11.5 AAM more glitter than a disco ball

[BigUglyRacing]

Hi All.
Well the lower pinion bearing in my 11.5 AAM decided it was time to retire. Well long story short doing a full rebuild. bearings , gears , locker and a nice finned cover.

2 questions.

1.) How has the detroit locker been holding up in these trucks.

2.) Where is everyone buying their parts from.

All input welcome. Thanks in advance .


truck is an 05 qc/sb AT all stockish. 70,000 miles.

 

[AH64ID]

Unless you spend a LOT of time off road I would not consider a detroit locker a good idea on a pickup, especially one with lots of torque.

Either the OEM or a Detroit TruTrac would be great options, but if you feel you need a real locker I would look at an ARB. A Detroit Locker just isn't a friendly daily driver diff.

For parts I would talk to Randy's Ring and Pinion.

What where you running for gear lube? 70K miles isn't a lot for a AAM 11.5.

 

[rscurtis]

X2 on the locker. You don't want that on a street driven truck.

 

[BigUglyRacing]

Thanks for the input. I have had a Detroit in one of my trucks since 98. Although it has 38's it did see a fair bit of use as a dd for about 5 yrs. So I am familiar with the little clunks and odd behavior of the unit. Still kicking it around on which to get. So where is everyone getting their parts at. I looked at driveline America. They seem not bad so far. But I am open to any other suggestions. And to top it all off. The modem died last night. 5 days to get a replacement. Lol got to love it.

 

[Mingoglia]

I buy all my stuff for my buggy from these guys: http://letzrolloffroad.com/
I know the owner personally and know he's regeared his 3rd gen truck. He uses all Yukon stuff as he's a Yukon backed driver. I run Yukon in all my stuff (except my brand new 4th gen), and never had an issue. Although he typically sells Grizzly and ARB because in the type of wheeling we do we tend to blow up Detroits which when they blow up they literally take everything with it, he can certainly get you one for your application.

 

[BigUglyRacing]

I will check randys and see how it adds up. Truck was purchased 5 yrs ago with 15000 on it. Gear oil was changed at 25000 with royal purple. It was then changed at 52000 with to again. As far as failure. This is only a guess. But i do make a trip to Nevada every year which is about 2500 miles each way. And I hit Texas every January so that is about 1300 or so each way. I wondered if the failure was due to heat. I push pretty hard on the Nevada trip. Also I probably only carry about 1000 lbs. So over load is not an issue. Going to go with a max tow diff cover just incase.

 

[BigUglyRacing]

Thanks Mingoglia I will check them out. Didn't know about the Detroit failures. But then again like you said different types of wheeling. My old one is in a corporate14 bolt.

 

[Mingoglia]

Thanks Mingoglia I will check them out. Didn't know about the Detroit failures. But then again like you said different types of wheeling. My old one is in a corporate14 bolt.

Detroits are pretty bulletproof... but yeah, I'm talking about hardcore rock crawling with big sticky tires. They will hold, but if and when they do break they literally explode. As for the 14-bolt, those are the strongest of the Detroits.

 

[lpennock]

Detroit lockers are tolerable with a Auto but damn annoying with a manual for a DD. Had both and will never have with a Manual on the street again. I will agree with others the Truetrac is the much nicer unit though unless you spend a lot of time off road.

The one thing that will break a Detroit is breaking a axle (or axle u-joint on the front). The reverse shock when the axle lets go shears the syncro teeth inside the unit. Fortunately it is fairly easy to replace the broken parts but will cost you about 1/2 the price of a new unit. Even with the teeth sheered it will drive it will just stay open on one side or fully locked on both. Won't reliably change between locked and unlocked.

 

[Ozymandias]

I hate that horrible "bang" when shift the Trans to Reverse, even and always "Bang".
Have the Detroit in my GC, wont by one for sure for the Ram.

 

[Mingoglia]

Detroit lockers are tolerable with a Auto but damn annoying with a manual for a DD. Had both and will never have with a Manual on the street again. I will agree with others the Truetrac is the much nicer unit though unless you spend a lot of time off road.

The one thing that will break a Detroit is breaking a axle (or axle u-joint on the front). The reverse shock when the axle lets go shears the syncro teeth inside the unit. Fortunately it is fairly easy to replace the broken parts but will cost you about 1/2 the price of a new unit. Even with the teeth sheered it will drive it will just stay open on one side or fully locked on both. Won't reliably change between locked and unlocked.

Yup, in a rock crawling rig just imagine how much reverse shock happens when we break a 35-spline one ton chromoly shaft. It's pretty spectacular. So I run either front/rear ARB's, or like I have now a spool in the rear 14 bolt and an ARB in the front D60. Obviously you can't run a spool on the street, at least for any length of time.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I have used a DL in stick shift trucks and it worked well for me. Today, check Yukon also because they have made some changes and improvements with their locker. Also check 4 wheel parts, they were priced well when I bought stuff, but that was 25 years ago. Today, use internet searching as well.

 

[B.G. Smith]

I have in the past bought gear sets from Reider Racing. bg

 

[photowrite]

Detroit lockers are tolerable with a Auto but damn annoying with a manual for a DD. Had both and will never have with a Manual on the street again. I will agree with others the Truetrac is the much nicer unit though unless you spend a lot of time off road.

That has always been my concern and the main reason I've never (yet) owned a Detroit Locker. I've mostly owned manual transmission trucks for the past decades (always w/OE limited slips, except for a Jeep Rubicon with OE lockers), and the A/T rigs I've built have been outfitted with ARB lockers.

I'd planned to put a Truetrac in the rear of my current '14 2500 build...that was before I learned the OE limited-slip was a gear unit instead a clutch type. I'm not messing with the AAM TracRite, it can stay.

OP: How many miles on your axle/truck? Surprised about the failure...

Edit-- reread your first post... Only 70k.

 

[Mingoglia]

That has always been my concern and the main reason I've never (yet) owned a Detroit Locker. I've mostly owned manual transmission trucks for the past decades (always w/OE limited slips, except for a Jeep Rubicon with OE lockers), and the A/T rigs I've built have been outfitted with ARB lockers.

I'd planned to put a Truetrac in the rear of my current '14 2500 build...that was before I learned the OE limited-slip was a gear unit instead a clutch type. I'm not messing with the AAM TracRite, it can stay.

OP: How many miles on your axle/truck? Surprised about the failure...

Edit-- reread your first post... Only 70k.

I've found Detroits livable in long wheelbase vehicles. In short wheelbase vehicles, such as the Jeep you're referring to they're a bit tiring.

 

[photowrite]

I've found Detroits livable in long wheelbase vehicles. In short wheelbase vehicles, such as the Jeep you're referring to they're a bit tiring.

The Jeep was just one rig mentioned, I was mostly referring to trucks, long wheelbase trucks. Have you found the Detroit Locker livable in manual transmission long wheelbase trucks that also frequently see ice/snow in the winter? That's another road condition that I've needed to consider.

James

 

[wiley75]

BigUgly -
What weight of Royal Purple were you running?

 

[lpennock]

I've found Detroits livable in long wheelbase vehicles. In short wheelbase vehicles, such as the Jeep you're referring to they're a bit tiring.

I found the long wheel base vehicles worse than the shorter wheel bases. Taller tires seem to help in both cases as it causes them it to unlocker faster in a turn. Either way for a vehicle that spends most of it time on the street I find a truetrac to be the better unit.

 

[Ozymandias]

TrueTrac is a Great Unit for a DailyDriver, wherever we drive they brought us there and Home.

 

[BigUglyRacing]

Thank you for the replies and information. I think i may just go with the Tru Trac.
Can't wait to see what it looks like when i get it apart .