Ok, a few months ago i let a buddy of mine take over payments of my 2007 F150 STX 4x4 while i was in training for the Army. Well, while i was gone he welded the rear diff in a way that the rear wheels rotate the at the same time. He said it was like a posi trac all the time. Problem is, i didnt want that. He said he might install a locker and I said fine and that i would pay him back later for it. Anyway, the tires chirp when i turn and the truck just doesnt seem to handle the same. He told me all i needed was spider gears and the carrier. What is that and how much does it cost? Would it be cheaper to upgrade my gears? Let me know asap..its annoying

Thanks

 

Your buddy is an IDIOT!!!

If you are lucky you can take out the carrier and cut the welds/spider gears and replace them with new.
If you change the carrier out then you have to have the rear end "set up" so it works right. Could be as much as 1200 -1500 bucks.

Either way your "buddy" should pick up the tab-then have his butt kicked!

 

he welded the rear on an 07!!! the only rear ive ever welded was on 84 blazer and that was because it was a "woods beater" and was bound for the scrap yard when we were done beating the life out of it. the purpose of the differential is to allow the outer and inner wheel to rotate at different speeds when your making turns, the welded spiders don't let this happen so to make up for it, it's chirping the tires in turns. ill give your buddy this, it does help with traction in the woods, but is completely NOT practical for a truck that your gonna drive on the street especially every day.
anyway the spiders need to be replaced for sure, its not a cheap fix... might want to pass the bill to your buddy.

 

yea you may aswell order a new carrier and a set of spiders and your gonna have to have your gears setup again... if your planing on regearg the truck now would be the time to do so

 

he did this to YOUR truck. he needs to pay for this then you need to practice a good army *** kicking on him.

 

So far sounds like the butt kicking is the MAIN ingredient!

 

Since you're replacing the carrier now anyway, you might as well install a locker or LS.
Oh yeah, you should kick your "buddy" in the bean bags.

edit: What size rear end do you have? If you're trying to go cheap, I have the original open 8.8 from my truck lying around. I'd be willing to sell it for relatively cheap.

 

Can I ask why he decided to weld the rear end? Like, what gave him the idea...

 

Drugs? That's why they call it dope!

 

It's fine for Billy Bob's backwoods mudtruck, but it's a horrible idea for a daily driver.

 

Unless hes gonna drag or drift track the thing, its kinda pointless. Im not hatin', im just sayin.

 

Needless so say we are not friends! I was like,"WTF, do you mean you welded the rear diff"! I really couldnt believe it. Anyway, my concern is to fix it. He said all i needed was to replace the spiders and the carrier. About how much would that be? Its an 8.8. Ford norsmen.

 

If he only welded the spider gears together you might be able to do some creative cutting/grinding and save the carrier. If so it would just be a new set of spiders,pin and lock bolt. no special set up needed. This is the least expensive.

If the dimwit welded the spider gears TO the carrier then you need a new carrier and it NEEDS to be set up. If you haven't done this before you'll probably need a pro. This is the most expensive route to go.

If you need a new carrier then it wouldn't be a whole lot more to go with a locker or limited slip at this point.

If you get the used carrier from Ford Norseman you may still need bearings IDK. But it will def need to be "set up" again.

Check out Summit Racing for the parts, I've had good luck with them and the delivery is pretty quick.

The cost range would be about less than $500 on the low end to possibly around $1800 on the high end. Shop around and I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say there might be some members here in your area that can help you out.

Thank you for your service and good luck, keep us posted.
jim

 

So, if you wanted to get it back to the open diff it used to be, then you could just install another 8.8 open carrier. I'd be willing to sell mine for $100, but I have no clue what shipping would be. (Also, it would need new carrier bearings.) Plus, the real cost will be in the labor to swap the ring gear and set bearing preload and backlash.
Honestly, if you have to do the work anyway, I would suggest spending an extra $200-$300 and get a new LS or locker. I put a Detroit Truetrac (limited slip) in mine and it made a huge difference without any of the annoying mannerisms of a locker.

 

A ford traclok is fairly cheap. Get one of those and change it out.

If you don't want to spend the money, take a look at how it is welded together. Like it has been said, you may be able to just change the spider gears and change those. What else did this dimwit do to your truck?