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I had a Detroit in the back of a stubby little cj5 with hot 360 and 4 speed, you def knew it was there.
The dana 60 in back of my 79 I welded up, ended up breaking a 30 spline shaft not long after, replaced with a 10.25" with 4.10's, ended up swapping in a detroit and 5.13's thats still living in a buggy to this day. He has only broke one rear 35 spline shaft thus far.
I would consider a used nascar detroit in a 9" just because they can be had so cheap. But I think the yukon grizzly locker is a really good buy.
I put the Grizzly in a D44 rear I shoved under an 83 Cj5 with 4:88 gears, a T-176 4 speed & a almost bone stock 258 straight 6. I could jam all 4 gears across an intersection & was quick as hell in a straight line, at least until I 50. You'd never know that Grizzly locker was there until you got on it in a tight corner, then it'd push you around a little. Was a great little billy goat, went anywhere.
I've got the Detroit in the D70 under my 1 ton. It gets pretty lively in just about any turn if I goose the throttle at all. Not really a tries to push the rear around infront, but definitely can feel it wanting to lock back up through the corner. But it definitely does what its supposed to.
If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have gone with the Grizzly over the Detroit, just due to the smoother operation. But the Detroit is what was available at the time & happened to be on sale, so was a fair bit cheaper than the Grizzly had it been in stock.
I've got a couple of the factory posi D60 rears as well. Got the one in the wife's F250 working & its just fun on a gravel / dirt road. Tires hate me
I snapped a rear axle in my Dana 60, can't remember the spline count here on the Rock Pile in Pritchett Canyon in Moab.
I burped the throttle a bit to get the front wheels up on the ledge and when the rear end came down in snapped.
Fortunately one of my friends had just the end of a Dana 60 axle that he carried in his CJ 5 that had a Dana 60.
So all we had to do was remove my busted axle and bolt on hid end cap, if that's what you want to call it.
I was living in CO when I decided I wanted a Detroit Locker for my truck.
There were 3 big warehouses in Denver that carried drivetrain parts.
When I call all three of them told me, "you don't want one of those, they eat tires".
I hate being told what I want and don't want.
I called my friend in SLC, who had the same reaction but knowing it was me he said he's get me one.
A few weeks later I drove to SLC and had his shop install it, one of the best decisions I ever made.
Rear locker, front Ford Trac-Lok with an extra clutch disc stuffed between the others that almost locked the front Dana 44 and running on propane the truck was almost unstoppable.
That was a long time ago, long before rock buggies.
..on a positive note its keeping the fluid fresh...
The engine oil in my truck was constantly getting changed. It never has seen dirty engine oil.
Glad you got out for a ride with your son.
I fought my truck running hot for quite a while. It never had a fan shroud and when I got the new one the truck still ran hot, too hot.
Temp gun, 190 at the thermostat and upper hose, a lot cooler at the bottom hose.
Then one time when I took the intake manifold off (I'm sure for the umpteenth time) I figured I'd replace the thermostat.
When I took the thermostat housing off I'd smashed the thermostat last time I replaced it and it was stuck about 1/4 of the way open.
Kind of hard to see but the temp stays here all the time now.
I create soo much of my own work its sad.
I learned the fan shrouds are a must have, with a proper clutch fan these things are really hard to run hot.
Next fall I will swap my 160 to a 180 stat and do a coolant flush.. The 160 is lacking for cab heat in the winter, but it was a nice brass motorcraft unit that came with the generator so I used it. Hoping with the 180 and summer heat I am able to avoid detonation.
I run a 180 year round.
You can check the electrolysis in your coolant with a volt meter.
Attatch the +lead to the radiator and put the -lead in the coolant.
If there is more than 0.3v you need to flush it.
If the coolant is still nice and green draining a gallon and refilling it with a 50/50 mix or just adding a coolant conditioner will put it back to where it should be.
I find it funny that a gallon of straight antifeeze only costs $2 more than a gallon of pre-mixed.
Ordering parts for the 400 I decided to donate my 4 hole spacer to it's cause and give this a try.
Minor tweak to try and richen up a lean spot between cruise and power valve circuit
Swapped IFR wire from .009 to .007, and 8.5 PV to 10.5
I anticipate this spacer leaning it out a bit too?Sidenote-I Cant believe how well these carb gaskets are holding up, I bet I've had them apart 15 times? I used a little grease on them and the baseplate gaskets.
Last edited by KubotaOrange76; Mar 6, 2026 at 06:42 AM.
My friend and I made a spacer for his 289 and used that stuff.
The spacer we made was about 18" square to help keep the engine heat away from the carburetor.
The ambient heat that came off the engine and the heat directly from the intake manifold.
We also made a cool can out of a small coffee can with 3/8" copper tubing coiled inside the can.
When we went to "drag state" we filled the cool can with dry ice to cool the fuel.
We were convinced the cooler fuel increased HP.
