Need differential advice
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From: Klamath Falls, Orygun
Need differential advice
My sweetie and I plan to tow a 25' sailboat from Oregon to southern Baja California this winter with my newly acquired 91' F350 2wd dually w/460, E4OD, and 4.10's in an open differential. Now I know this is a lousy setup for mileage already, but it's an excellent vehicle otherwise and about 1/10th the price of a new 4wd diesel.
I've seen other 2wd rigs stuck on slippery boat ramps, and it wasn't pretty, with results varying from simply getting help from another vehicle to tow 'em out to the truck essentially sliding into the water.
I'm considering adding either a limited slip of some sort, or a locking differential. I've had pretty good luck with LS diffs in the past, but am told they 'drag' and reduce mileage (total trip will be over 5000 miles) I'm hoping some FTEers have first hand experience with lockers (manufacturer's reps almost universally recommend their product over anyone else's and assure me theirs is the one to get) ... is there anything that acts like a true open diff until it's locked? It'll be used infrequently; I don't care if I need to crawl under the truck to lock it when I need it, but I'd really like it to stay open when I don't want it.
Thanks!
I've seen other 2wd rigs stuck on slippery boat ramps, and it wasn't pretty, with results varying from simply getting help from another vehicle to tow 'em out to the truck essentially sliding into the water.
I'm considering adding either a limited slip of some sort, or a locking differential. I've had pretty good luck with LS diffs in the past, but am told they 'drag' and reduce mileage (total trip will be over 5000 miles) I'm hoping some FTEers have first hand experience with lockers (manufacturer's reps almost universally recommend their product over anyone else's and assure me theirs is the one to get) ... is there anything that acts like a true open diff until it's locked? It'll be used infrequently; I don't care if I need to crawl under the truck to lock it when I need it, but I'd really like it to stay open when I don't want it.
Thanks!
