Slip yoke and Locker vs Track lock??

I don't think that anyone can answer either question properly, without knowing what you plan to do with the vehicle.

Earle

I use my Jeep as an all around Jeep it is my second car, so not really my daily driver.

I drive it in summer time as a daily driver on nice days with the top off. I take it wheeling, this past weekend i was up in the Berkshire Mountains in Mass. We hit mud hole and rock climbs, general wheeling. I take it on the beach. In the winter i use it when it snows.

I use it as a jeep should be used, as go anywhere do anything vehicle.

It currently has a 2 inch lift, 32 11.5 BF AT's. It performs excellent for what I have. I shocked a few people this past weekend with what i got through.

I am on a budget so i am contemplating what my next upgrade should be. Bill recommended Gears, but I dont feel I need to change them.I am happy with the the feel and drivability witht the 3.73;s and the tire combo.

If you are already "shocking people" where you live, I don't see much reason for upgrades. That said, if you are not getting stuck yet, then I would consider locking hubs for the front and a Trac Loc. There is a trick with the Trac Loc, where you stick in another pair of clutch disks, to make it tighter. That is going to be cheaper than lockers, and a limited slip isn't going to break as much stuff as a locker will.

Maybe, if you install a slip yoke eliminator, you can get away with a two cross (i.e. standard) drive shaft with your existing lift. However, as Bill said, if you increase the lift you may need a longer drive shaft, and you may need to go to a CV joint on the front, and rotating the axle up in the back. You should be able to get rid of the TC lowering kit though.

If you go to bigger tires, which is the reason for additional lift, then you may start to think that Bill is right about the gears.

Earle

They call lockers 'low side finders'. This means on an icy road, the locked diff will want to keep on pointing to the ditch. A limited slip can also act like that if you are too hard on the gas going up a hill, it wants to crab walk the arse into the ditch. The locker just plain does this no matter how much pedal you use.

I use my Jeep year round up here in Canada and the only way I would put a locker in is if it was a manual one I could turn off so if I am on a narrow off camber winter ice trail I can still drive it. A locker can make narrow trails impossible and impassable.

If it goes on the front, I am sort of ok, because I have locking hubs so I can turn it off. I wouldn't like that though because I use 2 WD at lots of intersections where I have to make a slushy/icy left turn. I find even the open diffs in 4x4 have to scuff one tire in a corner because of the locked center. This gets me up on top of the crud, then the Jeep wants to go straight. I use 4x4 just like any other gear and go in and out all the time according to conditions so I leave my hubs locked lots in winter.

We did a run at the local mud pits in the middle of winter and put my open diff CJ7 with it's tall skinny (33x9.5") mud tires up against a TJ locked front and rear with fat mud tires (33x12.5") and he could almost keep up on the pit wall climbs.... Fat tires spin too easy. :-)

At the end of the run, we all sat around and tried to figure which worked best. Well, the performance between them was so close we couldn't call it. He had to make runs at some deep stuff and hills I walked up easily and I had to do the same on some others he went up easy, but we both made it everywhere we aimed for.

The funny part was, a stock YJ automatic with stock tires was along for the ride and if we could keep him out of the deep stuff, LOL!, he managed all the pit wall climbs too!

This also happened on a 'first through in the spring' thaw 50 mile run except it was a stock TJ following. The fat tire locked Jeep was in the ditch 'waaay' too often. His rear end just wouldn't stay on the trail, it wanted that low side. The stock TJ just followed us and saw where 'not' to drive....

Mike

---snippy---

Mike,

Having been raised in Massachusetts, I would have recommended that the O.P. keep his vehicle close to stock, but having been raised in Massachusetts, I knew he wouldn't listen. Fat tires might be good on the beach though.

Earle