Ok, I'm still waiting for the funding to be right for my gear swap. But in the mean time, I'm trying to figure out what I should do to make the differential limited slip. I'm going to be buying new ring & pinion gears, but I was playing with the idea of pulling the limited slip units out of my parts truck.

The parts truck has LS front & rear, but I know that the front diff has 230k on it. The rear is unknown because the whole axle was swapped in when the last one self destructed.

Can the LS differentials from the parts truck be rebuild/refurbed or am I better off buying new ones?

 

As long as the carrier isn't damaged everything else can be replaced. I would make sure the spider gears are in good shape and then just replace the clutches, re-arranging them by alternating the metal and the friction discs. I just rebuilt mine a few months ago using this method and now it actually works like its supposed to (there are a few threads on this). You could find a used one for cheap but at least if you rebuild yours you'll know what you have.

 

FYI.. The breakpoint for the front carrier is 3.73, meaning if you have 3.55's and are going to 4.10's for example the front carrier will have to be replaced so the front LS carrier you have now would be no good to you. No such problem with the rear diff however.

 

I'm planning on going from 3.08 to 3.73, so I should be good right? Does it take much mechanical skill to replace everything on an LSD?

blakem, when you say re-arange them by alternating the metal and friction discs does this mean that they are originally in a different order?

 

Are you sure your truck doesn't already have LS? Check the door sticker and axle tag. Maybe it is just worn and not working very well.

 

Definitely not LS

 

Just checking. Thats the same code mine has. It originally had 3.08 open. I just thought it might save you a few bucks.

 

No.. and that's because there isn't much in there. There's a cross pin that retains the spider gears, the spider gears, an S spring, a couple C clips on the axles, and the clutch disks. You can have it all out on the ground in 2 minutes once the cover is off.

Yeah.. they are arranged with two metal disks between each pair of friction disks, so it's metal on metal in an oil bath .. how well do you think that grips? Not sure what the logic was for Ford to install them this way because it essentially disables the diff, probably because it gives it better on-road behavior and less tire wear. And that is something to be aware of, once you restack the clutches the diff will have a lot more bite so there will be some tire scuffing around tight turns and the back end will slide around more on wet roads.

 

I have to say it takes mechanical abbility to get a carrier back together correctly. Those spider gears come out very easily but getting it all back together with the shims in place and correct pre-load is not something for a "shade-tree" mechanic.

 

Hey man. Anyone that is looking to save me a few bucks is alright with me.


Just great. Now you've got me second guessing myself. I'm drooling over air lockers that I can't afford again.

 

You say if we change stack of clutches to different order that mean it would work much better?

I have limited slip for F250 but it was worn out so bad it doesn't hold if you turn 1 tire.

 

I've heard you could actually add clutches as well, if you wanted to further limit the slip

 

And clutch for this one is freak EXPENSIVE. Like $200 for kit. Hope ED here sell them half price.

 

Hell, if you have to spend that much, just get a new LSD.

 

Summit has a Trac-Loc rebuild kit for the 8.8" for ~$70. The same kit w/carbon fiber clutches runs ~$110. Yes you can alter the stacking order to make the Trac-Loc have a tighter lock-up. I used this method on the 8.8" in our '97 Mustang GT about 6 years ago. So far it has lasted for almost 80K miles and still going strong.

It is not a difficult job to do. Messy and smelly, but not bad and easily done in the home shop by someone with a reasonable mechanical skill level.