daily doubler build

[Beef52751]

their ''we tested it, it is fine'' attitude would concern me

 

[railman]

2) Its been awhile since I've looked at the E locker stuff, but from what I can recall (and some things I've seen). This information is dated I'm sure..
- Its more like an LSD/Locker. So as the clutch packs wear, you will eventually lose locking ablity (I don't konw if that design has changed)

you are haveing the Eaton E-locker confused with the Auburn ECTED...it is the one with the clutch packs....which as you mentioned before is reason to stay away....

Bray, I would call and speak to the "Tech Dept." at Eaton...you are prolly getting a response from somebody in the Sales Dept......cause if you ask me, all they are quoteing is "Sales Literature" type BS.....

at least in the Tech Dept. they could give you some indication as to if they plan to change from pin to collar style....

also, they may have a collar style in the works, just they have a bunch of inventory of the old pin style for the 8.8 still in the warehouse.....

and like Kage said, maybe check into the OX locker....or just get an Aussie/Lock-Rite lunchbox for it

l8r, John

 

[Kage]

you are haveing the Eaton E-locker confused with the Auburn ECTED.......

Could be. You know, they say that the memory is the second thing to go as you get older. I wish I could remember what the first thing to go was

 

[Bray D]

The guy I was talking to had the title of "Customer Support; Technical Specialist." He should know his shit, if not, they shouldn't be having him field these types of questions.

Auburn appears to suck ass. I didn't even research it due to all of the failure stories.

I love the theory of an E Locker. Electromagnets would be MUCH more robust than an air actuated locker. Eaton failed with their locking mechanism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPPGsYq6TE

It needs to be how ARB locks their diffs.They use a sliding gear instead of pins. If that gear was actuated by an electromagnet rather than compressed air, we'd have a winner.

Not a fan of the OX's either. Its a novel idea, but I've read its hard to keep the cable adjusted properly, it can stick, not the easiest to repair a broken cable (relative to splicing wires on an e-locker), etc. I haven't researched how the locker actuates though, so I can't speak to its design.

I won't put a lunchbox locker in my rear. The carrier is the weak link in an 8.8. When I put a locker in it, it will have to be a carrier replacement.

I'm hesitant to put a Detroit in it, because it does ratchet. I'm worried about the reaction when I shift. Torque on, to torque off, etc.

I've even considered running 9" ends so I can lose the c-clips and run a full spool. I don't think I want to go that far.

 

[Kage]

...I'm hesitant to put a Detroit in it, because it does ratchet. I'm worried about the reaction when I shift. Torque on, to torque off, etc...

Its really not that dicey at all with a detroit in the rear. Reallly the only two annoyances Ive seen with them is

- On long sweeping turns (on the highway) it can lock and 'kick' the rear some. The longer your wheel base is the less of an issue this is. It seems to scare the Short Wheel Base Jeep guys (I've been in a few SWB jeeps when they've done this, didn't seem like that big of a deal, I'd imagine even less so for us).

- With a manual transmission, you'll learn to push in the clutch when coasting around tight corners. If you don't, the dirve line will buck a as that locker locks and unlocks. The more slop you have in your drive line, the more this is magnified.

The big draw back on the detroit is that you might kill the locker if you blow a shaft. With your 'gentle' wheeling style, I wouldn't think that it will be an issue as it looks like they might be more likely to die under full thottle fun.

For the record, the front detroit that I have in my 44 has survived several shaft breaks prior to my ownership of it. So I don't think its that common of a failure.

I've done the full spool in the rear thing as well. It was a definite love/hate relationship. I loved how predictable it was all the time. I hated that it liked to munch my swampers in a hurry, and the fact that it liked to eat leaf spring bushings in the rear. On a rig you're not driving every day, I'd rock a spool, but for a DD, nah, I'd pass.

$.02

 

[Grunizzle]

I have been running my detroit in the 8.8 for a while now and I love it. It is way better than a lunchbox locker, and far less noticeable.

 

[Bray D]

With a manual transmission, you'll learn to push in the clutch when coasting around tight corners. If you don't, the dirve line will buck a as that locker locks and unlocks. The more slop you have in your drive line, the more this is magnified.

This is what I'm most worried about. With just under 200k on the trans, doubler, etc, there's quite a bit of slop in my drivetrain. Maybe not as much as I think relative to other vehicles, but I feel it could be tighter. Drivetrain jarring isn't cool. I'll have to read a lot more about Detroits before I bite the bullet to buy one.

The big draw back on the detroit is that you might kill the locker if you blow a shaft. With your 'gentle' wheeling style, I wouldn't think that it will be an issue as it looks like they might be more likely to die under full thottle fun.

I've read that too. I'm not super concerned with that, as like you said, I don't really plan to toast a shaft. Even if I do, hopefully I'll be going slow enough that it doesn't do catastrophic damage to the locker. Did I read from you that there was another locker out there than had 'stops' to prevent the locker from eating the shaft if it breaks?

For the record, the front detroit that I have in my 44 has survived several shaft breaks prior to my ownership of it. So I don't think its that common of a failure.

Good to know.

I've done the full spool in the rear thing as well. It was a definite love/hate relationship. I loved how predictable it was all the time. I hated that it liked to munch my swampers in a hurry, and the fact that it liked to eat leaf spring bushings in the rear. On a rig you're not driving every day, I'd rock a spool, but for a DD, nah, I'd pass.

I'm kinda in the same boat. I would love the predictability, no moving parts, reliable, but I'm sure it would kill tires.

I shot Eaton an email to see what their warranty policies are. I'm not ruling them out yet.

 

[Kage]

Lets see if I can screw up a quote within a quote..

With a manual transmission, you'll learn to push in the clutch when coasting around tight corners. If you don't, the dirve line will buck a as that locker locks and unlocks. The more slop you have in your drive line, the more this is magnified.

This is what I'm most worried about. With just under 200k on the trans, doubler, etc, there's quite a bit of slop in my drivetrain. Maybe not as much as I think relative to other vehicles, but I feel it could be tighter. Drivetrain jarring isn't cool. I'll have to read a lot more about Detroits before I bite the bullet to buy one.

Its really not bad at all, and once you train yourself it'll be a non issue. This is not an issue that would be limitied to a detroit and is a trait of all auto lockers. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, and if you're real worried about it, try to find someone with a locker in the rear and a manual tranny to take a ride with on the street.

Besides, you don't really have to worry about driveline slop breaking until you hit 225k miles, at which point something will fail horribly in the middle of BFE South Dakota

The big draw back on the detroit is that you might kill the locker if you blow a shaft. With your 'gentle' wheeling style, I wouldn't think that it will be an issue as it looks like they might be more likely to die under full thottle fun.

I've read that too. I'm not super concerned with that, as like you said, I don't really plan to toast a shaft. Even if I do, hopefully I'll be going slow enough that it doesn't do catastrophic damage to the locker. Did I read from you that there was another locker out there than had 'stops' to prevent the locker from eating the shaft if it breaks?

The Grizzly locker by Yukon is suppose to be a big improvment over the detroits as far as not breaking when you get retarded with the skinny pedal (or when you pop a shaft). I've never personally ran one, or played with one so all I can tell you is what I've seen on the interwebz. Moot point though as it appears they don't have an application for the 8.8"


For the record, the front detroit that I have in my 44 has survived several shaft breaks prior to my ownership of it. So I don't think its that common of a failure.

Good to know.

I've done the full spool in the rear thing as well. It was a definite love/hate relationship. I loved how predictable it was all the time. I hated that it liked to munch my swampers in a hurry, and the fact that it liked to eat leaf spring bushings in the rear. On a rig you're not driving every day, I'd rock a spool, but for a DD, nah, I'd pass.

I'm kinda in the same boat. I would love the predictability, no moving parts, reliable, but I'm sure it would kill tires.

It may not be as bad running a spool in the back of a light truck as far as tire wear is concerned (thinking little weight in the rear might mean less wear). But make no mistake, it'll wear tires faster. So if its going to stay a DD, you probably want to skip this route, unless you have a line on cheap tires
.

Again if it were me, I'd throw a spartan/aussie in the rear and forget about it. At ~$300 for a lunch box setup vs. ~$700 for a detroit it seems like a no brainer. And at this point the lunch boxes have come along far enough that I wouldn't be worried about breaking one (Heck, there's more than a few accounts of them lasting through several shaft breakages).

If you're really scared about killing a lunch box, just keep your old spider gears and cross pin in the glove box as its not that hard to swap them out. Heck, break a shaft with a lunch box or Full locker, you'll still have to drop the diff cover to get all the metal bits out anyway. And while I'm sure it happens, I've never seen an 8.8 carrier failure (not counting drag racing applications, thats where major shock loads seems like it might kill them, but even still, it isn't that common).

Selectables are cool, but they all seem to have their problems, and It can be rather irratating when your junk isn't locked when it should be.

Again, just my $.02

 

[Josh40601]

I run the detroit in mine and have no problems. Im very close to your mileage, just over 180K on all the powertrain, and just as Ben said, if you push the clutch in, tight corners can be made with just minimal bucking.

The wear pattern on mine is the same. Although my back tires are much more worn, that is because i bought them that way. The fronts were 95%, backs were about 75%.

All my Jeep pals that run ARBs have issues with them. When they work, they are the bomb shit, when they don't, they are worthless.

My axle/gear guy (Mark at ProGear here in San Diego) is a huge supporter of Eaton. It is what he runs in his big body bronco (8.8 rear) and he takes it all over southern Cali.

Just my pennies

 

[Bray D]

There's a couple guys that may have locked rears that I could ride with, but I rarely talk to them. I'd have to go through some other buddies to see what setups they're running or to see if I could hitch a ride.

Actually, there may be a couple street cars around here with detroits in 'em. hmmm.

There's not too many guys into serious wheelin around here.

Lunchbox locker isn't going in my 8.8. I'm not worried about the locker, I'm worried about the carrier. I know, there are few failures, but I may as well upgrade while I'm at it. I'm not saying money isn't an issue, but building my truck is my hobby. Rather than hookers and blow, I pour my funds into my truck.

You guys are making the Detroit sound more appealing.

I got an email back from Eaton - 1 year warranty from the purchase date. Again, not instilling much confidence in them.

I think I'll strike up a convo with ARB to see what they have to say about their selectables. I'm interested to hear what they've done to combat leaking, or why they haven't decided to go another route other than air.

 

[Josh40601]

I can't say as far as winter driving goes, i won't know until this winter. Dry ground and rain, no biggie with the detroit. I can pull into parking spots on the first swing, i can make u turns, and i still have plenty of tread on the tires.

I just wish ARB would fix their leaks because i would go that way in a heartbeat if they didn't fail on the trail so much

 

[Kage]

..... Rather than hookers and blow, I pour my funds into my truck.

I'm fairly certain Hookers and Blow is considerably cheaper

 

[4.0B2]

I'm fairly certain Hookers and Blow is considerably cheaper

yeah probably. i work off Brooks Rd in Memphis, there's some CHEAP ones there

 

[Josh40601]

they are

 

[Bray D]

My Ballistic order finally came in. I think I ordered it in like February. Damn.

Still thinkin about lockers and stuff. Nothing new really. Hoping to talk to ARB in the next couple days to see what they have to say about their lockers regarding sealing, etc.