RowJ

Eaton has a fairly new LSD on the market that solves all the wear problems of the clutches and plates in the Track Loc and Pwr Loc's.
It's called a True Trac. Just put one in my Jeep and love it.
It's available for the Dana 70 and 80's. Cool video here.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZmsY2YvVsc

RJ

KATOOM

The Truetrac is an awesome design which has actually been around for decades before Truetrac and has also been used in the military. Unlike typical traction aiding differential designs, utilizing worm gears keeps power to the tire that has traction. But I remember there being an issue with overall strength of the worm gear design which kept it from being used in some HD applications. If I had the choice I'd like to try the Truetrac but I'd also do my fair share of research before to make sure it didn't lower me GVWR at all.

cowboykilla235

so many options...

Stamey

Dana Power Lok is the way to go. I have 270K on my 96 and the LS is still tight, so tight I need to add some more friction modifier to it so it doesn't bind up when pulling the GN.
This should be the one you need:
http://www.drivetrainspecialists.com...oduct-895.html

Chris

totalloser

Your auto likely has a Dana 70, which is pretty common in the junkyard-MANY applications, and pulling a carrier on a full floater is remarkably easy compared to most axles. I would consider a junkyard score, even if a rebuild is required. The ones that are just the clutch kit are not expensive.

The main thing to watch out for if you want a junkyard score is the gear ratio. 4.10 and "numerically" higher (4.10, 4.56 etc.) use one carrier, and "numerically" lower like 3.73 or 3.55 use another. So if you have 4.10s a carrier with 3.73's won't work, but one with 4.56's would.

As to setup, doing a carrier swap isn't too difficult. All you need to do is measure your backlash on the ring and pinion, get a "minor" install kit for $50 or so, and set the backlash to the same as it was before and your gears will be set up the same. Setting up gears can be tricky, but the hard part is setting pinion depth, which you don't have to do. In fact you aren't really setting up the gears, you are just duplicating the original setup with your old gears on the new carrier.

Oh and +1 to power lock if you have a choice. If I remember right I have a Trac lock, and it's not impressive. I don't even bother with friction modifiers, and it's still a pretty loose posi.

cowboykilla235

ya i have me a dana 70 with 3.55 gears

RowJ

I agree with Stamey....Pwr-Lok for the Dana 70.
My previous recommendation for the True-Trac was instead of a Track-Lok, because I did not realize you had an Automatic.

I pulled mine at 100,000 miles, just to check/replace the clutches and steel plates, and to be sure they were fully alternated from the factory (because the Track-loks are not). The clutchs were worn but still grabbed nicely when needed.

The Pwr-Lok is a great design.....just one that Dana (or vehicle mfg) felt they could not afford to continue installing in factory axles.

cowboykilla235

How do you tell the difference when looking at them?

RowJ

You won't find this engagement ramping arm, in an oval housing, on the Track-lok.
Oval space, with the sliding armature is the key difference!

jstone44720

I just went through this and bolted in a truetrac in my D80 manual truck. Differential plus carrier bearings were 675 and the install was pretty easy. I did not need to remove the pinion. It is working as advertised so far. Invisible on pavement, and locks when needed on gravel/ differing surfaces where one wheel would have spun. It is smooth as it bites in too. There is no jerk or hit when it makes both tires turn.

cowboykilla235

Hey stone, did you do the install yourself? How hard was it to set up your backlash and pattern?

cowboykilla235

well after nearly a year, ive finally bought a powr-loc LSD. should be doing the install this saturday. i have a pretty good picture on how things should go but just to be sure...

when i swap over the bearings, shims, and ring gear, as long as i put everything back the way it was on the old one, should i have to worry about my backlash?

they way im thinking about it, it should all be the same.

KATOOM

Unfortunately no, its not that simple. The clearances from one carrier to another are never exactly the same. And when you're talking about thousandths of an inch you have to reset everything. I'm sure some will chime in and say how easy it is and how they did theirs with no problems so its up to you. My opinion is this is nothing to experiment with and in your photo you're towing a trailer which means the differential is working. I'll always suggest that if someone's never done a carrier install, have a professional do it.

Mike Holmen

I going to install my ARB locker into my dana 80.

I like the open diff 99% of the time, prevents fish tailing. I'm also going to throw arb into my front diff as well. I'm running ARB 32 spline front and ARB 35 spline rear. Its slightly more money. Easy install.

Stamey

I second that! Been there, broke that.

Chris