Allow me to translate:

Detroit Lockers will not do "that".

Translator is not aware of what "that" is specifically, but we can assume it is in reference to a previous post in the thread

They are good lockers. It should pretty obvious that you do not depress the accelerator fully while towing or hauling a load when you have uneven traction at your rear tires. That is bad for your U-Joints regardless of your differential setup.

 

i do this all the time with the crown vic.

and have never needed to get pulled out, no matter where it has gotten stuck.

 

Exactly what I did with my factory LS until it decided to eat itself. I replaced it with a True Trac.

I am surprised by this. My True Trac has been great in the snow. A lot of times I find myself driving in 2wd instead of 4wd due to how well the True Trac gives me traction.

If you do a really tight turn is when I have this happen to me. Other than that I really like how my True Trac has performed. Much better than the factory LS.

 

Can you get a tru trac for an 2wd?

 

Yes, you can.

 

I was looking into a Tru Trac for my 7.3, but a few guys said not to do it. There's a limit on tire size (too much torque can tear up the diff) and even on stock tires, the 7.3 might eat the diff.

 

Who said a detroit is locked all the time? It works the same as a LS! Except on snow and ice and with one tire in the air.when you need it both tires always grab under throttle. Isn't that why you want more traction in the first place. When you get off the throttle its an open diff. I've noticed light throttle going around corners its not locked at all sometimes..


Dick

 

A Detroit Locker is locked all the time, sorta. It's actually a very cool design, but it's good to understand how it works.

The ring gear drives a set of diamond-shaped wedges, and these wedges interface with ramp-shaped surfaces. The ramp surfaces are on the insides of two "dog" clutches. The effect is, the wedges drive the dog clutches outward, and they engage with mating clutches on their respective axles.

Because of the way this works, when you are going in a straight line, both axles receive 100% of the drive torque, so in that respect, they can be considered "locked".

What sets the DL apart from other traction schemes is what happens when you enter a turn. As soon as one wheel starts to turn faster than the carrier, its dog clutch advances ahead of the driving wedge, and so is not subject to the outward force, and unlocks. Then what you end up with is that the INSIDE wheel only drives the truck. Thus ALL of the drrive torque is traveling through one axle only. I believe, but I am not 100% sure, that the opposite happens during engine braking in a curve, that is the outside wheel provides the braking.

I think that if you look at the array of products available, it would be hard to beat the functionality of the DL in terms of pure traction. You are going to get solid drive to BOTH rear wheels if you are in mud, ice, or snow. It's like having the benefits of an air locker, but you can use it on dry pavement.

As far as squirelly behavior on ice, I think you are going to encounter that with ANY traction-aiding device. It's kind of ironic that an open diff is going to be the least likely to make you get sideways; you install just about anything else to improve traction, and it will compromise stability. Even a wimpy Ford LSD. Anything that makes both tires spin will make you more likely to get sideways. But if you understand what you're driving and how it works, you'll be better off.

Edited to add: None of this is to disparage any of the other technologies. In fact my preference would be towards a TrueTrac, but I also think the DL's are very cool in the way they work.

 

i have true trac front and rear in my 01 excursion. eaton says anything over 35 inch tires, the true trac may not work as intended, though im running 44inch tires and have had ZERO problems. just food for thought.been running this setup now for a lil over a year

 

Get better tires

Seriously, the stock limited-slip needs SOME preload to get the clutches to bite. Which means you need a little bit of traction on BOTH tires to get it to do anything.

I have the same exact 3.73 limited-slip. From the factory, it was almost non-functional. Changing the gear fluid and putting only 2oz of limited-slip additive made it a WHOLE lot better.

Later on, I went and added more limited-slip additive because I was tired of the chatter, and because I wanted to at least TRY to save my new tires for a few 10K's before they went bald from the limited-slip (lots of stop and go and turns).

With Goodyear Silent Armors, a premo snow tire in my opinion, even with 8oz of limited-slip fluid, I can easily get both tires spinning in the snow now. Without 4WD, I had no problem getting the truck moving.

Seriously, might be time for better tires

 

I have to agree with Krewat, good traction is the first thing that needs to be looked at. The only reason that I respond and say this is that, when I first got my '02 with the stock Steeltex tires, I did have some traction issues. I switched to the Michelins in my sig line and was able to drive up a mountain pass through a blizzard in 2wd (I tried it just to see if I could).

On the other hand, I know that the performance of these factory LSDs is all over the place. Maybe I got a good one.

 

I have great tires (5/8" thread depth) and the stock LS still sucks. Can't wait to get rid of mine. Had a 93' F-150 with the LS and that LS was quite a bit better than the LS that came in my SD.

 

Mine works fine with my new tires. I was driving through 2ft snow drifts about 2 hrs ago and didn't get stuck.

It'd be hard for me to justify a new locking diff for my truck just because of the costs involved. I could install it myself and save some coin but still these are pricey units, and figure on at least $500 for someone to install one since most people won't mess with a diff. My 2005 250 just doesn't see enough hard wheeling to justify putting $1000 into a new locker.

Now my '79 250, that'll get ARB's at both ends one day.

 

That's weird, because they are basically the same thing, if it was a Traction-Lok.