I have been running a minispool in my Dana 44 rear for about two years.
I love it. It started out as a weekend only (ocassional DD) rig for running around in SoCal deserts and rocks. The mini spool in the D44 (on 31's) has been rock solid and fantastic.
Then I moved to Virginia. It rains, it snows, it ices and now I daily drive it, in DC, on the beltway, long highway trips and short hops to the store.
I still love my mini spool. I like it a lot more than my aussie locker up front. In icy conditions when I brake (2wd or 4wd) the front tire with the least traction locks up (especially when its patch ice), the locker kicks in and the whole front end locks up and washes out. I would not like to have the same thing happening in the rear.
In rain the minispool has never caused me any problems. There just isnt enough power (unless you really provoke it) to bring the rear out or to make the front push excessively (its basically an understeer rig stock).
On icy trails (off camber sheet ice) the minispool is awesome. Yes the back end does find the low side of the trail, but its so smooth, slow and predictable that you can anticipate and control this action or prevent it as you read the trail in front of you. I ran a couple weeks ago with an open-open XJ and a CJ with F&R auto lockers. The auto locker CJ was a mess. Every time a locker would kick in he would start to loose control, slide around, loose traction, get out of the icy ruts or what little soft "ice" or snow there was for traction.
On icy roads the minispool is not trouble at all. On sheet ice it does find the low side but you just counter steer. Its predictable. The front auto locker is a big headache under braking, locking, unlocking and washing out the front end. I would hate to have one in the rear on snow or ice. I have now said this twice so it must be real important!
Tire wear.
Yes you do use up tires faster. I have had to replace two tires in 24,000 miles of mostly highway driving. I rotated regularly until about half tread wear then just let the rears eat until they needed replaced. $100 for mini spool & cross pin and $240 in tires in two years. This is a bargain compared to a full case auto locker ($500), especially if you have to pay for install ($300 around here). I can buy a lot of tires for $800. The minispool plus tires over two years is more than the price of lunchbox locker if you install it your self and dont mind the bad behavior on ice and snow.
I have posted several times on this topic. Look it up. You will notice that now that I have driven on ice and seen what an autolocker does I am convinced that the minispool was the right decision for me.
I love my minispool and dont plan on changing it out come ice, snow, mud, rocks he!! or high water.
IMHO the decision is really between a spool/mini-spool or selectable locker since you live where it ices and snows.
John.
