spool in the front

money is tight this time of the year and the kids need new shoes, so here goe's would'nt a spool in the front be the same as a locker or arb when activated. should be like normal driving when the hubs are unlocked ?? yes---no---

scot

i think it would cause more problems than cures.... the difference in the distance travelled by the 2 front wheels is far greater than the 2 rear.... in the rear the tire to the "inside of the corner" will spin faster, and slip.... i cant imagine how hard it would be to stay pointed in the right direction with a spool.... a "locker" will at least ratchet itself around corners.... all that being said i'm going to a spool rear/ lock right front combo over the winter.. you can get a new/good carrier opn Ebay for $50 and a lock right for $200...... a spool would run you close to $200 alone.... so you wont be saving an incredible amount of $$ .... unless its a STRICTLY TRAIL ONLY RIG it would put too much stress on the vehicle ..... thats my $.02 .... if i'm wrong i welcome any corrections....
mike

From the way I see it, if you have hubs and can unlock them, then go ahead and run a spool in the front, shouldn't affect on-street handling and you could always unlock one hub when on the trail if you need to make a really tight turn. I run a Detroit in the front and the affect on steering while off-road is minimal.

Around here you would never finish the run(in the same day) if you had to get out and unlock a hub every time you need to steer.I release my ARB asap so I can get her to turn!

I have first hand experience with a front spool. I in a pinch for money and time welded my front end knowing that i would replace it later. I will tell you this much, I won't ever do it again. The effect on steering is huge. as a matter of fact i know that beacuse a i had a spooled front end, is why i tore my steering gear off the frame. It wears tires very bad, and is really hard on joints. It is worth every penny for the arb or the elctratrac.

Just my .02

Jerm S.

Jerm S. said:

I have first hand experience with a front spool. I in a pinch for money and time welded my front end knowing that i would replace it later. I will tell you this much, I won't ever do it again. The effect on steering is huge. as a matter of fact i know that beacuse a i had a spooled front end, is why i tore my steering gear off the frame. It wears tires very bad, and is really hard on joints. It is worth every penny for the arb or the elctratrac.

Just my .02

Jerm S.

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did you just drive the rig on trail?

or also on street?

Jerm S. said:

I have first hand experience with a front spool. I in a pinch for money and time welded my front end knowing that i would replace it later. I will tell you this much, I won't ever do it again. The effect on steering is huge. as a matter of fact i know that beacuse a i had a spooled front end, is why i tore my steering gear off the frame. It wears tires very bad, and is really hard on joints. It is worth every penny for the arb or the elctratrac.

Just my .02

Jerm S.

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I'm curious now. I was under the impression that the Detroit stayed locked like a spool while on the gas around turns, and mine hasn't been bad on the steering at all. I'm speaking only about off-road and in 4-wheel drive of couse. Anybody with more knowledge or experience on the differences?

you need to beable to unlock the front end. steering just does not happen w/a locked front end. love the arb's

xj92 said:

I'm curious now. I was under the impression that the Detroit stayed locked like a spool while on the gas around turns, and mine hasn't been bad on the steering at all. I'm speaking only about off-road and in 4-wheel drive of couse. Anybody with more knowledge or experience on the differences?

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All I can offer is Detroit rear and Lockright front. On a recent run, I found that in 4wd on slippery surface (wet, gooey mud) there were several times that I had to stop and back up to finish a turn that would have been no problem with open front diff. The front end wanted to plow straight ahead no matter what direction I had the steering wheel turned. That said, there were a couple areas in which this happend that I don't think I would have made it with open diffs. That's the trade-off on having an automatic locker on the front - my next upgrade is to make the vacuum disco on the front axle independently controllable.

The thing about an auto locker like a Detroit, No-Slip, LockRight, etc, is that they lock up and drive both wheels only when one wheel wants to turn slower than the ring gear. The locker prevents either wheel from turning slower than the ring gear, but will allow either wheel to turn faster than the ring gear.

When a rig rounds a corner, the inside wheel travels a shorter distance than the outside wheel. So if the rig is on a high traction surface (dry even pavement, let's say), normal operation in an open diff results in the ring gear and the outside wheel traveling at the same speed, with the inside wheel being free to travel slower to follow the shorter route. With an auto locker on the same surface, however, because neither wheel is permitted to go slower than the ring gear the driving force is sent to the inside wheel and the outside wheel is allowed to speed up to follow the longer route. It is the friction between the surface and the tire that drives the outside wheel faster than the ring gear.

When a tire loses traction, however, it slows down to the point that it's turning at the same speed as the ring gear, but the locker won't allow it to turn any slower than that - by locking up. So an XJ with an auto locker in the front axle in 4WD will still turn like an open diff'ed rig as long as the tires have good traction. A rig with a spool or welded front diff, however, has both its front wheels turning at the same speed all the time regardless of the distance each wheel is traveling relative to the other or the traction available, on throttle or off. That's a big difference.

It's hard to make generalizations given the vast number of variables from one situation to another, but that said, a rig with an auto locker in front will turn a whole lot better than one with a spooled or welded front.

I just wheeled mine offroad. It is true that with the front hubs unlocked you can't tell. It is the fact that when you rock Crawl that the wheels have to spin at the same speed. so you are allways dragging one around the corner on both axles. and it is very hard on tires.

HTH

jerm S.

The thing about an auto locker like a Detroit, No-Slip, LockRight, etc, is that they lock up and drive both wheels only when one wheel wants to turn slower than the ring gear. The locker prevents either wheel from turning slower than the ring gear, but will allow either wheel to turn faster than the ring gear.

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a very analytical answer there What Rd.. i expect nothing less out of you...
(i see you fianlly did get your name changed too.)