Hey guys, a friend of mine is going to be welding my diff this week and I am in the process of prepping and cleaning it. My question is, in your opinion what is the best way to clean it up to get good penetration? Just spray it down with a bunch of carb cleaner and wipe all the gear oil off the spiders as good as possible?

 

No carb cleaner. It leaves an oily residue that you cant tell is there. (at least the stuff i use does). Pick up a can or two of brake cleaner and start spraying. Wear safety glasses. It burns when it gets in your eyes

 

Don't spray brake cleaner on a surface before it is welded.
It will give off toxic fumes once you weld.

 

Damn scub, never knew that Just did a google search and came up with tons of stuff about that.
Thats what i did on my rig, including my entire exhaust. I thought it was fine once it evaporated. Guesss not! Thanks for keeping me alive
I wont be doing that anymore

Not to mention when you forget you are kneeling in a puddle of it and light your pants on fire

What does everyone use then? Since i just gave some of the worse advice possible! lol

 

Wire wheel down to metal the areas to be welded, clean is key. NO contamination.

 

Is it the housing or the spider gears being welded?

 

Good way is to get the oil off the diff.
Or just use some 6010 Arc sticks, and enjoy your deep penetration welds and little to no prep, lol.

 

really 6010 rods and a wipe down is good enough? i hate to see my welds break up in there

 

i would use 6010 maybe pre heat a little that is some hard metal

 

Yes i know, what I am asking is, what is the best way to get the oil off the diff? lol

And it's the spiders that are going to be welded.

 

just buy some engine degreaser, but everyone i know who has them welded used brake cleaner

 

Ok so last night I used carb cleaner cause it's all I had, it is already looking pretty clean just from that. I just got back from the store with some "engine parts degreaser". Should do the trick.

 

 

saw the same article on southern ontario toyota trucks club site, and have since been educating everyone i know about this, sounds like a real bad time

 

You can weld through mud with 6010 and 6011, lol.
A little bit of oil isn't going to make your welds brittle or porous.

Like said, preheat a little, crank up the amps, run some 6010 or 6011, and lay the meat to it.

 

Oil will cause problems. Sometimes not visually. I would not weld over dirt n oil unless on the trail in an emergency.

 

I guess you could always just pour some gas in the diff and burn all the oil out

 

you could weld over it with a 6011 rod thats made to burn through dirty stuff and give a good deep penetrating weld with minimal prep

 

Its all welded up, and everyone is ok

 

For future reference..most(if not all) modern brake cleaner is NON-CHLORINATED now & will NOT give off that nasty phosgene gas if heated/burned. I WOULD use brake cleaner...as it leaves no petroleum residue(like carb cleaner does) & let it air dry before welding. For the poor dude in that article..he unknowingly exposed himself to phosgene(NERVE GAS)..holy shiznickle! DO NOT use chlorinated brake cleaner(I've not found any..)if yur gonna burn it.Sleepr71.