Christian welded his front diff and it blew up... +1 for not relying on it up the cape.
Funny how i only just found this thread...bit late but ill input anyway...
A welded diff is awesome but
1) the standard r180 front diff is a POS and cant take much of a beating.
2) you need to learn to drive with it.
with full traction you can do everything so much slower than before. therefore tackling obstacles becomes easier.
turning...you will lose the ability to turn very well. when your turning your going to load up the front drive-line and this is when it will break.
if you have manual front hubs, you can simply lock a single one when your was '4wd' but then when you want to get over something you can lock the other hub - giving full traction....this is a good way to avoid loading up the drive line when touring but its kinda annoying.
Before I had a nav i had a Mq patrol. I welded the front diff in that and it never had an issue. the front diff in those is a c200(larger) and its solid axel, so it deals with loading a bit better.
after welding the nav front diff, it lasted about 2 4wd trips (pretty sure it broke on the second trip)...this is just doing semi decent 4wd tracks - not long touring.
in short, the front needs the option to turn on/off - airlocker, or slip a little - LSD. a auto locker operates similarly to a LSD but really tight..so this is a decent option two.
the route im currently taking is installing a larger r200 front end setup into my nav (started getting parts) but i plan to re-shim a LSD center and use this setup up front. This setup will provide traction when required, but slip when needed (turning / hard surfaces etc).
for touring a decent (tight) lsd rear and open diff would properly suit. if you often get into tight spots you may wish to look into the front LSD/Locker option.
but without forgetting decent skill off road can count for alot...simply using the Hbreak or pulsing the breaks can trick a worn LSD or even open center diff into distributing power to the wheel that's on the ground and not the one with limited traction.
anyway, given this thread is really old I assume you have come to your own conclusions regarding your setup and either kept it or ditched it.
edit - here is a video from when i first welded my d21 front diff...as you can see the d21 can do allot more at lower speed - but the d22 has to get decent momentum first because its stock open front diff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic4qZKaGG4I
- christian
