ive had every thing between 3.25 to 4.57 with limited slips and lockers in my cars. the first problem going on in this thread is the difference between a limited slip and a locker. a limited slip is a friction device that requires a certian amount of force difference on the two axles before it will allow the differential to differentiate the power distribution between the two rear tires. a locker is an on or off device. when power is applied through the ring gear, it locks the axles together %100 percent and allows no differentiation between the axles period. when their is no power being applied and the axles want to go different speeds the locker unlocks one or both axles from the drive force of the carrier and allows the axle to free spin in the carrier. so with that knowledge you should be able to identify why people spin out really easily in snow and the rain with a locker. dont get me wrong. a lsd can cause a spin also, but its more forgiving on being able to differentiate in turns. in my experience, a locker is not the best choice for a street car. usually people who have problems with lsds not "locking" rear tires together have other problems. usually its a worn out lsd. more often than not i see them worn out from a bent housing. a bent housing will cause the axles to go into the side gears in the carrier at an angle. this puts an uneven load on the clutches in a lsd. so one point will have higher pressure than the design calls for and will cause the clutches to wear out extremely fast. other things that cause lsd to not "lock" are significantly different friction factors under the two tires. put one in the air and leave the other on the ground, the one in the air will spin. hard corning can create this. one tire in the dirt other on asphalt will cause the tire in the dirt to spin with too much power application. you should get the idea now. the other option is the true trac. it works differently than a friction lsd. its actually torque biasing. simply the greater the difference between axle speeds the more resistance is applied to bring the axle speeds back into the same speed. this is the best design for corning traction. it should not be the cause of a spin out, when compared to a situation where a locker or friction lsd would cause a spin out. i hope this helps with any miss conceptions.
Like I said, with the true trac in my truck, I don't even know it is there. But when I need it, I have traction with both wheels. That will be coming up next in my car, since i don't really like the spool as much as I do the true trac.
A clutch type limited slip tends less to "get sideways" as the clutches wear out. Mine's a Traction Loc pulled from an 81 Bronco, the original clutches are still going strong in it. When I pulled the chunk from the Bronco axle, It took 70 ft/lbs on the torque wrench to break the clutches loose, so I just left it as is. They should outlast me. Probly the car too.
i see what youre saying now, the one ive been looking at is a "locker" style put what i should really be looking at is one like the true track which dosnt lock up 100%
