Running a locker in a disco axle..

I had been planning on installing a lunchbox locker in my CAD dana 30. I had been thinking that the locker would be invisible when in 2wd because of the disconnect, but after talking with someone, I realized that with the drivers side axle being one piece would cause the carrier to spin because of the locker. Am I correct?

That means there would be the drag of spinning the carrier on the drivers side whee, but no drag on the disconnected passenger side..

Yes, it would spin the carrier.

There's a bit of mis-information about the Disco axle. When the rt axle is disconnected, the left axle is still spinning inside the carrier, and still spinning the side gear it is attached to. In many cases the drag on the spiders will cause the whole carrier to spin. Just because it's disconnected, doesn't mean it's not moving.

Put a locker in the front, and the carrier will spin all the time, drag or not, however, with only 1 tire attached and the transfer case disengaged, it will have no affect on steering/drivability.

I used to have friends tell me I was in 4wd, or had left my hubs locked in my CJ, because they could see the U-joints spinning inside the knuckles, or see the drive shaft spinning when I was on the highway. They'd be wrong. Drag from the grease in the hubs would provide enough friction to spin the gearset and turn the driveshaft.

Just seems like it would pull to the left or something with one tire linked to the carrier and the other not..

I guess its not enough to matter?

Nope.

Disco'ing the front with a lunchbox yields 3 wheel drive and it still will not turn as good as 2wd on hardpack. I did it for years. The tera 2 low is really nice and a great upgrade.

I would do the non disconnect swap,super easy. the only problem that i have had is the seal that goes right next to the carrier.

Call my crazy but I like having a disco axle. I drive my XJ for my work and I'm paid by the mile.. any decrease in mileage cuts into my bottom line.

stephenspann27 said:

Call my crazy but I like having a disco axle. I drive my XJ for my work and I'm paid by the mile.. any decrease in mileage cuts into my bottom line.

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Oh cool no problem!

If the left shaft is spinning then the right inner half shaft will be spinning too right? Also the right outer half shaft has to spin all the time as well since it's connected to the wheel through the unit bearing, no? Possibly at different speeds but I think there's a chance that everything will be spinning to some extent no matter what. I second the 1 piece shaft conversion, breaking one of those 2 piece shafts on the trail could be a nightmare to fix.

stephenspann27 said:

Call my crazy but I like having a disco axle. I drive my XJ for my work and I'm paid by the mile.. any decrease in mileage cuts into my bottom line.

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your looking at very minimal if any change in fuel milage, i noticed no difference just running stub shafts in the frt of mine

I'll consider it. Aside from mileage savings though.. my front DS doesn't spin.. and neither does the carrier which should result in less wear. I'll only be running 30x9.5 tires.. and on trails with no rocks.. I don't think I'll be breaking stuff that often.
I might only lock the rear (D44) and leave the front open.. that way I don't have to worry about my tiny U-joints as much.

I ran a locked disco 30 for 8 years. When disconnected it was invisible on the street. No pull, ratcheting, and had no affect on turning. When I popped into 4 wheel and left the front disconnected, it would pull like crazy. I have since swapped in a straight axle and the only difference is it ratchets on sharp turns. It is not a DD, so I can't say what the MPG difference was.