Oh the cobbled mess worked well enough, but when it came time to remove the console so I could finish it since it originally got put in before it was done and I’m tired of it not being done, well, it was a headache to remove. Birds nest wiring nightmare. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a picture of the mess. It worked, but was far less than ideal and I can’t deal with that in my space, it needs to be neat. And the console needs to be practical to remove. It’s not like I don’t have the knowledge and ability to do it right at this point.
That aside…
You’re not going to want a “lunchbox locker” in the Road Ranger. They have lousy road manners and don’t take abuse well. A limited slip will have much better road manners. Either a stock one and do the extra clutch disk mod (you can also get Kevlar clutches), or get something like the Tru-Track that is gear driven.
On the locker,
@lil_Blue_Ford or anyone, I’ve reached out on this before. Most of you guys are experts far beyond my mechanical knowledge and ability, but I think I really have a simple need, and I don’t want to spend a great deal of time or even a little money I can avoid.
The Road Ranger, as I call it, is exactly that: It is a road-only vehicle, a truck for pulling and hauling. The closest I ever come to going off concrete or asphalt is to park on the grass next to the road, or maybe to drive on to a construction site, and both of those are pretty rare. It’s also just a big toy. I don’t have to rely on it, I don’t have to use it to get around, I’m not making a living with it. Hence, I don’t need the best way of installing a limited slip, nor even a pretty good way of installing a limited slip. All I need is for both tires pull from a stop, or maybe when I’m on a wet road on an incline. And I think if I put another 10,000 miles on this truck before I leave this earth, that would be amazing.
Number one, all kidding aside, please define what you call “bad road manners.” From my research, some of the comments say when making turns there may be a clicking sound or bumping sound from the locker. That’s fine with me, the whole truck rattles a little bit with that extra axle anyway. My research shows that you might feel it an I reach shows that you might feel it a little bit when it slips/clicks in a sharp turn, but other than that, it doesn’t affect the driving. Again, my main interest is so that it pulls on both tires. It doesn’t have to do anything fancy other than pull on both tires going in a straight line. A slight difference in gas mileage isn’t a problem, but I wouldn’t want to cut the mileage in half.
I’ve seen the videos where you can weld whatever to make it a straight axle. I don’t want to do that. I want to find the least expensive (&100?) thing I can find that an amateur can bolt in the rear end, hopefully without having to reset the pinion gear and all that, which I’ve never done. I have pulled the axles out before, but not much more than that on a rear end.
If it starts getting past $150 or $200 for the part, I can get all kinds of tires for far less money than that. Of course I don’t want to burn the tires, but the little screech can be a little embarrassing every time I let up the clutch. I’m thinking if it pulled on both tires from a stop, it wouldn’t do that at all. If I’m next to a cop at a traffic light, I always let him go first, so he doesn’t think I’m busting his chops. And the grab/slip on the incline happened for the first time when I went to the Carlisle Truck Nationals. I was pulling the trailer on the way back to the hotel, got caught at a traffic light on a short little steep rise, and I basically spun the tire on the wet road until the back axle crested the hill. Alternative would’ve been to get the guy behind me to pull away, back up, and get it running start before the next light. You know why I don’t have to worry about doing that.
So once again, any and all help would be greatly appreciated. I’m not looking for many options, I’m looking for a cheap locker I can bolt in in a couple hours, that will last 15 or 20,000 miles at least if I don’t abuse it
Thanks in advance
