So, I've been needing to replace my rear clutch pack for a while, it's just about gone.. someone here mentioned in a thread he just replaced the carrier with a ford racing carrier, seems almost as easy plus you get new spiders.

Ford Racing M-4204-F318C - Ford Racing Traction-Lok Differentials - Overview - SummitRacing.com

should I do this? is this thing going basically be stock trac-lock or are the clutches tighter? (one reason I wanted to do it myself was to pack more discs in to tighten my.. yeah) also wonder if near this price range if I can find a decent locker with carrier, or if I should spend $100 more on the Yukon.

this isnt something I want to do, id rather wait until I can regear and strengthen up my rearend.. it's like throwing money into worn motor instead of swapping in a newer roller, but it has to be done if I wanna keep driving my Bronco.

 

I thnk if you go this route then you should go ahead and re-gear the rear now. Then pony up the money for the front. No sense in doing the rear twice.

Also, most lockers are about $200 more then this set-up. I imagine this set-up will be more or less like a stock trac-lok.

 

That's a stock Trac-lok which is essentially useless offroad as delivered, and swapping that in requires your ring gear be moved which is half of a regear, and if you're going that far you may as well install a better diff like the Detroit TruTrac and do the regear at the same time.
Now if you already have a Ford Trac-Lok in the truck and you want a big improvement on the cheap just buy the rebuild kit Ford Racing 8.8" Traction-LOK Rebuild Kit w/ Carbon Discs M-4700-C - Free Shipping! and replace the guts but when you do that restack the disks so they alternate Friction-Pressure-Friction-Pressure and add an extra friction plate on each side using the best of the old ones you take out, that will preload the spring more and give you near locker perfomance.

 

I was going to pack them tight when I did did them but I thought my spiders might be worn.. this thing is the most worn LSD I have ever seen in my life.

Money is a big issue right now, I sorta just went on a spending spree.. no way I can justify a regear. I don't mind the labor, honestly, carrier is just one step further than clutch disks, unbolting a few bolts. I don't mind unbolting a ring gear, mesh is already set.

So this is just stock without any special materials used? I assumed it would come tighter, use different materials for the clutch pack, stronger carrier or something, I dunno.
I'll just change the clutch pack and call it a day, then I'll regear when I can afford it.

Terrified of that one bolt that seems to break on everyone.

oh, and trust me, the stock LSD is nowhere near useless offroad.. you gotta compare to an open diff (how mine acts now) before you understand this. LSD isn't a locker replacement, I know that, but man trying to go up a small gravel hill? a true one wheel spin? Even a LSD will give a little torque to the opposite wheel.
I can barely back out of my driveway with snow on the ground because there is a little 1'' dip before the road.

I have like 1/4th of a turn of my driveshaft in play at the spiders. Last time I looked they looked good, scared they're gonna be in pieces next time I remove the cover.

 

FYI... I have done the clutch pack restack on several trucks including my own so I know the difference it makes.. hence the reason I suggested it. And I believe the clutches are setup differently in pickups compared to Broncos because when unloaded the pickups have less weight on the rear axle and a tight LS would make them rather squirly, so it is possible the Broncos have a little better traction out of the box than the pickups.
Bottom line though is the factory Trac-Lok is capable of fairly impressive traction when setup correctly so by all means do that first, and if you find that your spider gears are worn when you tear it down just replace them with a set from a junkyard diff.. tolerances on these parts aren't that tight(unlike the R&P) so there's no problem transferring them to another axle.

 

did that one bolt ever break on you? that one that seems to break on everyone? it's one of the main reasons im not wanting to start on this..

 

I just did a spider gear replacement in mine and it was a breeze. Minus arguing with the idiot at the register over the price listed online for "rear spiders" versus him not knowing what I had and charging me 34 bucks the first time. Wrong set anyways, went back and got the right ones and the manager was there and I got my money back and ended up paying 8.55 for my new spiders. Been 3 months and multiple mountain trips later, still holding up.

 

This sucks, one of the thrust washers on the planetaries at top and bottom fell apart. I'm gonna go ahead and put it back together, the inner ring on the washer is still intact so I'm just going to use that. Gonna have to check it in a thousand miles anyways..
No idea where to find them and i'm not waiting another day to have my bronco back

ended up packing it f-s-f-s-f-s-f then spacer, using .035... this was a pretty easy job if I had a hand. I spent an hour trying to get the upper and lower gear back in and aligned because I had to do it by myself.

overall though, really easy job. If I had known it was going to be this easy I would have done it sooner. Luckily, the S-Spring went in with a hammer hit, just had to start it at an angle and all was good.

My old clutches were as smooth as my new spacers. There was no clutch material left at all. I do wish I had bought the carbon kit, but I'll probably buy it when I finally regear if I don't decide I want a locker. Just about everyone says when you repack it this way, the clutches wear quick but they are really, really tight and offer amazing two wheel traction.. i'm excited

 

oh, in other news, harbor freight had a winch plate on sale for $40 so I'm also gonna go ahead and bolt that in to use as a crossmember until I feel like hooking up my winch. $100 and I got two really, really nice upgrades

 

Awesome! Too bad you didnt use your free hand to snap some pics. lol Just kidding, whats the plate look like though? Where do you plan to mount it?

 

Universal Channel Winch Mount

this is the one I picked up.. amazing quality, couldn't believe how strong it was for the price. Worth its weight in steel, that's for sure.

Problem is, I only have about 1/2'' overlapping on my frame, it needs to be a tad wider. I think I can bolt it up to the top of my frame right behind the bumper but I'm going to have to add L brackets for support to mount a winch. I actually have some old bumper brackets that I think will work.

if it were just a bit wider i'd definitely buy another one to add as a cross support in the rear near my shock mounts. I still might anyways, this is good steel

and yeah, there weren't gonna be any pictures. It's a sloppy job and it was cold outside, just above freezing.

 

I'm seeing people mount them in between the frame, I guess it might fit this way, I dunno. I wish someone had mounted one of these in a 90 before so I could get some hints on how to get it done quickly.
I'm still pretty sick and .. well, also gonna get in trouble by the girl if I start taking more parts off of the Bronco before I even test my rear end.

edit: http://manuals.harborfreight.com/man...0999/90476.pdf

here are the instructions.. I know 'universal' means 'shut up and enjoy the good deal you got on this steel plate, some modification definitely required' but you know how nice it would be if I just got under there and it bolted up without any real work?