Limited Slip Recommendations?

My 70 was open on both ends also. I found a Dana Powerlock from the factory, used for the rear. 200$ , and I put it in as was. Drove 3 years before it started slipping in the rough stuff.
What a difference it made on farm, now goes most places in low range, with the front hubs unlocked. Before the locker, would get tire spin on wet grass. I have a set of clutches to rebuild it, just ant had the time.

 

You will have to take it apart if the Pow Lok slips like an open.
If the clutch disks are gouged then they are bad. Simple as that !

 

This thread has so much good info. It might be worth adding to the technical index.

 

I have said this before. My personal experience with a Trac Lock was not good. My 71' came with an original. After it broke and was fixed twice I junked it and put a Detroit in it. Never had a problem since.

 

Also a member of the broken TracLock club. A piece of the spider punched a hole in the cover. According to Randy's the later ones are stronger. They are nice on the street. They are widely available for a 44 - the Wagoneer guys sometimes put them in their front axles.

 

Ok so basically, if I turn one side and they rotate in the same direction, then all is good in the world of Powr Lok? Or do I have that backwards?

 

If both shafts turn the same direction when rotating from one side, that implies you have some type of limited slip or locker, but does not specifically imply a PowrLok.
Not all limited slips will always exhibit both axles turning the same direction, such as a Quaife torque biasing diff.
-Donny

 

Yup, i did the spinning tire test and results point to an open diff, but i’m still going to pull my cover or at least the fill cap to be 100% sure. My plan is a spartan or a lock-rite in the rear, so an open diff is actually what i’m hoping to confirm.

 

There is a way of sorts, but it requires some axleshafts, a pipe vise, and a couple of pipe wrenches.
Put the Powrloc in the vise and clamp it down. Put an axleshaft in each side, making sure the splines fully seat into the unit. With a pipe wrench on each axleshaft try to turn them in the opposite direction of each other. If you don't feel a good amount of resistance it might be a good idea to throw some new clutches in.
Speaking of axleshafts, years ago I cut the splined ends off of some broken shafts and use them to align the clutch discs when I put new clutches in before reinstalling in the axle housing. If you put the shafts in before you tighten the 2 case halves you can be sure your axleshafts will go right in when you've reinstalled your unit into the axle.

FWIW,
Mike

 

What is the main complaint against Trac locs? Do they not last or do they just not perform as well as power locs?

 

yes.

 

The old ones were worse than the newer ones. The old ones (pre-90?) were prone to catastrophic breakage. The clutches are small and are difficult to install without practice and experience.

Good write-up-

“Although Powr-Loks may be the limited slip of choice for many applications, they are not available for every application, and they are priced much higher than their Trac-Lok counterparts. Over the years Trac-Loks have gotten a bad rap for several reasons. The original Trac-Loks had very weak spider gears and a weak case that would break in half under a heavy load. I would not be surprised if many readers have seen at least one broken Trac-Lok or have broken one of the older designs themselves. Dana Spicer has become one of the world's leading manufacturer of differentials and differential parts by constantly making improvements. Being aware of the shortcomings of the Trac-Lok, and the high cost and low OEM demand of the Powr-Lok, Dana has made several improvements to the Trac-Lok design over the past ten years. The cases have been beefed up and are now much meatier, and made of stronger metal. The spider gears are now produced from a much stronger steel than was used for earlier models. And the cross pin shaft retention has been improved on models where improvement was needed. The results of these changes have made a much better unit. A limited slip that holds up well when abused by horsepower and tall tires, and lasts fairly well in many applications. Even if it is not the best for a rear differential, it does work well in many front differentials. I admit that the Trac-Lok clutches were never very aggressive and they never lasted as long as the Powr-Lok's, but then again they are a lot cheaper and it is still less expensive to replace the clutches once or twice in a Trac-Lok than it is to spring for the Powr-Lok. And, if the Powr-Lok is not available for a particular application for which the Trac-Lok is, any point about clutches doesn't matter. If you need more traction then step up and spend the extra money for a locker.”
-Trac-Lok Assembly Made Easy, January, 1999

 

BS. The clutches are still a pain in the arse to change compared to a Powerlock, the retention of the clutches still stinks, one pinion shaft of the trac-loc compared to two of the Powerlock still means worn cases and pinion shafts. The new Trac-loc may be “better” than the old version but the fact the article touts it as a front application only reinforces the fact it has issues.
I’ve had to scrap more trac-locs than most will see in their lifetimes due to excessively worn cases. Last purge was over 30 out of probably 45 cases between AMC Corporate 20 units and Dana 44 units.

 

Well I guess I'm going to return this Trac loc, the guy swears that it'll be a better fit for mud riding than a power loc, says the power loc is too aggressive for mud and it won't ride well. But I'm going to take the advice from the forum!

 

ITLKSEZ,
I want to clarify I was calling BS on the article, not on what you had to say. Nickmil

 

We've got your back, Henri! I think you're making the right choice.

 

Big meanie! I kid, I kid.

That's what I understood you to be saying, just fyi.

 

I don’t know how a trac loc lives long term in a Jeep but the one in my 97 Dakota still works great after 330k miles of towing and such. It will still do a nice burnout with nice stripes from the 318 and 3:55 gears in the truck. Now with bigger tires and different gears and throw a bunch of rocks at it and may grenade in short order but for a standard street truck my experience is that they last alright and perform well. With that said my Jeep has a power loc in the rear and an Aussie locker in the front.

 

Nick,
Do you have any experience with the trac-locs in ford 8.8’s? We are collecting pieces to install a 8.8 in my uncles YJ. 4.10 geared 8.8’s with trac locs seem cheap and the clutches don’t look too bad to install.

 

I did have the factory Trac Loc in the rear of my JKU. After 35k miles it was shot. The spider gears were coming apart. About 10k of those miles were on 36 in Iroks. And it did see a lot of off road use. It hadn’t failed yet, and we only found it as we opened the rear end to regear to 5.13s. Stuck a TruTrack in its place.

Mike.