Front Limited Slip

An old tired question. On a non disco front 30 can I get away with a True Trac? It must work in the snow.
Thanks,
Ed Wulfe
#67

It should work fine. I run a Torsen in front that's real similar to a Truetrac, and it's great in the snow.

Ditto. I have a TrueTrac in the front of my 94 XJ (non-disco D30.) Won't go back to an open.

What's the steering like when in 4LOW. Is it like being locked or open? Also traction, I know there is slip, but how much?

Mine doesn't slip much at all. I understand that the Truetrac's not great if one wheel is in the air, but I don't experience that very often!

My TrueTrac is almost transparent. It takes a little traction on both sides to start to engage, and that can be forced by a little braking.

The True Trac in my MJ D30 was more than adequate for every situation I put it through. As stated above, it likes a little braking to get it to 'bite' if one wheel is airborne or on a very slippery surface.

I had occasion to drive it 350 miles home in 4-hi with the (destroyed) R driveshaft out and it was basically invisible. It doesn't 'plow' on the trails in 4 low like my 89 XJ with front locker does.

This diff + 4.56:1 will be installed in my 88 Limited (non-disco 30/AW4/242) along with a fresh Track-Lok in the 44 Rear and I have no worries about how they will act in snow or sleet. (It won't be "locked" but then again this rig will see little to no trail use, just an all-weather daily driver)

I'd reccomend one to anyone who doesn't 'need' a full locker...especially for front axle duty

Thanks to all for the rapid response. Woody's response was especially interesting. A True Trac it is. Now do I stay with my 4:10's and go to 32's or do I go to 4:56 and 33x10.50's? $$$$
Hope to see some of you in Moab. I will be leaving form So. Cal and company would be welcome. The old herd instinct I guess.
Cheers!
Ed

I loved my truetrac in the front. BTW, you can get it to lock up better on the trail by applying a little brake.
Know that the truetrac is not covered by warranty on wheels bigger than 31s.
Mattk

CONFUSED

So let me be clear here, I am not knolagable towards this, a TruTrac is a limited slip Not a locker, and a traclok or lockrite is a automatic locker (lunch box locker as they call them? Is this correct? So I have a 96 Country D30/D35 NP242,how do I know if it is a Non-disco or Disco(unsure what that means)? With this would a traclock or lock right fron and rear work out with some on road driving, I would like to be able to drive to trails still some being up to 4 hours away, around 200 miles. Or should I go with a limited slip front and locked rear (thats what I'm thinking)? All comments and suggestions welcome

ok lets see if i can help ya out. i guess first off the dico non-dico mainly refers to the front 30 in withc earlier XJs up till around 95 or 96 when equiped with the 231 TC had a diconect on the axle where those equiped with the 242 had a non-disco 30 front.
If you never need to use 4 wheel drive on the street for snow and ice i see no problems with lockers front and rear but limited slip front and locked rear can work very well as long as your not trying to get to crazy. and if you need 4x4 to get through bad weather it will handle better. hope this helps

REDXJ4FUN said:

ok lets see if i can help ya out. i guess first off the dico non-dico mainly refers to the front 30 in withc earlier XJs up till around 95 or 96 when equiped with the 231 TC had a diconect on the axle where those equiped with the 242 had a non-disco 30 front.

Click to expand...

Sorry to correct you but:

91' was the last year for any disconnect axles. Also disconnect axles only came witt the 231 t-case. Except for the really early ones with the 2.8l and such which had different Tcases all together.

Trak-lok is not a Locker, it is a limited slip. Lock-rite is a "lunch box' Locker. Automatic lockers give you great traction, but can also cause hard steering when in 4WD. That's why a Tru-trac (Limited slip) may be a good comprimise to a fulll locker in the front.

I have a Lock-rite in the rear, I have driven it many miles. Many with Lincoln Lockers(welded spider gears) have driven many highway miles.

I hope this answers some questions.

Several replies in one:

Ed, I started off going from 3.07 to 4.56 (with 33") in the MJ 5 spd and recently got plenty of (road and trail) miles with 3.55 and 33" then 4.56 and 31" in my 89XJ auto. IMHO 4:10 would be good for 31" or smaller. 4.56:1 great for 31"-33" and beyond that 4.88 might be better. It depends how much highway cruising you do. I see that you live in the mountains...I'd pass on the 4.10s and go lower (numerically higher) if I were you.

FWIW my 88 4.0 auto will be at 4.56:1 with 30x9.5" or 31x10.5" I expect it to be a hoot around town and not too bad on highway trips (30" at 3000 rpm be approx 70 mph) My reasoning for this is that I have the front axle with TT and 4.56 already set up. Easier to swap it from my MJ into the 88XJ than to regear the 88 OEM axle.

96xjeeper, the True Trac is a helical gear-driven (opposed to springs & clutch plates that wear out) LIMITED SLIP that has a full case - replaces the OEM open or Track Lok limited slip case. Approx retail is $335 USD. (more than most lunchbox lockers, less than a Detroit Locker)

HTH