Front limited slip vs locker
Mountain Pass
Joined: Mar 2023
Posts: 177
Likes: 36
I don't use studded snow tires, they are worthless on a vehicle that goes offroad, and I don't know where you are getting that I can only drive 25 MPH. I can drive as fast as I want to with an auto locker in the rear and it is far more useful because it gives you better traction all the time. I wouldn't want a selectable locker in the rear because it is either open or fully locked like a spool and I don't want either of those on the street. A locker going around corners certainly could be a problem on ice if you don't know how to drive, but I have never had an issue in the 6-7 years I have been driving in the snow with a rear auto locker. The road to my house is a winding hill that stays shaded almost all day so every snow we get it stays icy for a long time. Ip have to pull people out of the ditch every time it snows or we get an ice storm.
I don't use studded snow tires, they are worthless on a vehicle that goes offroad,
Must be a typo, probably means LSD.
Worthless is an overstatement. They provide little to zero advantage offroad. When I'm doing a deep snow recovery, I'm on 4 studded tires going fast on the road until I get offroad and chain up.
Ice raced for years in MT so I know a bit about lockers on ice.
It's a ProRock 60 (stronger Dana 60). The CV's don't have a problem binding while turning, that's the point.
Last edited by JoeSmith6; Apr 1, 2023 at 02:48 PM.
Lead Driver
Joined: Aug 2022
Posts: 5,065
Likes: 1,415
From: Oologah, OK
Back in the '60s, we used Studded Tires in the Black Ice days in Oklahoma City, until the city officials Banned Studded tires.
my '65 Plymouth Satellite had the LSD in it, loved it for playing games and burning up Recapped tires....
but when Black Ice was on the road, 5 mph was Optimum speed for turning at a 90 degree intersection with Studded Tires..... and even that was hard to do, as it wanted to go Straight Ahead.
my '65 Plymouth Satellite had the LSD in it, loved it for playing games and burning up Recapped tires....
but when Black Ice was on the road, 5 mph was Optimum speed for turning at a 90 degree intersection with Studded Tires..... and even that was hard to do, as it wanted to go Straight Ahead.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 3,523
Likes: 483
From: Southern OH
How many vehicles do you have with auto lockers and how much have you driven them in snow and ice? I have 3 and drive them every winter, sounds like you are a novice since you obviously have no Idea what you are talking about, they turn just as easily as they did with the factory limited slip in the rear. Go off road in muddy conditions and tell me how far you get with studded snow tires, they turn into slicks and you go nowhere.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 1,641
Likes: 507
From: Phelan CA
Unless you have a good clamshell bearing puller, getting carrier bearings off is extremely difficult. The average mechanic won't have one as a $600 tool used maybe once or twice in the mechanics lifetime is poor use of money. It is far less expensive to just put new bearings on than to spend a couple hours trying to heat and extract worn ones.
It's plain stupid to waste money on Carrier brgs when the originals can be used.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 3,523
Likes: 483
From: Southern OH
Well, apparently people are taking these to shops to have the carrier installed. Any differential shop worth dealing with will have a clamshell puller. I have one that I bought for $200. So to say it's some expensive, phantom tool is just being obtuse when the bearings themselves are almost as much.
It's plain stupid to waste money on Carrier brgs when the originals can be used.
It's plain stupid to waste money on Carrier brgs when the originals can be used.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 1,641
Likes: 507
From: Phelan CA
They're called free spin hubs for a reason.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 4,285
Likes: 2,416
From: Everywhere and nowhere
Well, if you change your fluid often enough you don't have to worry about the thousands of miles. Oh, and the fact that your front axle isn't spinning under load for all of the miles your vehicle has on it so the bearings are probably in like new condition. Not everybody feels the need to waste money just for the heck of it.
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Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 3,523
Likes: 483
From: Southern OH
Well, if you change your fluid often enough you don't have to worry about the thousands of miles. Oh, and the fact that your front axle isn't spinning under load for all of the miles your vehicle has on it so the bearings are probably in like new condition. Not everybody feels the need to waste money just for the heck of it.
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 7,975
Likes: 4,048
Peanuts to pumpkins. The OP has a factory front end with u-joints that WILL break with a locker if trying to turn. Lets keep it ON TOPIC and not the one offs that no one else has here. The best solution the OP has is a TruTrak setup, locks when needed free when not. Least likely to break his components and give the traction needed for mus and snow driving off road. He's not rock crawling.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 4,285
Likes: 2,416
From: Everywhere and nowhere
A hack mechanic? The front axle of most trucks sees hardly any use. As long as those bearings are lubricated they will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. A hack mechanic replaces parts and then tells the customer it HAD to be replaced. Do you replace wheel bearings every 30k miles too?
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 7,975
Likes: 4,048
A hack mechanic? The front axle of most trucks sees hardly any use. As long as those bearings are lubricated they will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. A hack mechanic replaces parts and then tells the customer it HAD to be replaced. Do you replace wheel bearings every 30k miles too?
I do on my trailers. Cheap insurance. Do you put the old antifreeze back in when you replace the water pump? What about the diff fluid? Why not, it has no miles on it like the bearings? Spend $2K to have the differential replaced and reuse the old bearings to save $60. Thats just crazy.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2022
Posts: 4,285
Likes: 2,416
From: Everywhere and nowhere
I do on my trailers. Cheap insurance. Do you put the old antifreeze back in when you replace the water pump? What about the diff fluid? Why not, it has no miles on it like the bearings? Spend $2K to have the differential replaced and reuse the old bearings to save $60. Thats just crazy.
Logistics Pro
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 3,523
Likes: 483
From: Southern OH
A hack mechanic? The front axle of most trucks sees hardly any use. As long as those bearings are lubricated they will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. A hack mechanic replaces parts and then tells the customer it HAD to be replaced. Do you replace wheel bearings every 30k miles too?
Hotshot
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 12,343
Likes: 4,368
From: SW VA
Well, if you change your fluid often enough you don't have to worry about the thousands of miles. Oh, and the fact that your front axle isn't spinning under load for all of the miles your vehicle has on it so the bearings are probably in like new condition. Not everybody feels the need to waste money just for the heck of it.