This comes from driving Jeep mind you, but the results are probably the same
for the Dakota. I bought my Jeep in 95 with Chrysler's limited slip in the
rear in a Dana 35c axle. Everyone who was open would ask "wow, you locked?"
and everyone who had full lockers would say "you're open, get a locker!" On
a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is open and 10 is fully locked I'd judge the
limited slip at about a 3 or 4. After two years I swapped to a full locker,
removing the limited slip and installing a Detroit Locker. It was a major
difference in off-road ability.
Regards, Mike Klinke
On order: 2K Dakota QC 5.9L Sport
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Steiger <stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu>
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 1:51 PM
Subject: Re: DML: Limited Slip Was: Swift Rapids
>
>
>On Tue, 9 May 2000, Jason Bleazard wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
>
> Hmmm, I guess the articles I've been reading have been written by
>rock crawlers. :-) It should be an improvement, but is it enough to
>not justify going the step further to a locker? I dunno.
>
>
>> > 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?
>
> Hmmm, it could be that they made it for the 9.25", which would leave
>the older Daks out. What does the Dak have in the front? Is it a
>Dana 30, 44, or something completely different?
>
>
>> > 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. :-)
>
> Heh heh heh! I'll sponsor my time, tools, and use of the shop and lift,
>but for the parts, you're on your own. :-) Hmmm, maybe what we need is a
>solid front axle swap kit. Too bad I can't afford the R&D. :-(
>
>
>
> -Jon-
>
> .--- jon@dakota-truck.net -- or -- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------.
> | Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
> | '92 Ram 150 4x4 V8, '96 Dakota V8, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly 447 |
> `---------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
>
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