Detroit locker or truetrac?

[dac]

I'm thinking of adding truetracs to the front and rear of my jeep, or would a locker in the rear be better, any thoughts?

It's an 02 TJ with 3.73's, 4L, and 33's; mostly highway but it goes offroad once and a while.  As for gear ratio, I'd consider 4.10's or 4.27's as I can get by fine with the 3.73's but something a little steeper wouldn't hurt, I think 4.56's would be a bit much on the highway.

ARB's seem like a little much coin and possible too much hastle.

[yjcanibul]

theres a few writeups in the past on this ... might try search for other opinions ...

I am daily driver,  fulltime locker wasnt for me - it made the jeep handle funny and downright scarey at times in winter ... plus it scrubbed the rubber off my wheels just parking the thing ... traction offroad = good though ...

arb is good solution and best traction offroad - go with reputible installer and keep your diff oil clean and you shouldnt have a problem, spend the extra $40 and get their heavyduty airlines also ( rubber coated ) ... else ox cable driven setup might be another option ...

if your running the D35 rear ? you might want to consider upgrading it also at this time ...

[hps4evr]

if you want no issues on the street and you want good traction off road, go with true-tracs front and rear. if you dont care and want all out performance off road, then go with the locker in the rear and tru-trac up front. my daily driver is locked in the rear and open up front. i got used to the set-up and have no issues in winter or summer.  the locker is awesome off road. wouldnt go back. my 2 cents.

[Spinalguy]

i would not run anything less than 4.56.

[Vinman]

i would not run anything less than 4.56.

I agree with the above comment, go with 4.56's at least ( I would go 4.88's)

For a primarily daily driver, I would go with Tru-tracs over the full Detroit's.

Milan (on this forum) has only run limited slips front & rear for years on his (old, rusty and broken :'() TJ and has no trouble keeping up with locker equipped rigs.

Vince

[mrbeggins]

i run a true trac in the back of mine. ford 8.8 and 4:10's. and to be honest im not really impressed with it. its your best choice for driving on the hard pack, and not wanting your tires to wear that quick, but for crawling around, it has let me down quite a few times. as soon as you get in a twist, its like having open diffs for me(and yes i have tried the taping the back break trick). If your going in a straight line through a mud hole or something it works great. But if your looking to piddle around, i suggest getting the detriot. There are many people who say if you drive like an old man, you can get away with the detroit. Take your foot off the gas when going around corners. Basically dont drive like and idiot, and dont drive like your in a hurry. I dunno. maybe my true trac isnt working, or installed right

[BlackYJ]

I have ARBs front and rear and absolutely love them.  I was initially looking at a true trac for the rear but I was quickly talked out of it and I found a great deal on an ARB so it was perfect.  The main reason was you will quickly out grow the true trac on challenging terrain and wish you would have installed a locker

Detroits are a great locker and they will never let you down off road, but some people don't like they characteristics on road.  However, there are tons of people that drive with them all the time.  I would recommend detroit in the back and true trac up front.

As for gearing, I am running a 5 speed with my 33s with 4.10s and it is decent but could use a little more power in the highway.  I would not go deeper than 4.56s with 33s if you have a 5 speed.  With the auto it is a different story

[keener]

I agree with the above. The other thing to look at is cost ... I've heard that prices for the Detroit products have gone up recently to the point where there is very little difference between them and the ARB. I've got ARB in both ends of my XJ and am very happy with the performance on and off road.

[dac]

I've got the D35 and 5spd.  Considering the jeep spends most of the time on the street I'm leaning towards tru-trac's.  It goes hunting and does pretty easy trails, the arb's would be nice but comparing pricing on-line I could probably get a winch for what I'd save going with tru-trac's, could be wrong though.

I found a dana 44 at a wrecker, has the 3.73's with an open diff out of a 03 tj with abs (mine doesn't have it).  Don't think it's worth the 1000 bucks they want for it with a bent axle shaft.

[HeadHunter]

LSD is garbage

[yjcanibul]

I had a dana power-lok in my D30 for awhile which helped at times in the dirt, I was living in edm and on those cold days on snow/ice covered roads I could feel it "hunting" at times pulling a little left then right left then right ... I would have just got out and walked if it was a locker up there ... I drive like a grampa anyway but I just dont need another unpredictable quirk in addition to those inherited naturally with the short wheel base in winter ... around town I believe your better off with open diffs in the winter ...

[hps4evr]

now that i think of it... if you want a locker the gives you perfect traction all the time with no locking and locking quirks, and that wont wear out like some LSD's, then go with the traction happy spool;)