker on your h190???

Its a modification that has been done in backyards for years. If you are gonna make it more technical than it needs to be - you might as well buy or make a mini or full spool for the centre.
If you cant weld the gears together using MIG or ARC without extra pieces of metal - you cant obviously weld.
If you can damage the bearings or the crown wheel with heat - You dont know how to weld.
People that say their welds broke or cracked - dont know how to weld or are too stupid to clean the metal before they attempted to weld and ended up with a porous weld from the oil contamination.