Lockers, Trac-Locks and whatnot...

Have a locker in mine. Wish I knew what make it is. The noise is minimal. Mostly when i let off the gas for a tight turn.eg. driveway. Just sounds like a ton of backlash.lol. Chirps a bit on right turns if you start to get on it. No clunking though. I dont mind the little chirp at all.Only time ive heard a ratcheting sound is on the hoist when i turned the wheel by hand. My apprentice almost had a fit. Guess hes never heard a locker! Ive never heard it in the car. Very happy with it.

 

Thanks, Bryant. I was hoping you'd chime in at some point. The more I read about it, the more I think that Truetrac is the way I want to go. Just a couple of questions for when I get into it - I've taken apart a couple of diffs before for various reasons, and I seem to recall on one of them, (maybe a 10 bolt Chevy?) that the ring gear bolts were reverse thread. I didn't find that out until I'd sheared one of them off with a breaker bar. Is there anything like that I need to watch out for when taking apart the Ford 8"? Also, what's involved with installing those bearings?

Thanks!

 

ford doesnt do the reverse bolt thing. chrysler and gm do it some times just for reference sake.
the carrier bearings are a press fit. they can be hammered on if you have or make a driver that only makes contact with the inner race surface. i use the race of an old bearing with a plate welded to the big end of it to hammer on the bearings. dont damage the cage and make sure the bearing is fully seated.

 

I love my Truetrac! I also elected to go with the Maverick 8". You can hear it crunch a little on low speed turns in forward or reverse when the load is very light(stick shift in gear), but I know what it is so it doesn't bother me. It was a fairly simple install.
I have an Explorer axle, but at this point I don't think I'm going to use it.

 

Hey Bryant,

What's your (expert) take on E-Bay second-hand ex-NASCAR lockers? I have one in my Mav and it performs perfectly, albeit noisily, especially on RH turns. Since these cars have stagger and make only left turns, are they pretty well spent after a race?

 

Think I'm gonna go ahead and order that Truetrac in the next couple of days. Now I'm having second thoughts about that 3.25 ratio... Am I making the right decision on that, or am I going to regret not getting the 3.55's?

 

I like the grunt of my 3.55's but if I were to do it again, I would use the 3.25's for fuel economy. That 351 of yours makes tons of torque, it really depends on what you want. The 3.55's are likely better at the track.

 

Go 3.55 or 3.80, don't go lower than 3.55.

That is my vote.

 

It does make a lot of torque, and I don't spin it much past 5k. Local track is a 1/4 mile too, for whatever that's worth...

 

3:40 __________________________

 

the cool thing with a 9" detroit locker is that you can open them up and turn the innards around this puts the worn sides on the coast side and they will work good as new.

some of the nascar lockers only have the locker mechanism on one side. you cant swap that one around.

 

your not going to regret it. unless you get an overdrive.

yep the 3.25s will be great with the 351.

man its nearly impossible to find some good 3.40 gears these days. still i would suggest the 3.25s

 

Would you happen to have a blow-up of the guts on these? I have some for the trac-lok but nothing for a "one sided" locker... Here's a pic of a regular locker for those that are curious:

 

Parts on the way!

 

With 4.11's and the c4 the full on locker was badass.


Now that I have the 5 speed, solid front spring eye bushings, poly rear, and a poly trans mount.

The locker is annoying as hell. It ratchets, pops, clunks, snaps everytime I touch the clutch or throttle, shift, turn etc.


With the auto I only got noise when turning hard on the throttle.

I slightly regret getting the locker now. I should have got the truetrac. That said, when you hit the throttle it locks up and has the most interesting feeling how it settles the suspension mid corner. Fun!


4.11's even with the T-5Z and 26" tire is just WAY too much gear. 1st gear goes through half a intersection, and I get traction only in 3,4,5th gears.


Do it again I would have done 3.55;s and the true trac with the 5 speed.