TJ limited slip wear out?

May 20, 2004 21 Replies

I've got a '99 TJ with the limited slip D44 in the rear. I'm taking my son out CO/UTAH for jeeping/mtbiking/etc and want to make sure my jeep is in good shape.



Lately I think I've noticed that the limited slip is "less limited" than it used to be. About how long does it take for the pads and what not to wear out, and what am I likely to be looking at in terms of $$$ for getting it "relimited"?



alan



Ditto on that.

I vaguely remember an article in 4-Wheel and Off-Road? some time back where they replaced the clutch discs in a Dana Trac-Lok and I thought it was about $100 for parts and about an hour worth of effort - open diff cover, drain, retract axles a little, remove carrier, pull old clutch discs, slip in new ones, replace carrier, insert axles, replace diff cover, refill - done.

JELo '02 TJ Sport

Yikes. If it turns into that path, then I guess I'll just run "semi-limited" until I can ARB it and go 4.10s. But that might be a while so I hope it's not so...

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote:

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I haven't tried my local jobber, though.> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O> mailto: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
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I tested it over the weekend by jacking up one rear tire with my floor jack that has it's own wheels. With the tire barely touching the ground I could "drive" forward. As soon as that wheel lifted completly off however, there was not even a hint of forward effort as the wheel just spun....

I think it's definately "open" now...

alan

L.W.(ßill) Hughes III wrote:

To properly test if you have a limited slip you have to get both rear wheels off the ground and spin either of them forward or back wards. If the opposite tire spins in the same direction you have a limited slip, if it spins in the opposite diorection you've got an open differential. Even severly work limited slip clutches will still lock enough to confirm a limited slip with this test.

(Note: If you have a Dana 35 DO NOT jack the rear end up by placing the jack under the differential pumpkin, you can bend the axle housing if you do.)

Bill, have you been drinking???

He's unclear if it is moonshine, rot-gut whiskey, cheap beer, or a "manly" drink like Mike's Hard Lemonade aka cheaply disguised girly-man wine cooler.

___________________________________________________________ tw

03 TJ Rubicon - Rubicon Express 4.5" 01 XJ Sport

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

-- Dave Barry

Pronunciation: 'jEp Function: noun Date: 1940

Etymology: from g. p. (G= 'Government' P= '80 inch wheelbase') A small general-purpose motor vehicle with 80-inch wheelbase,

1/4-ton capacity, and four-wheel drive used by the U.S. army in World War II.

(Please remove the OBVIOUS to reply by email) ___________________________________________________________

Roger, Cap'n!

Bill,

Please enlighten the rest of us how a locker contributed to this particular rollover where a spool would not have. Is it because it was trying to load/unload as her front end unweighted? Either way, I think even with a spool, at least from watching that video, her jeep would've likely bounced a bit and gone over with that particular line; it was getting awfully tippy... But hey, what do I know? I've only been to Moab once, and sure as heck didn't try that particular climb while I was there ;-)

Thanks

It looked to me like the RR was unlocked, causing the rear to push it to the right as soon as the front started to slip. TJs have a tendency for the rear end to steer the front in situations like that, hence the custom 4 links triangulated at the top of the rear pumpkin. I'd say this was a group effort!

FWIW, see Kilbys "TJ7" ferature on their website re: this issue.

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Ok, that makes sense.

I just recognized that...I actually DID do that in Moab...it's on Golden Spike, just after LaunchPad, right? When i went up it I went ahead and locked the rear, and near the top, started to lift the driver tire; locked the front before it could start bouncing ;-) and drove the rest of the way up. Pretty crazy little hill. Definitely can be tippy for a TJ. The pic on this page is me coming out of the crack, taken from the top:

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/Bob

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