Detroit Locker in snow

[Straight6Jeff]

Driving inot work today after the foot of snow was a blast. One thing I tested out today was the dreaded "slush-suck". Half of the left travel lane was wet pavement, half was six inches of thick slush. With the detroit in the back, the truck stayed straight with almost no "suck" to the left into the slush. Both sets of wheels had the same drive while on the throttle. Let off the throttle, and the truck got sucked over about two feet. Back into the throttle and no more sucking. With my non-functional LSD, I dreaded hitting half slush lanes. Nto any more.

 

[SBall]

Nice to hear about your locker's performance vs the standard diff. , and that a 2wd CTD pickup really can get around in winter. As I recall your rig is very much like mine, (3500 reg cab duallie 2wd), a rather rare bird out there. At the advice of a TDR subscriber in Alaska, I just mounted Cooper Discoverer M&S tires on the rears. A little too soon to really establish the additional traction over my all season BFG Commercial TAs, but so far so good.

Steve

 

[Straight6Jeff]

Yeah, there are. t many 2wd duallies out here. I think TqT is about the only other I know of. The manners of the Detroit on teh road is completely livable. If nothing else, it does make one develope a smooth driving style, especially with a manual trans.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

Yup! Another 2wd 3500. 4x4's are crap!



Jeff, what did it cost and how much time was involved to do the swap?

 

[Straight6Jeff]

The detroit was on the heavy side of 700, the carrier bearings were around 75. It took me about four hours to do the swap (taking my time) I did it at MassDiesel, and am glad I used a lift. The D80 components are much heavier thatn the D70. A case spreader is a must on these units, as is a bearing puller set up. The carrier bearing pre-load and backlash shims are under the bearings, not on the outside.

 

[Hohn]

At the advice of a TDR subscriber in Alaska, I just mounted Cooper Discoverer M&S tires on the rears. A little too soon to really establish the additional traction over my all season BFG Commercial TAs, but so far so good.

Steve

Those tires are VERY highly regarded among snowplow types. They have a lot of siping and are great in the snow.



jlh

 

[TORQUE THIS]

Sounds interesting Jeff. What kind of tires are you running? Do you have weight in the bed?

 

[Straight6Jeff]

I am running 235/85 BFG all terrains. It looks like i will get about 50K out of them, all on the detroit. The cross over tool box in the bed weighs about 400# and I carry a 100# floor jack at the back. That is about it for weight.