rogerL1961

Help....do I want a limited slip rear end or no? its an upgrade option.

Is this a good thing? What does it do?

rogerL1961

i have been 4x4ing in other vehicles and one tire gets suspended in the air and spins while the other tire that has traction does nothing. Would limited slip fix this problem or is that limited slip that causes that?

Spooler

Get the limited slip rear end..... You won't regret it. It's a good thing. Yes, that is what it does, power to both wheels so to speak.

ripping r

i have it in my 06 it nice to have.i would get it.

Blake Clark

Its a must have. The only reason to not get it would be if you leave the dealer and take it straight to a shop and have a full blown locker installed.

sCreamin400

I financed trucks for years. I cannot understand why someone would pay 40k for a truck that spins one front tire and one back tire but could have three driven tires for 300 more. All of mine have had it.

edc

My Yukon Denali is all wheel drive, my last Bronco had limited slip on the front and rear axles -- why does the RAM HD only offer it on the rear axle? (I realize the Denali is a different system, but why not limited slip on both axles like the Bronco had?) Ed

Blake Clark

Ive complained about that forever...

They have lockers on the Powerwagon. Imagine how great out trucks would be with em.

rogerL1961

can i test it? I mean can I test if they actually put the limited slip in my truck? How can I know for sure?

Blake Clark

Easiest test


Pull it to the back of the lot and do a quick powerbrake. Two black marks, you have the limited slip.


It should be listed on the window stick though.

rogerL1961

can you explain this a little better?

Blake Clark

With an open diff when you slip the diff only one tire will spin. With a limited slip in most situations both will spin unless one is in such a bind that the force is greater than the limited slip can hold. In that case it will slip and only one tire will spin (or pull if you will)

My sticker has the antispin diff listed under the optional equipment section.

totalloser

All wheel drive is worse than 4 wheel drive. Four wheel drive has NO SLIP between front and rear axles. An all wheel drive vehicle can have the center differential (transfer case) slip and transfer all the power to one axle where it can spin a one legger on only ONE axle.

A Bronco with a posi front from the factory. I was unaware this was ever an option, but if so that's kewl! It's also EXTREMELY rare. PRECIOUS few vehicles get any traction control up front, and those that do usually get a selectable locker from the factory. Like Porche 4x4's Jeep Rubicon, Powerwagon, etc. Why they made only gasser Powerwagons is beyond me.

As to the function of a limited slip, you have to understand how an open diff works first to understand how a limited slip works.

An open differential balances torque between the wheels. If one wheel has less than half the traction of the other wheel and enough torque is applied, the tire with less traction will spin. 2:1 ratio to spin a tire.

A positraction has clutch packs that resist wheel spinout. The clutchpacks usually have "preload springs", but most of the torque is applied by the spider gears. The cut on the spider gears is approximately 60 degrees, so the gear deflection of the spider gears deflects against the teeth of the side gears, which in turn push on the clutchpacks, so the more torque that is applied, the tighter the posi gets. There are many other designs of posis though. Like cone type friction posis (like Auburn), and helical gear posis (like Gleisen Torsen or True trac) and a handful of other oddball types.

Unfortunately, if you lift up a tire, none of the gear deflection pressure can be applied, so the ONLY thing that will make the traction tire spin is the preload of the springs, which is fairly weak. Probably won't get you unstuck. If you apply the parking brake, it creates torque for the spiders to deflect the sides and engage the clutchpacks though.

Lockers make both tires turn no matter what, but automatic lockers have funky handling. Selectable lockers only handle funky when engaged, but usually are costly, and the actuator mechanisms are often prone to unreliability. Pick your poison, I guess.

I would choose the option. A posi can torque steer and chatter some-especially if you don't use normal gear oil with no friction modifier, but it sure is nice to not so readily spin a one legger when you need the traction. And posi's are pretty mild on road compared to ratchet lockers.

rogerL1961

so what does that mean. Do i have true 4 wheel drive if all my tires don't have traction?

Does limited slip completely stop the non traction wheel from spinning or is just a bit better.

Years ago I drove my 2 wheel drive truck down this dirt road that had some twists to the road. One of the rear tires was suspended and I couldn't move. The suspended tire just sat there and spin. I wasn't in sand or anything just hard packed dirt. The other tire had full traction. If I would have had limited slip (or maybe I did) would have had this happen?

patdaly

roger, if you would have had a working limited slip it would not have.

Limited slip means just that, the one side will slip a certain amount, then transfer the torque to the other side.