Alan said:
>Don't Auburns use cones instead of clutches? I've heard conflicting storys
>about Auburns not being rebuildable. Any truth to that?
The original "Sure-Grip" from Chrysler was a cone limited slip, made by
Auburn, I think. Mother Mopar switched to clutch-type made by Borg-Warner
in about 1967 or 1968. All you could do to the cone was file off burrs. Once
they wore out, they were junk - a regular diff. The Borg-Warner WAS a
rebuildable unit. These went in the venerable Chryser 8 3/4" rear end.
According to the Dakota Factory Service Manual (FSM), the modern,
clutch-type (Auburn) Sure-Grip is also NOT serviceable. This may have
something to do with hanging onto the springs as you unbolt it,
but if you canīt get the clutch disks, it doesnīt matter, does it?
Tom said:
>Great info. Jim! I've got a slush fund going to install either an LSD or Locker
>sometime next year in my rear diff. My questions are pretty straight forward (I
>think).
>
>Have you heard about the "gearless lockers" that *should* be in circulation by
>Detroit and Powertrax? The claim is they provide the smooth transition of an
>LSD with the clean power transfer of a *true* locker. Heard anything about
They are the hot ticket in the 4x4 community. The "smooth transition" is a
relative term, I guess. They clunk. At least a little bit. They donīt allow as much
slip as a clutch-type LSD before they engage, which is great when rockcrawling.
>these? Any chance in hell they'll make one for the 8 1/4 Kota?
Not to my knowledge. And the future is a big unknown. Chrysler hasnīt sold
enough units in the past to attract the attention of folks like Detroit, Torsen,
or Lock-Right. The strike this past year was partly due to an attempt to let
Dana make more and more driveline parts for Dodge trucks. The deal that ended
the strike may have stopped that. On the upside, Dodge is selling an awful
lot of trucks now, and they use a fairly small range of diffs. Also, and this may
be good or bad as far as mods are concerned, but itīs Daimler-Chrysler now.
I donīt know how much theyīll try to merge the parts bins. And I have no
idea what diff a Gelandewagen (3-point star bulletproof 4x4) uses.
Iīm still hoping ARB will see fit to make a locker for our front 7.25 diff. After my
recent experience, Iīm inclined to modify a Dana 30 or Dana 44 to serve there
though, and ARB already sells kits for them.
Rumor was that the Dakota 4x4 was going to get a new chassis after ī99,
where theyīd use the Ram/Grand Cherokee/TJ coil-link solid axle front. That
would be the logical time to swap third member suppliers.
>How would you judge the performance between a locker and a LSD as far as off
>road and on road performance? Granted these trucks are no Jeeps but I'd like to
>have every edge I can get ;-)
The Auburn works very well offroad on a Dak. We have way too much wheelbase
to keep up with a CJ on the serious stuff. The LSD makes steep, loose hills an
easy climb, instead of a possibility. Hill climbs are one place where the wheelbase
works in our favor, which may be why I like them so much. I saw a Discovery
Channel piece on Iceland, where the hottest sport is building custom rails used
to climb volcanic hillsides -- they were all very long wheelbase.
BTW, Hemis were well represented!
>P.S. Hope you find that pig roast, never been but I hear from some friends out
>in Cali that they can't be beat!! Closest I came was a Hawaiian Luau, but I
>hear they're not quite the same...
Well the Pig Roast isnīt until February. I just want to find a spot with deep sand
so weīre not digging in desert-baked hard clay!
Merry Christmas!
Jim
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