Another lincoln lock D35 thread

[disciplerocks]

Still contemplating lincoln locking the front. Want to hear from people that have done it. This is my dd and I want to be able to use 4hi in snow on the street. I also don't want steering to be a bitch when wheeling. Thanks in advance.

 

[-Nathan-]

you pretty much answered your own question. if you weld up the front, you will have NO steering in snow, unless youre driving at a crawl. the same offroad, expect to go straight lots, even with your wheels turned. it was like this even with a lockright in teh front of my rig, cant imagine it welded.


so....either get a lockright, or dont do it.

 

[disciplerocks]

Thats what I am looking for thanks. I have had others say they love it. Anyone else?

 

[-Nathan-]

dont get me wrong, I LOVED my lockers front and rear, made me damn near unstoppable, but steering is SEVERELY limited, and you have to plan ahead when youre going to turn. Not a great idea to run it on the street with other vehicles.

 

[BlackBII]

I have lockers Front and Rear, and I can steer just fine ?????

It wants to go straight....I just don't let it, but, my arms are bigger than mosts.

 

[disciplerocks]

Not too worried about the street. Most of the time it will be in 2wd, but when the wheather gets bad I could just lock one hub.

 

[4x4junkie]

It sucks offroad too. I have ARB lockers in both mine which lock the same as being welded. It's not quite as bad in my BII as it is my Ranger, however it would suck either way if it was always locked to where I couldn't turn the locker "off". It very easily overwhelms the already anemic Ford power steering.

 

[86 slo-vo]

i wouldnt do it dustin...its going to suck if you do

 

[Todd]

Ah the good old welded axle threads..................

Chances are if you have to ask about a welded diff on a DD its not for you.

With that being said I ran a welded TTB 35 when my B2 was a DD. Ran 235/75R15 with a welded front and open rear when I started to wheel back in the day. Then went to 31's with a rear locker then 33's then 35's then 4.88 gears then 44 knuckles then 37's all with the same welded 35. But as soon as you weld the front say goodbye to 4x4 at speeds in the snow.

These are the key things that I learned.

Steering, everyone says its a total bitch. Sometimes it can be. It mostly depends on what you wheel and where you wheel it. A short wheel based rig like the B2 the adverse affects are not as predominate as they are in a longer rig with a welded front. Most of the time I could still out turn a lot of the people I wheeled with that had longer rigs with open fronts. This also brings into account where you wheel. My experiences are in the Northern regions of MI. Mainly sand, dirt, mud, snow and some rock. Now say you are in higher traction areas with lots of rock slab and what not. That would make turning harder. How much harder? I don't know I haven't wheeled it before.

Shafts. Good U joints, Spicer 5-760-x, that's all you should ever use. And either run full clips or tack weld the caps in. If you dont do this your shafts WILL NOT SURVIVE!!!!

The stock ford SP pumps suck. Upgrade to a Saginaw pump and run a cooler, this also helped a lot.

Now I run a 60 front with 20" wide AG tires and guess what, the front is welded. I have hydro assist steering because without it steering was hard. Not that it wont turn, it was just hard to turn the wheel. For me a welded front just works, I can still turn just fine, have predictable traction in the front end, and its cheaper then dirt.

 

[disciplerocks]

Thanks. I actually don't think I will have to worry about it on the street. I can just lock one hub. I am just wondering how difficult it would be on the trail.

I may just pick up a spare pumpkin and try it. Wont cost much and its not too difficult to swap.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Todd]

Thanks. I actually don't think I will have to worry about it on the street. I can just lock one hub.

So you are planning on running one hub locked for half ass 4x4 on the road at speed? This will be mega sketch.

Once you weld to front higher speed 4x4 on roads with any traffic is unsafe. And with one hub its even worse. Anytime you get on or off the throttle it will pull to one side then the other, BAD.