7 1/4 rear strength

I have a 66 dart and I also had a question about 7 1/4 rear ends. I am swapping a 360/727 into it, everyone says the 7 1/4 is garbage. I'm pretty handy with a welder so would welding the diff make it so it was stronger by eliminating the spider gears from breaking or would this just kill the axles and the pin? How hard would it be to put a 8.8 out of an explorer in? How much would it cost to have shortening... And other things don't to make it work.
David