Off Roading Locker vs. Spool?

[basilry]

I have a Dana 60 Axel that Im going to put under my mudding truck which is a 1980 GMC 2500 with 38's and a 350 in it. I have been breaking the dana 44 axel shafts like they are popsicle sticks and have ran out of spares and I finally blew the detroit locker into pieces over the summer. So I figure instead of fixing the 44 I would upgrade to something a little stronger and put the 60 under it. But before I do it I want to go through the whole thing and replace what needs to be. My question is should I go back with a detroit locker which I have had in the truck for many of years or do I go with ARB or a spool type locker. Just wondering what you guys are running.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

if it spends the majority of its time offroad, I'd just do a spool... cheaper, lighter, stronger

 

[2broke2smoke]

run the spool ...

i had a spool in our old daily driven '93 ramcharger with 35's ...

ran it that way for over a year and about 28k miles ...



loved it ...



you usually hear from all the "experts" on here that you can't run them on the street and they don't have a clue ...



jpickens is a member on here and he's ran it for 2 or 3 years on his daily driven '01 cummins ... unless it's changed lately ...



i bought a limited slip carrier on tdr from a member for 50$ was gonna put a spool in my '01 until i saw the price ... 800$!?



saved my money and bought a lincoln welder a couple of weeks ago ...



i'm off for two weeks starting thurs and one of my projects will be "lincoln locker" installation ...

 

[zstroken]

I had a lincoln locker in a slightly driven street vehicle(my 97 diesel puller). I strongly disliked it. I assumed it would just spin the inside tire when I turned since i kept no weight back there. The truck didn't turn well at all. Most parking lots were 3 point turns, the rear end jumped alot. I am guessing that is why the welds broke twice on it. I put a ARB in it and it is great.

 

[Nate]

I could imagine a D44 breaking with a full sized truck with 38s



Your talking about a rear axle for the spool, correct?? Reason I'm asking is I believe that truck of yours would have an 8 lug D44 front and a semi float 8 lug 14 bolt in the back, but GM did some goofy stuff around that time, so I could be wrong.

 

[Dieselram]

guys A d44 is the FRONT axle, DO NOT I repeat DO NOT put a spool in the front of that 60. if you are using stock steering you will never be able to turn. even with crossover and hydro assist it would be a challenge to turn with a spool. If You need atleast a detroit, But an ARB would be the better choice. You don't have to worry about that arb breaking, Everything will break before that arb. also what gears are you running. With 38's i would recommend atleast a 4. 56 if not a 5. 13. in the mud the force required to turn over the tires is increased exponentially and that 350 doesn;t have the torque to overcome mud with 3. 73's and 38's. you also might want to invest in some 35spline inner and outer axle shafts and CTM u-joints

 

[Nate]

D44 could be the rear axle as well... same as the D60. That's why I was asking.



Spool in the rear is ok. In the front... no way.

 

[Dieselram]

D44 could be the rear axle as well... same as the D60. That's why I was asking.



Spool in the rear is ok. In the front... no way.

not in a 2500 chebby

 

[Nate]

No, not stock, but it could have been swapped in is what I was thinking... .



That why I asked... .

"Your talking about a rear axle for the spool, correct?? Reason I'm asking is I believe that truck of yours would have an 8 lug D44 front and a semi float 8 lug 14 bolt in the back, but GM did some goofy stuff around that time, so I could be wrong. "

 

[basilry]

Thanks for all the replies... The Dana 60 will be going in the front of the truck. The rear has a corporate 14 bolt in it and has been pretty bullet proof over all the years. I cant think of what gears I have in it off the top of my head?? I want to say 5 something because it doesn't have much speed going down the road but it crawls off roading. The truck still needs to be streetable because its not only a toy for me but it serves as an off road recovery vehicle for our towing company. So we have to be able to drive it down the road and make corners. I have never been a fan of lincoln locking so that is out of the question. I would love for some day to redo the truck and put a CTD under the hood but for now it just has the old 350 working it. My big plan for the truck is to find a good cab for it and then redo the rest of the body and get it back to original shape and give it back to my dad who originally built the truck and put it into his car collection. Keep the comments and suggestions comming.

 

[Nate]

Spool the rear, selectable, like ARB or OX in the front. Spool in the front is not too easy to turn... you'd have to run out and unlock a hub all the time. Ever see the guys that have dedicated sled pullers lock a hub in before they pull?? Thats from having a spool in the front.

 

[Jason Hughes]

A spool will be very difficult to steer in 4x4 mode. The ARB is my least favorite with 38" tires, internals are weak in my experience. My choice is the simple and robust detroit locker in the D60 application.

 

[chwhit]

I would just weld the spiders in the rear, if you have a welder it's free, and I would go with a selectable in the front, ARB/OX, they both have their kinks, air lines breaking, and the OX cable is hard to get set right for engagment, they're both really strong though. Good luck to you, it sounds like you have a bad *** rig in the makings.

 

[Graphic man]

for street use ... . go with the locker

 

[Thump]

The ARB has been redesigned and is definitely not weak in any manner anymore.
I was part of a recent discussion on a 4x4 board regarding the failure rate of Detroits when an axleshaft goes.
The ARB is Competition tested and I've seen maybe one or two fail in those conditions over the last 7 years, so even before the redo, it was a strong son of a gun. The most common problem in the old ones was that the copper line would get installed incorrectly and would develop a leak. And the ARB got the nickname ARB Air Leaker from that.
I would NEVER put a spool in the front of a vehicle that has to turn. Hell, I'll barely put one in the rear (it will push or drag you even with the rear end disengaged!).

That said, the Detroit or ARB are both very good choices. Since it's a GM axle, upgrading to the D70 outers (35 spline) is as easy as just replacing the hubs, bearings and stubs. Then you can go a little less expensive and get the Alloy USA or Yukon joints to upgrade that weak link. If you don't upgrade the joints, at least get real Spice joints and not the el cheapo parts house ones.
Heck... I'll sell you my front Detroit for a great price. I have two of them sitting in my Rockcrushers that I want to go with ARB's (just because I want to). They're attached to 5. 38's so I know they'll mate to your gears, as you said you think you're in the 5's. It's for a 35 spline, too... since all front 60's are 35 spline