I have had both the powertrax lock right and no slip in my trucks for about 4 years and haven't had any issues with either one. Both easy to install, the no slip was about 50 more than the lock right. The no slip is a little smoother & quieter, both are pretty street friendly. Never been a problem driving in snow, need a little more finesse driving than with an open rear end. Both of my trucks are stock, no engine mods. Wouldn't hesitate to buy another one, good lockers for the money.

 

As deliered the Ford TracLok is pretty loose.. most people would think the diff was open because it will still spin 1 tire in low traction conditions, but that is easily fixed by restacking the clutches and inserting an extra friction disk in each side to increase preload on the spring. With that little mod the diff performs just like a locker in low traction conditions but will still allow relatively smooth street manners, I say relatively smooth because depending upon how much preload you put on the spring you could still get some inside tire squeeling on tight turns on dry pavement.

As far as driving with a locker or tight LS diff in the snow, I'd rather have the traction and have to deal with the back end sliding around a little than get stuck in a flat parking lot because one tire is on ice. You may have to adjust your driving habits a little with a tight LS or locker out back but overall the truck will be far more capable. I find driving an open diff truck in the winter annoying now, it just seems to work much harder at simply going down a partially snow covered road.. that one wheel breaking lose on every little patch of snow while the LS equipped truck just seems to ignore it and drive smoothly down the road.

 

Ive ruined a powertrax locker in a week.

If you want one of the best handling and operating locker/posi/LSD for the street then I'd have to say truetrac. I'm so happy with mine. Also the electrac is pretty nice. It's an LSD type diff with an electric positive engagement feature. I used that in a Cherokee with 35s I built mostly for street but got used as a recovery vehicle. Tried and true though is the ford LSD. It's failed me a number of times I've really needed it, but it's always been there on my list of cheap and moderate duty use traction aids.

 

I bought an '09 mustang L/S take out for $60 at swap meet. Works great, kinda tight as it can get squirrely on damp pavement going around a corner.

 

If you're wrecking a powertrax in a week it was installed wrong or you have lots of power & big tires.

 

I told the guy I could break it in a day or two and it took me a week or so.
245s manual trans and only about 600tq from a cummins.
Between towing cars out of woods on a trailer, towing the RV, towing a 16k tractor on a 6000lb trailer on and offroad, drag racing, drifting, and just some all around good fun..... It broke. Technically it still worked most of the time but it was beat up bad and clunked more then anything. I ended up replacing it with a Detroit which is a badass locker, but not ideal for heavy towing.
For the money it's fine in a jeep that's mostly offroad, but it's not a piece I'd ever reccomend for anything that's more then 50% on the road.

 

I am a big fan of the Aussie Locker, I had one in a previous J**p, and It was a little tricky on rainy roads until I got used to it. I am seriously considering an Eaton TrueTrac for my current daily driver project, just because I see a fair amount of gravel roads, and it has proven itself to me in a friends 97 2wd r@m 1500.

 

The Ford ' Tru- lock ' has no clutch packs. It's more a posi than the ' Trac-loc ' Do not get the ' Detroit locker ' It's just for drag strip applications.

 

Detroit is a great drag and mud locker.
Towing isn't reccomended by me cause it won't unlock if your powering through and around the corner. You need to let off gas then start turning to get it unlocked. Then after you turn a ways can get back on throttle. It's hard on equipment at times. I've chirped tires on my 87 while hauling over 22k.

 

I put the powertrax no slip in my 95 2wd 4.9 m5od. It does work well and is not that hard to do. It is a very well made and precision unit. Those are the pros, The cons are it does add a bit more driveline backlash and you do have to let up around tight turns to release or you will hear some chirping. Not all that bad for the capability of a pretty stout posi unit. I too, got tired of seeing one wheel spin in the lightest of snow and mud.

 

So which would be best for a 2wd tow rig/hauler ?

 

Cheap is factory ford LSD. Can't beat it for cheap on road traction.
Not as cheap but worth every penny is the truetrac.

 

Not a cheap unit, a good one thats not as expensive as an air locker

 

Truetrac
Made by eaton I'm pretty sure

 

Eaton e-locker ?