In a message dated 11/19/00 10:26:15 AM Pacific Standard Time,
morrisej@bee.net writes:
> ne1 have any experience with these things ? I know about torque
> steer & clicking noise on the street. I'm more concerned about
> required maintance & ABS compatibility.
> Chief Little Ram
> 13.7@103
I had one in a 9" they are indestructible, see my post about c-clip vs Non
c-clip. You won't really experience much if any torque steer as long as the
tires are the same size. This is gonna be long I can see it now... Whew,
here goes on the Detroit locker "issues". The Detroit locks the shafts
together by means of discs with teeth on them, it is a mechanical connection
FAR stronger than a Sure Grip is. These discs are pushed together and lock
the shafts together when the unit senses any torque input (you press on the
gas) they unlock only in a coast situation. One of the quirks comes when
pulling out of a driveway and turning. Since you're on the gas the Detroit
locks up, BUT you're turning a corner so the inside tire scrubs (squeals) as
it turns the same speed as the outside one, this will happen pulling into
parking spaces, highway turn around, etc. I never heard mine ratchet or
click, every so often it will BANG very violently, it sounds like the whole
rear end exploded, or someone just hit your frame with an 8 LB sledge on a
full swing. This believe it or not is normal, and is a result of the locker
needing about 3 degrees of driveline rotation to lock up. One situation to
be careful of is this, the locker ALWAYS works, sometimes when you don't want
it to. Say you're at a stoplight on a road that is off camber, you're in the
left lane the road is snow covered, and there is a car next to you in the
right lane, you get in the gas, the rear end locks together and the truck
slides into the car next to you, this is bad (speaking from experience), it
will also act weird at speed on slippery surfaces in corners, say you come
into a gradual corner on snow covered roads, you let off the gas (it unlocks)
then get back in the gas (it locks) this CAN send you into a spin because of
the lack of differentiation between the two axles (again speaking from
experience). All these quirks are amplified by short wheelbase, and manual
transmissions. I plan on using a Detroit when I put my 8 3/4 in my Dakota.
I personally think that the Detroit is an excellent unit, and I plan to use
on in every vehicle I own that it is made for. I like that it will still
drive the vehicle even with a broken axle, or if one wheel is in the air, it
has no parts to wear out, and it always works. It's a bullet proof unit in
my opinion.
Luke
1996 Black 4x4 Dakota, SLT CC SB, 318, 3" 2 Chamber Flowmaster cat back
exhaust, 9" open element Mr. Gasket Air cleaner, 52mm Ported TB, 3923
Autolites, A-518 / 46RE, 3.55 geared Peg Leg 8 1/4, 31x10.50 BFG Mud
Terrains, Alpine CD player, Infinity Kappa Speakers.
Coming soon: E-Body 8 3/4" Rear axle, 3.55 gears, Detroit locker, 10" Brakes,
and Moser Engineering custom alloy axles!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:57:30 EDT