Has anyone added Trac Lok to an open 8.25 diff?

tulsa · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:13 pm

I am considering adding Trac Lok to my CRD open diff for street use. Has anyone done this? What are the disadvantages of Trac Lok versus other limited slip differentials?

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:21 pm

The stock Trac-Loc for the 8.25 is barely better than open. Get a new Detroit TrueTrac for the 8.25 or Auburn...much better units.

O_Dogg · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:44 pm

dont forget about the no-slip and ez-lockers

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:47 pm

Sounded like he was looking more for a good Limited Slip Diff...

The Good thing about the Detroit TruTrac is it has no clutches. Reider Racing always seems to have great prices on them. Just make sure you order one for the 8.25 with 29 splines.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

Yeah, forget the Trac Loc and go for one of the aftermarket limited slip diffs (probably cheaper than buying a Trac Loc from the dealer and they perform better). Wally made two good suggestions. Having owned both the Auburn and Trutrac here are my thoughts...

Auburn is great on road as you'd never know it was there. So if you plan on using it in snowy/icy road conditions and want something that's invisible this is your diff. Now the not so good...it takes more wheel spin to engage than the TT. It uses clutches and it will wear out over time. After 40,000 miles the perfomance was starting to deteriorate (comparable to the TracLoc lifespan).

The Trutrac has good manners (not as good as the Auburn), but I definitely know it is there. I have it in the front end so it makes the steering a little stiffer. On the positive side it also performs very well offroad. It engages and transfers power much more easily than the Auburn. Another positive is the gear driven design that Wally mentioned. If you want off road performance with good road manners this is your diff.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Wed Dec 27, 2006 5:09 pm

If I don't go with Selectable Lockers front and rear in my new CRD...I am going to probably go with the Detroit TT front and rear. I had the DTT in the front of my 2002 KJ and it worked flawlessly. The only way I knew I had the front DTT was when I used FullTime 4WD on the street...like SjyJump said...the steering was a tad heavier. If you have CommandTrac you won't even know on the road (referring to the front LSD).

tulsa · **Posted:** Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:17 am

I can buy Trac Lok for about $215-265 and have installed for about $200. Auburn seems to be about $100 more and TT $200 more. $200 more for TruTrac is not a problem if it lasts longer and behaves well on pavement. Sources and prices, installation difficulty of Trac Lok, and also more input on any limited slip systems would be helpful.
Lewis

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

They are all fairly difficult to install if you are just a weekend warrior like me. The procedure is the same regardless of which one you decide on. Basically, you would open the pumpkin, remove the axles and replace the stock carrier with the new diff for all of these LSDs. I have done this once myself and it was an all day job. Without experience it is very easy to screw up the backlash and then you have a real mess on your hands. This last time I switched to an ARB I went straight to a professional gear guy.

If cost is not an issue I'd go for the TT.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 28, 2006 2:06 pm

I've been thinking about hitting up the junk yards and looking for a Liberty with the Trac loc in it, taking the whole rear end and just swapping it in place of my exsisting open diff that I have right now... That would be a easy way around trying to install the LSD in my driveway - I haven't ever tried to install one so I am pretty worried about screwing something up.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:01 am

http://reiderracing.com/truetrac.htm

N / A · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:22 pm

I just put one in today, granted I got it for $125 so it was a no brainer, haven't gotten off road yet...weekend come soon please

AndySRT · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:29 pm

DarbyWalters wrote:

If I don't go with Selectable Lockers front and rear in my new CRD...I am going to probably go with the Detroit TT front and rear. I had the DTT in the front of my 2002 KJ and it worked flawlessly. The only way I knew I had the front DTT was when I used FullTime 4WD on the street...like SjyJump said...the steering was a tad heavier. If you have CommandTrac you won't even know on the road (referring to the front LSD).

Dont you have ESP? If you do I can't wait to see what happens with a LSD or a locker. I want to do a selectable locker for mine I'm just waiting for someone to experiment with the ESP and how it acts.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:41 pm

AndySRT wrote:

DarbyWalters wrote:

If I don't go with Selectable Lockers front and rear in my new CRD...I am going to probably go with the Detroit TT front and rear. I had the DTT in the front of my 2002 KJ and it worked flawlessly. The only way I knew I had the front DTT was when I used FullTime 4WD on the street...like SjyJump said...the steering was a tad heavier. If you have CommandTrac you won't even know on the road (referring to the front LSD).

Dont you have ESP? If you do I can't wait to see what happens with a LSD or a locker. I want to do a selectable locker for mine I'm just waiting for someone to experiment with the ESP and how it acts.

IMO with esp you would be better off with the tru trac as you would not have the down side of the locker

AndySRT · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:53 pm

I dunno a LSD and ESP applying brakes doesnt seem like a good idea to me. I think a selectable is the only choice for someone with ESP.

jason thompson · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:15 pm

AndySRT wrote:

I dunno a LSD and ESP applying brakes doesnt seem like a good idea to me. I think a selectable is the only choice for someone with ESP.

I may be wrong but I thought that ESP put the breaks on the wheel that was spinning?

If that is the case then when the wheel that is spinning gets breaks to stop the spin the LSD will send power to the other wheel and forward progress
This is the whole theory behind ESP to keep the wheels from spining add a device in the axel that applies more torque to a given wheel
So in theory ESP with a TT will work like it should only better

Better because it will also see forward progress and allow the engine to go not stop sending power
or you will almost fool the computer with it's self

This is all based on the E break trick
well how good would the E break trick work if you could apply breaks to only 1 wheel ,the one in the air?
Twice as good as if you apply breaks to both wheels because they both see the same breaking force and 1 is still in the air
ESP will only apply breaks to 1 wheel ,the one in the air
Just a theory and I do not have a rig with ESP to test it on

myjeepwalks · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:37 pm

I just installed one in my rig last week. I got it dirt cheap on ebay. $52 brand new. A guy bought it for his xj and sold the jeep before he installed it.

Quote:

The stock Trac-Loc for the 8.25 is barely better than open. Get a new Detroit TrueTrac for the 8.25 or Auburn...much better units.

I would have to disagree with you on that. My trac-lok is 100x better than an open diff. I can power brake it on dry ground and it will leave 2 marks down the street. It's not a 1 legger like it used to be. ( I only did that to test it and make sure it worked). I'm sure if you had one tire hanging and the other on a rock it would slip into a 1 legger. Of course like you said it's not as good as an auburn or detroit t/t but it is alot cheaper. The money i saved can go towards my lift now. I am very happy with it. I do light to moderate wheeling, most dirt roads, mud, and sand. No rock crawling here in nj, for my application its perfect.

Installation was a pita with those stuped spanner nuts and with out the speacialty tool. I know with the auburn you have to grind down the housing so it fits. Don't know about the T/T. Dont forget the new carrier bearings, gear oil, lsd additive if needed, and you need to get the new bearings pressed on. All that cost me an additional $100

jason thompson · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2007 11:03 pm

myjeepwalks wrote:

I just installed one in my rig last week. I got it dirt cheap on ebay. $52 brand new. A guy bought it for his xj and sold the jeep before he installed it.

Quote:

The stock Trac-Loc for the 8.25 is barely better than open. Get a new Detroit TrueTrac for the 8.25 or Auburn...much better units.

I would have to disagree with you on that. My trac-lok is 100x better than an open diff. I can power brake it on dry ground and it will leave 2 marks down the street. It's not a 1 legger like it used to be. ( I only did that to test it and make sure it worked). I'm sure if you had one tire hanging and the other on a rock it would slip into a 1 legger. Of course like you said it's not as good as an auburn or detroit t/t but it is alot cheaper. The money i saved can go towards my lift now. I am very happy with it. I do light to moderate wheeling, most dirt roads, mud, and sand. No rock crawling here in nj, for my application its perfect.

Installation was a pita with those stuped spanner nuts and with out the speacialty tool. I know with the auburn you have to grind down the housing so it fits. Don't know about the T/T. Dont forget the new carrier bearings, gear oil, lsd additive if needed, and you need to get the new bearings pressed on. All that cost me an additional $100

Maybe but they have cluches in the Trac-Loc and after 42K the one in the TJ is almost not there
also on dry flat ground you will get the good 2 line skid mark but get it on dirt and not so much
when I bought the TJ it had just under 30K and NEVER off road
after only 12k with heavy off roading it is shot and I almost never hit rocks ,I would have to drive 8+ hours to hit rocks all I do is dirt trails
but I do get my wheels up some times way up
When we do the KJ I will probably go Detroit locker rear and TT front ,when it becomes my "commuter rig"
I am getting tired of driving the TJ to go cut trails

Has anyone added Trac Lok to an open 8.25 diff?

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