confused about lockers & limited slips?

I may be wrong but I think with a locker up front in that configuration, without manual hubs, you would always experience a drag in one wheel if not something worse. Personally I would put the same Deroit Trutrac in the front that I have in my Toyota, but I'm not a rock crawler and maybe you are.

My front locker is transparent in 2wd except for the occasional racket it makes on sharp turns. KH

Before two days I installed ARB front locker in my Suzuki. This thing is the best I ever saw. I can drive normally and when terrain gots worst I hit the dash button and my vehicle becomes a traction king. I don't regret for money I payed for it. You better save some money and buy really good locker.

A locker in the front will probably not even be noticed, until you go offroad and use 4WD - You don't want a spool, you won't be able to turn with it. If you put a locker in the front (I've got Lockrights front and back) be sure the driveshaft is straight and U-Joints in good shape, cause it will spin and you WILL feel any vibration. A locker in the rear is good, it just takes some getting used to. With an Automatic, it's probably not bad. On mine, it jerks me around a little when I shift. You will hear it disengage in parking lots and sharp turns, but it's silent on the road. Also, the Lockrights give you at least twice as much play (slack) as you had before. Finally, if you live in an area where the roads ice up, a locker can be a handful to drive, rear will want to swap with the front a lot. But offroad, they are unbeatable. (Except, when you do stick it, now its REALLY stuck!! LOL) Good Luck Tookie Tookie - Denham Springs, LA

Bill's right about the Dana 35 being pretty weak compared to many other differentials. Take a look at his website and you'll see so many examples of breakage you'd think that he enjoys cataloging it. If you can, you should consider getting a beefier differential before investing a lot of money into an inferior part. But, that's another story. You're asking about lockers, limited slip and spools. I'd say that running a "spool" is out of the question. For me, a spool's no good for anything but driving in a straight line since both tires will ALWAYS turn at the same speed, i.e. one tire will spin or the other will "bark" any time you turn. That equals absolutely unacceptable stress for a daily driver. They're used in applications where the driver intends to spin the tires; not a daily driver or even a normal off-roader in my opinion. So, you're down to lockers and limited slips. My preference is to start with a traction device in the rear first. Your rear wheels are what you're using most of the time anyway. If you need more traction, you can lock in the front and you'll have power to one of the front wheels at that point. You just have to choose between locker (maximum mechanical traction but clicks on sharp turns in the parking lot) or a limited slip (no clicking but the power distribution between left & right isn't as good because of the Limited Slip). I've heard it said that 2WD with a locker in the rear is equally if not more effective than 4WD with open differentials. I won't venture an opinion on that one, but, I know that traction devices have fantastic benefits on the 4WD and even better if they're in back and front. I might recommend a limited slip up front. I say this because your front end's often weaker than the rear because of typically lighter axles and U-joints. A locker's fine. I'm just throwing out the idea that a limited slip might grip great and still give enough to keep from sharply loading up the front end (left versus right axle) with excessive stress. It's just a t hought, though, since if you have enough traction to build that much stress, you probably don't need 4WD unless you're rock crawling. Being in the Florida panhandle, I humbly admit that my idea of rock crawling is creeping over a curb:). But, a mechanical locker might be the ticket for that scenario. You'll just have to decide like the rest of us and justify it to yourself. I don't know you but you're probably much more understanding than I am. Haha! Let's recap thus far. 1) Decide whether you'll swap your rear end first. Then, 2) consider traction device in the rear. Then, 3) consider traction device in the front. Tookie and Bill have made some great observations for you and your particular setup/requirement will dictate where you're going and the best way to get there. By the way, if you have an automatic transmission, it'll probably help deal with the added rear end play you'll experience from traction devices. I'd really listen to some of the other guys' preferences on the NG since it's based on first hand experience. IMHO, I think they're an awesome resource to draw from since we've got some of the most experienced, knowledgeable off-roaders in the country here. Hope this helps you on your path to muddy, dusty, trail-broke nirvana:)

Hi James,

I would kind of disagree with what is being said. As long as you have manual hubs there is no reason not to spool the frontend. When you unlock your hub, you disengage the wheel fron the front driveshaft; in essence you are now a standard 2wd vehicle with freespinning front wheels. This means that in turns you will experience no wheel "skip" because your wheels are not physically attached to the spooled drive shafts. However, if your hubs are locked (or if your autohubs engage) then you have problems. A spooled diff acts like a single driveshaft running from wheel to wheel. If your hubs are engaged, regardless of if you are in 4wd, the two front wheels are now locked together and will NOT turn at different speeds which is required for turns on pavement. Remember, puting the vehicle in 4wd is sending power to the diff and the hubs decide if the power reaches the wheel.

My final vote is IF you have manual hubs and IF you don't leave them engaged for nomal driving (some people do) there should be no reason not to spool the front end. I plan on doing this to my rig (spooled front and Detroit Locker on the rear).

-Mike

It's very difficult to steer when your front is locked. Even if offroading you would have to unlock/lock your hubs constantly. Nick

If you go offroading in any tight areas, or slippery areas, plan on making a lot of 3, 4, or more point turns with a spool. IF you had a YJ and Installed a Posilock cable actuator, maybe you could get away with it, but it would still be hard to steer, you could be in 3 wheel drive and it would pull. Even with my Lockrites, I can't make sharp turns in low traction situations, cause as soon as a tire slips, it's locked.

Tookie - Denham Springs, LA

not to mention the truck will have a rather healthy appetite for U joints and axles.

-Bret

I've driven my friends truck (92 Toy) with ARB air lockers front and rear. When the air locker is engaged it is like having spooled diffs and its not tough to drive. The only problem I could forsee is on a hard area (large flat rock, etc) or if the power steering goes out. In either case unlock a hub and you're fine. Also, many of the mechanical lockers (Detroit comes to mind) lock when under power and only free spin when coasting; one of those in the front while under power would have the same effect.

I just realized this is cross posted to the willys group...no powersteering on those, right? I can see where spooled diffs might be a prob there... in that case I would probably spring for an ARB airlocker up front and a Detroit locker in the rear...

-Mike

I thought the OP specifically said he did not want to buy manual hubs, I don't even remember who the original poster of this thread was so don't mind me :)