Is the factory limited slip third member a total piece of junk because of bad engineering or was it a good design that was assembled in a way that it wears out and wont perform?

I've read you can add clutch packs and it MAY work but it may also not allow the outside tire to spin faster while cornering.
Anyone have a rule of thumb when tight is too tight? .1, .01 freeplay?

I want to install a limited slip unit in my open axle and are wondering if I should spend the extra coin and go with the Yukon LS. Problem is, I dont know if the Yukon unit is any good either. For all I know a factory unit packed with enough clutches may be a better performing LS than the Yukon. Anyone have experience with the Dura Grip unit?

 

By the way, is the only difference between a 10.25 and a 10.5 is the ring gear is bigger? Do all the other parts swap?

 

I can't answer your question about transferring parts between these axles, but I can talk about the factory Trac-Loc limited slip diff. As delivered these things were pretty much useless but that is because Ford didn't want to do anything that would produce accelerated tire wear or handling irregularities in a tail light pickup truck, and that is exactly what will happen when this diff is tightened up with additional clutch plates and/or shims. In my experience you can achieve very good results with this diff in terms of improved traction but it comes at the cost of accelerated tire wear and a vehicle that can slide out it's tail pretty easily under throttle on wet or snow covered roads. It's also my experience that this isn't a safety hazard once you get used to it and overall the benefits in traction far outweigh the negative effects. When setup in the sweet spot the diff will allow normal diff action when coasting around corners but will immediately lock up under power, and the only real downside is that the clutch packs do wear out so keeping the diff in optimal operating condition will require regular maintenance.

 

In your professional opinion, is the factory LS set up right to get good traction around the farm, in the mud and snow, just as good as say, an aftermarket LS like Yukon? Is it just the nature of the beast?
I've had LS axles forever and loved the way that both axles dont lock up at the same time slamming your truck into the cliff or worse.
If companies are selling LS center sections for over $400, you'd think someone would put together a kit that makes the factory unit a danged good unit. It seems like it gets no love. Makes me think that it's just junk and cant be set up right, so that you can depend on it working after it's fixed.

 

Personally I think a clutch-type limited slip gives you the worst of both worlds: the lack of traction of an open diff while still giving you the poor handling and tire wear of a traction-aiding diff. Granted you can set them up loose (like the factory does) to minimize the handling and wear issues (at the expense of traction), or you can set them up tight to minimize the traction issues (at the expense of handling and wear). But I would never choose to have a clutch-type limited slip in a truck. I think there's always a better choice.

Here's a link to a thread I put on the Off-Road forum about the different types of differentials. Yes (as you saw above) I'm opinionated, but I tried to keep my facts and opinons separate in that thread so you can take each for what they're worth. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...erentials.html

For a farm truck I think I'd go with an automatic locker like a Detroit. They do result in spinning the inside tire when pulling around corners, but they give the most positive traction, aren't ridiculously expensive, and aren't terrible on the roads. Look in my thread for more on automatic lockers and all of the other options.

As far as a diff causing both axles to lock at the same time and slamming your truck into a cliff, I've had automatic lockers in the rear of three different vehicles. I've never had anything close to that kind of handling problem. The worst I've ever experienced is the back end kicking out to the side when I spun both tires with not much power applied in snow or ice. And the factory limited slip in the '93 Explorer my wife used to have was quite a bit worse than the lockers for that.