does anyone "honestly" run a spool on the street?

i should be in indianapolis sleeping a few hours before i head west to Moab in the morning.. so instead i'm already thinking about this winter's upgrades.. the trail rig has a detrioit locker 27 spline 8.25 and never had an issue.. might upgrade to the 29 spline in the 99 and swap them out.. anyone ever run a spool in their DAILY DRIVER? aside from having the obvious handling characteristic changes.. what kind of tire-wear should i really expect in a rig that gets daily use? does anyone even make a spool for this application?? havent over-ruled the lock-right yet but i'm just thinkin..
thanks!

dont think thats a good idea, my buddy had one and the thing sounded like barking dogs going around turns, and his new tires lasted about 4 months

I did on both a DD Comanche 5-spd and Cherokee auto, both with 44 rear and stock shafts, 33" MTs.

Handling wasn't an issue for me... very predictable and it never felt 'unsafe.' Note that my experience was with only one instance of snowy-road driving... it was fun but not scary. Rear tire wear was accelerated some (I have no way to compare it with 'open diff' wear)

I don't think there is a spool for the Mopar axles BTW...since you already have a Detroit, (besides 27 to 29 spline strength upgrade) what are you trying to gain? Are you breaking 27 spline shafts now?

on a daily driver are you nuts? You will DIE!

On that note I had mine welded for about a year and a half on my daily driver and really liked it. you couldn't tell in normal driving but when in parking lots and sharp turns you would hear them bark a little. Tire wear was pretty bad. I ran my 33" SSR's for about 8months on the welded rear and they are racing slicks now. but they were only about 1/2 tread when I bought them.

phil weeks has a spooled 44 under his XJ that's his DD, if he doesn't chime in, PM him.

I just saw you was in Mass. it probably wouldn't be a good idea assuming you get lots of snow but then a locker aint gonna be great either at least with a spool you know how it is gonna act on ya. its not gonna lock and unlock unsuspectingly

Spool....Lincoln locker...same effect. On the tire wear thing...yup, they will wear faster. I run a No-slip and have higher than normal rear tire wear compared to an open diff....thats with about a 90% DD usage rate.

im puttin one in my nine inch dd right now and cant wait to see how it does the tire wear shouldt be bad for me don really drive in tight spots all the time i think i will like it a ton and it will be nice and predictable in the snow.

I have one in my 12 bolt rear and it works great off-road but on road it kinda sucks. my rear tires wear faster than my fronts by far.

everyone always says faster tire wear. can anyone elborate more than just "faster"

the tires will wear out quicker but that can be offset by rotating tires at normal intervals to keep the wear even and last longer instead of buyine two tires every four months like some say and buying four tries every year maybe.

Tire wear can be described as this: Before welded rear turning into a parking space or turning out of my garage no tire tracks. After welded, same scenerio but now dark black tire trakcs are left on the ground. Kinda like when you were a kid and riding a BMX and you locked up the tire and turned. Makes a great squeel and leaves a cool tire mark on the gorund. Same concept when you spool or lock the back up. Sofer tires (like my LTBS) go quickly, but it is not my DD so I am not too worried. I wouldn't want to DD it. Every time you turn into a parking space, back up, you put a lot of stress on the axle and it feels like a brake is applied on tight low speed turns and then there is the tire skid that you marked up your drive way.

Word of note, I cannot drive the welded XJ to work as after new asphalt was applied to the parking lot I tore chunks out of it paking. Boss was VERY angry. I even tried to go slow.

big cherokee said:

im puttin one in my nine inch dd right now and cant wait to see how it does the tire wear shouldt be bad for me don really drive in tight spots all the time i think i will like it a ton and it will be nice and predictable in the snow.

Click to expand...

You're kidding......right?

when I get the 44 under mine, I will be going the spool route. its not a DD so I am not too concerned. I like it for the cost, and from what I hear its predictable, if it sucks, it always sucks. I have a friend w/ a Discovery, and a Detroit. Backing out of his driveway I guess it was "locked".. went a foot or so, and "unlocked". I thought he broke an axle, it was Violent! I just want to know what is happening, all the time...

neither of my jeeps wiht spools are daily drivers, but, my XJ is streetable.

i run a mini spool in the rear 44. handling is VERY predictable, however, i dont run sway bars, and my springs are very soft. when you turn, as the rear tires compensate for the lack of a diff, there is noticable body sway. this can be corrected if i get off my lazy ass and install a sway bar...

slow speed manuvering in parking lots always generates alot of noise and plenty of looks. if i had a shiny new built cherokee with a bunch of tubular crap on it, bling bling wheels, etc, id probably like that.. but my '87 is a $600 special, with the typical faded grey paint, stock steel wheels and 31's, so im quite sure whats going through everyones minds is "is it going to fall apart in the parking lot?" or "God, is he gonna park next to me?"

wet pavement driving is flat scary, due mostly to the well worn mud brutes it is shod with. better tires would reduce this effect, but, if i could afford better tires, i would have bought a selectable locker, right? come on...

my XJ wasnt around last time it snowed here, but, driving my spooled CJ8 on 42" swampers in teh snow was FUN! again, predictable, spool up the 401, and the ass end slids sideways while the front end pulls forward. people tend to get out of your way. never fails to move tho, and, you look much less stupid driving forward at a 45 degree angle to the road, than the dimwit in teh toyota still at the stoplight spinning his left rear tire and getting no traction.. or the soccer mom in teh 4x4 blazer who cant move because she doesnt know what the "4x4" button on the dash is for.

i dont like detroits on the street. they are unpredictable, noisy, and, in my opinion, down right dangerous.. (of course, so is a $600 no sway bar having XJ on bald tires wiht a home made 4" lift and a heavy right foot).. so there is no way id run one in the back of a street vehicle. the additional cost of a selectable is minimal and man, are they nice.

so, lacking the $$ for an arb at each end, weld up the spiders, or buy a spool, and enjoy the ride.

38inch swampers totally gone in 5 months with a spool, driving 20 miles a day.
-cal

I "honestly" (?) run a spool in my 44 rear under my XJ. I was running the same axle and tires (35" MT/Rs) under the back of my MJ. Total, I've got about 3 months on the tires without the spool, and about 5 months on the tires with the spool. I was driving at least 200 miles per week, for most of the summer. Lots of highway miles, a good amount of miles around town.

I only have a tape measure, so I didn't measure tread depth, but the rears have visibly less tread than the fronts. I haven't rotated my tires front to rear with the spool, so I'm "only" going to need to replace two tires at a time. I'm kinda considering either a set of street tires (33s?) or a selectable locker.

thanks for all the feedback.. i am just thinking long-term... i have not had any issue with the 27 spline (yet) and honestly dont expect to.. just planning out next years upgrades... with my trail rig needing to be retired a year earlier than i intended i am trying my hardest not to make the DD pull trail rig duties next year... i love the detroit but the $$ for the 8.25 units is basically equal to ARB cash.. i'm sure i'll change my plan several times before i do anything...