ok, i have blown the front diff. in my volcano. i have already blown the rear one and replaced it with a new one. This time, i blew the front just driving it in the grass (no jumping at all). i know it's nblown because it clunks, and i can feel it skipping when i turn the front wheels by hand. my guess is that it's the same as when i blew out the rear one...missing teeth on the ring gear.
but, what if i pull out the front driveshaft and the front dogbones and just make it 2 wheel drive?
i don't have the $$ to buy a new diff. for the front (i know they're cheap...but money is tight right now).

you wont get very good traction. they make an upgraded diff. you should be able to take out the front dirve shaft as long as you dont have a center diff

i don't care about traction...i like to spin the tires and slide all over the place (the sterring on my volcano sucks anyway) the front tires barely move left to right when i try to steer it. if i lift the front tires off the ground, the steering works great and both tires turn left to right to full lock. with the front tires on the ground, they barely turn left to right. it's been that way since new, and i have tried everything to correct the problem. the servo saver isn't broken. it just seems like the big tires bind on the ground when i try to turn or something. i have upgraded futaba servos in it and nothing is binding in the steering linkage.
anyway, if it will run and go just as fast with only 2 wheel drive, then i am going to make it 2 wheel drive. i normally just run it on the street and in the grass on occasion anyway so traction isn't really a concern for me. if it spins the tires, all the better.
i'm almost at the point to where i want to give up the nitro and go back to electric.
i have so much more fun with my electric duratraxx, less maintance, better steering, and it's just as fast or faster than my volcano.

It will run as a 2WD if you pull the front drive components. Bear in mind that this puts more stress on the rear drive components like the rear diff. And it will not handle the same. Depending on what weight oil you had in your diffs, I would guess it will tend to push or under steer in the turns. But it will run.

As far as the wheels not turning on the ground, that has been true for several of my vehicles, especially ones with lots of contact area and grip on the tires. Often, the vehicle has to be moving for the wheels to be able to turn well. So I would not necessarily think that anything is wrong with your volcano. Of course, if your servo has enough torque, it will turn anyway. But then you are running down your receiver batteries fast as higher torque=more load=more battery drain.

lock up the front dif. with playdoh or super glue but superglue wont come out i dont think you care tho cause the dif. is broke anyway so might as well super glue it and make it 2wd.

what futaba servo you using on the steering?...if its a 3003 or equivelent I would do one of 2 things....I would either buy a new 9003 (I believe that is the #) from redcat or what not that is for the steering on 1/8ths or I would buy a hitec 645mg (if you buy a hitec u will need to change the servo horn as well)....I have a 1/10th truggy and didnt like the small servo on it and had a new stock servo off my 1/8th buggy that I upgraded so I stuck it on my truggy, problem solved...

well, i pulled out the front driveshaft and the front dogbones today. I also pulled the front diff out to look at it, and as i suspected, there are several teeth missing on the ring gear. lock the diff. with superglue, how would that make it 2 wheel drive? just by pulling the driveshaft and dog bones, the front wheels just freewheel, and the diff does absolutly nothing now.
you're also right about the steering being a little better when the truck is rolling. but, at full steering lock, i can't even make a complete circle in our street (it's a normal width neighborhood street).
i have the futaba 3003 steering servo, but i can't afford to upgrade to a better one right now. i'm just trying to make do with what i have.
i think i may have discovered part of the steering trouble tho. my servo saver seems very loose. it isn't broken, but with the slightest amount of pressure from the servo, it comes apart at where the 2 peices meet in the middle (the V shaped parts on the shaft of the servo saver.) i tried to tighten and/or adjust it to give it more tension, but i couldn't get it to do anything. I put a couple of shims under the bottom shaft of the servo saver, between it and the chassis, and it solved most of the problem. the shims put more tension on the spring inside the saver, and now the 2 peices don't separate as much....and my steering is a bit better. it's still no where near the way i would like it to be. My duratraxx evader has been modified into a monster truck, with 4" tall, 3" wide masher tires, stock steering linkage and a futaba 3003 servo...and it will literally do circles in about a 2-3 foot radius. i need the entire street to make a turn with my volcano.

Do some research the proper way to do it is locking the front diff. your just straining the motor the center diff is still spinning with no load on it.

Silly putty is one way of locking the diff.