I'm kind of a locker guy, or aftermarket lsd guy. How well does the stock lsd work in snow, sand, mud, etc?

 

lysergic acid diethylamide LSD is not good for any road condition, the view from the drivers seat is very distorted and weird!


OK oK I just could not resist

I like Ford's Limited Slip (LS) unit.... but I am in the minority most folks here think it sucks and they readily recommend some form of true "locker"

 

I have the stock LS and it works marginal at best (03 PSD CC)- One of these days I'll install an Eaton Posi (a real LS).

 

It works better than an open differential but not as good as a locker. IMHO it is worth the price.

 

Thanks. I've had lsds and lockers in the past. I bought a vehicle with a "stock" lsd and it doesn't work as well as when I had TrueTrac lsds put into a vehicle. It sounds like the Ford lsd is probably like the other "stock" lsd, better than open, but that's about it. I guess they make ARBs for full-size Fords???

 

BTW, Fredvon4...it took me about 2 minutes to figure out what the h*ll you were talking about. I've been around 4x4s for so much I forgot about lysergic acid diethylamide. Pretty funny though.

 

A lot of people say there junk, but mine works great, as long as the tire pressure is the same!

 

I have found the LS to work well in snow but mud is a different story. I would not opt for this option if I were to order another new truck. I would go for a true locker or after market LSD.

 

I think a true limited slip is hairy on icy roads and thats why they make them so weak, but its better than nothing in snow.

 

It seems to be like rolling dice. My experiences with Ford stock LS diff:
'92 F150 great
'96 T-bird good
'97 F350 poor
'00 Mustang awesome
'00 Excursion great
'05 F350 I can't tell its in there at all
Does anyone know of any aftermarket LS diffs for the '05 F350 10.5" LS case and 37 spline axles?

 

My '01 with the Sterling rear is basically useless after 20K miles, and 2 years of driving.

While it's nice to be able to spin both rear 265/75R16's, all the way down the street, it's useless as any sort of traction enhancement in slippery conditions.

If you can get even a slight "preload" where you have at least SOME traction with BOTH tires, it will lock-up to some degree. If you can't get that little bit of resistance on both tires, it will spin one ...

An Auburn cone-clutch HD LS works better, but in bad conditions I could still spin one tire uselessly, in my '96 4.6L t-bird...

If you are going to use the truck for any sort of work in bad conditions, get a locker front and rear and be done with it.

Again, the stock LS makes a good two-wheel burnout, and it fishtails nice and easy, but ... well, 'nuff said

art k.

ps: Oh, the stocker also does a nice job of wearing out the rear tires for you, if you make a lot of turns

 

Not a jab at you krewat, but you make an excellent point here. Preload is very important for the function of a limited slip differential. That's why the old trick of partially applying the parking brake still works to get you going again when one wheel has substantially less traction than the other.

Try this. Block up one rear wheel with a stack of short pieces of 4x4 or 2x4. Now you have one wheel completely off the ground and the other on firm pavement. Press the parking brake down about halfway, put it in gear and see if you don't drive off of the blocks. If the wheel off the ground spins too much just add a little more parking brake. I tried this chained off to my wife's car with one wheel up on a roller jack. I found that the tire on the ground had enough torque to break traction. (Don't forget to release the brake once you start moving again.)

 

Just my opinion.....

Lockers are fine for offroad where you constantly encounter sever differences in traction between wheels. They're not so good on wet or icy roads because of the severe understeer you encounter. When you try to turn to the right, for instance, the left tire needs to turn faster since it is moving over a greater radius than the right tire. A true locker allows this tire to freewheel faster than the right to make the turn. This is fine and dandy for tire wear but what it means is that all the torque is going to the right tire. With all the torque on the right tire the rear axle is trying to push you left while you're trying to turn right (understeer). If you really want some fun, put a full locker front and rear and try to manuever through a gate between two muddy fields. You'd better be lined up straight to start with, 'cause there ain't much steering capability in a situation like that. Front lockers keep the body shops in business in East Texas. (Ever wonder why limited slip wasn't offered by the factory on the front axle?)

If you want a locker for the front do yourselves a favor and get an air or electrically operated locker that acts as an open diff when not needed.

 

Which is also why you'll see lots of guys with different opinions about the Ford Traction-Lok. Seems some of them have more preload on the clutches than others and they work better. Some people have shimmed the clutches and had more luck with them afterwards (there is a washer that is not really a washer but a spring, it's concave (or convex depending on your point of view)).

art k.

ps: Why would I take that as a jab?

 

The DRW Dana 80 axle with 4.10's comes with a different LS than the rest of the axles. It comes with a Detroit TruTrac stock. It has worked excellent for me.