I have been considering putting a detroit truetrac up front in my Dana 50.

DTS modifies Dana 44 truetracs to fit into a Dana 50 front end.

Has anyone done this?

I don't want to deal with air systems or a posi system that will stress D50 too much.

My use would be in heavy snow 12+ inches and at speeds lower than 40 mph.

 

I've run a trutrac in a D44 with 35" tires. They hold up fine

The caveat is snow, just driving down a road with 12" of snow isn't going to break your axle, getting stuck and spinning a tire and suddenly catching some traction is what breaks parts, on your Ex it will likely be the oem hub first, followed by the 30 spline inner axle then the ring gear. But by far the weak link is the hub.

 

non-selectable lockers up front make it hard to steer when using any throttle (uphill) or engine breaking (downhill) on a slippery surface (mud, snow, ice).

Our 2000 TJ has lockers front and rear and it's great when jeeping in the MTNs of SW Colorado. But in our rural community (all dirt roads), just taking a sharp curve with any throttle at all makes it tough.

In retrospect, an air locker up front would have been perfect. What I have now is great, but it requires more driver involvement when in 4wd to either shift into neutral and/or lift off the gas to get around a curve.

The air-locker, would allow 4wd (front open) for 95% of the time, and only when really needing the 4th wheel to get through mud/snow or pull up a slippery hill would I choose to lock the front.

Your likely worse case scenario with some snow on the ground, would be turning right at an intersection, driveway, etc. while in 4wd. If you try to merge in to heavy traffic, you'll want to go heavy on the "go" pedal and that will make the front lock and likely cause you to drift out into another lane vs. make a nice tight turn.

 

Thanks for the feed back.

I'm very aware how lockers work. I have lock rights front and rear in my 460 cid powered 79 ford bronco. So I understand the issues.

The dana true trac is a strong limited slip and I have never used one of those up front. That's why I'm asking for experiences.

My situation is heavy mountain snows. The county gravel road is maintained but can drift to 24" or so in places. My driveway can get 12 to 24 inches of snow and I hate to get my 6 ft snow blower out for that amount of snow. I would rather lock her in and drive thru it. I do it now with LS in rear but it's tricky. Having LS up front will aid me I think.

Any more snow than noted above, I just stay home.

 

I ran a Truetrac in a Dana 60 front axle for many years. Because of how they operate (Torsen torque based vs speed based) the understeer issue while occasionally noticeable under power is nothing like the air locker I currently run or a clutch type limited slip (speed based).

The Torsen differential has been used by manufactures in a lot of higher performance front wheel drive vehicles because it does not have significant understeer issues. In all but the worst conditions I thought the Truetrac worked really well on my truck.

 

This is the information I'm looking for. What do you mean by "worst conditions?" I assume you mean when one front tire is off ground?

Does the TT pull hard when one tire gets traction?

 

Worst conditions is anytime one tire on the axle has almost no traction (like off the ground). In that case the truetrac acts like an open diff. You can use the brakes to help this condition as this will cause some additional torque to transfer to the tire with traction.

In slippery conditions the steering wheel will tug back and forth as the axle does its thing and the power flow changes. Nothing to terrible but you do know it is happening.

 

I am looking at upgrading to LS front and rear but didn't think there was a TrueTrac option. Who is DTS?

 

Drivetrain Specialist
Warren MI.

 

Thanks Rock for the info!


I went on to their website and I don't see that as an option for the Dana 50.

 

You won't see it on their website, you have to call them. It's done in their custom shop I think.

 

Sounds expensive. Have you gotten a price yet?

 

I called a couple months ago so don't remember exactly. I think it was $80 added to the cost of a D44 TT.

I think it was about the same price as a TT for the rear....sterling 10.5 unit.

 

I have wanted a truetrack in my dana 50 for a while, but they don't make one so its good to know that a dana 44 on can be modified to fit.

 

I have a Truetrac in my Dana 50 TTb and it works just fine! though mine was modified by Reider racing many years ago, dont think they are in business anymore. Maybe if enough enthusiast contact Eaton maybe they'll start producing one for the D50.