Jon Steiger wrote:
>
> I've been doing a little bit of reading regarding all things off-road
> lately, and from what I've been able to determine, a limited slip isn't
> terribly useful offroad.
>From what I understand, it's a huge improvement over an open diff. If
one wheel has 100% traction and the other has 0% traction, sure, it
probably won't get you moving. But usually each tire can find at least
a little bit of traction.
> The best thing to have for offroad is a locker, which will keep both
> wheels turning at the same rate, no matter what. (It essentially locks
> both axles together.) Unfortunately, they are supposed to be a bit
> annoying on the street, even after you adjust your driving style. I
> believe a locker is in the $400 range.
Enter the No-Slip. According to Powertrax's propaganda, it gives you
the traction of a locker, with the ease and comfort of a limited slip.
They've been discussed quite a bit on the list, so I won't go into it
too much, except to say that I think it sounds pretty good.
> The king of them all is the air
> locker, which gives you an open diff until you hit a button in the cab, and
> it locks the axles together (using compressed air); thus, you have complete
> control and the truck's street manners are completely
> unchanged. Unfortunately, they are over $600.
Last I talked to ARB, they were doing R&D on the air locker for the
Dakota. That was a couple of years ago.
I just got my June issue of Four Wheeler yesterday (the employees of
Canada Post finally finished reading it). They have a project Dak that
has ARB lockers front and rear. Anyone know if this is only for '97 or
newer, or might they have actually bothered to realize that Dakotas were
really produced before 1997?
> Lets see if we can convince Jason to let us rip out his IFS for a solid
> front axle, then you can buy him air lockers for the front and rear. ;-)
Hey, if you wanna sponsor it, I'm game. I'll even let you paint your
name all over the side of the truck. :-)
---------------------------------------------------------
Jason Bleazard http://www.bleazard.net Toronto, Ontario
his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 239 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white
hers: '98 Dakota Sport 4x4, 318 V8, Auto, Club Cab, black
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