Detroit "soft" Locker Help

[P93suafilo]

77 F150 Dana 44 30 spline Detroit "soft locker?" going with 5.13s

I have a cracked thrust block and when I called Eaton they said I can just take it and another washer out on each side and I should be good to go. My issue is I am just not super familiar with the engineering and internals of these and I could some advice. The diagrams I always find are kinda blurry too. My rig will be primarily a trail rig that I can drive to and from the trail, occasionally on the highway. Should I just remove those washers and be good to go? If so which ones exactly should I remove. Should I try and find these parts and where should I find them? I tried from justdifferentials.com and they said they don't carry them anymore. Should I just put it back together and run it as is? Will it operate as designed?

Just trying to get some ideas and advice from those who have experience. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[wildbill23c]

Myself I'd just replace it with something more modern. If its broken, there's no point in putting it back together, its not going to work properly and probably won't work for very long without breaking further. If they can't offer parts for it, its time to ditch it for something newer.

I think if you remove washers from that setup, it won't engage as well, if at all, plus with it being an old unit 44+ years old, I wouldn't try and fix it or modify it at all especially since its cracked. Why cause further potential damage to other differential parts when that thing grenades itself, you've already got it apart, do it right and replace it with a new locker or limited slip whichever would work best for your applications. Personally I'd go with a selectable locker if you are going to drive it on the highway occasionally, plus its disengaged completely when you don't need it, so its not getting unnecessary wear and tear when you aren't needing it.

 

[P93suafilo]

Myself I'd just replace it with something more modern. If its broken, there's no point in putting it back together, its not going to work properly and probably won't work for very long without breaking further. If they can't offer parts for it, its time to ditch it for something newer.

I think if you remove washers from that setup, it won't engage as well, if at all, plus with it being an old unit 44+ years old, I wouldn't try and fix it or modify it at all especially since its cracked. Why cause further potential damage to other differential parts when that thing grenades itself, you've already got it apart, do it right and replace it with a new locker or limited slip whichever would work best for your applications. Personally I'd go with a selectable locker if you are going to drive it on the highway occasionally, plus its disengaged completely when you don't need it, so its not getting unnecessary wear and tear when you aren't needing it.

I like that advice thank you. I may not have explained it clearly. The Detroit is actually newer (last 10 years) the "soft" part of the locker is the newer model of detroits which just make it so that the locker operates quieter with less popping. The soft part is technically removable and it turns it into the older style of Detroit but like you said I don't want to removed the wrong parts and screw it up.

 

[P93suafilo]

I decided to give Justdifferentials.com a call and at first they didn't have what I needed but after giving them the part number they happened to have 2 of the washers I needed in stock so I snagged them and they should be here in 2-3 days!

 

[wildbill23c]

I decided to give Justdifferentials.com a call and at first they didn't have what I needed but after giving them the part number they happened to have 2 of the washers I needed in stock so I snagged them and they should be here in 2-3 days!

Awesome, let us know how it does when you get it repaired. The way your OP sounded, it sounded like you couldn't get parts for it anymore due to it being so old. I wonder how long it had been broken though?