I just don't get this...back end issues

I have a 97 with rear and front locked with 4.56's and 8.25 rear end. Tires are 33" TrXus MT's. Up until about 3 months ago or so, everything seemed fine. Then for some strange reason I starting noticing that if I was starting from a stop let's say on wet road, that my back tires would start spinning as soon as I hit the gas, not grabbing traction. Then I started to notice more lately that it feels like my backend is just hopping around like there is no weight in it...but nothing has changed in regards to the weight or inside at all.

Then I started noticing just recently that even on some dry pavement I am getting spinning when going from a stop.

It's really bad when you are sitting at a traffic light on a slight uphill when it's wet and people are behind you and you have this big arse truck and the back tires are just spinning like crazy.

Since my knowledge is not 100% on everything, I have been trying to figure out what in the world is causing this issue. The tires still have great tread, are only 1 old or less and hardly driven. I checked the shocks and they seem to be okay (Bilstein's). The leaves look good, since the backend doesn't look any lower.

So I am stumped and really don't know what to do. My next guess was to rotate the tires front to back and see if that helped any, but I guess I would be dumbfounded if that worked since the tires do have great tread on them.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks,

BB

You're in ohio, so my guess it got colder and icy?

Hahaha, normally...yes. But I am talking just straight rain and more recently dry pavement. Like I said, if this was normal from the beginning of being locked I would not being say this...but this has been more recent and more noticeable to me.

Have you lifted a tire to be sure your locker is operating correctly? Jackstand that bitch and report back.

I kind of thought about that, so just to make sure, are you saying lift the entire rear correct and then hit the gas? Both wheels should turn right?

Just lift one side, leave it on the wheeled jack, give it a tiny bit of throttle or just put in drive, and see if the wheel on the ground tries to pull. Repeat with the other side, just to be sure both are pulling.

....

is it posi spinning or one legger?

Will do, I'll let you know.

I have a better idea than jacking up the rear end giving it some gas... that isn't safe... how about put both sides up on jack stand, block your front tires, put it in neutral and spin the rear end by hand. Common sense says that your tires should both turn together if locked and if it's not working correctly one will spin forward and the other backward.

LilRedRover said:

I have a better idea than jacking up the rear end giving it some gas... that isn't safe... how about put both sides up on jack stand, block your front tires, put it in neutral and spin the rear end by hand. Common sense says that your tires should both turn together if locked and if it's not working correctly one will spin forward and the other backward.

Click to expand...

That won't work as well. The whole point of jacking one end per time is to make sure both sides pull. How you described will just show us that he is indeed locked. We need to make sure there is no slippage or other sorts.

ohh I see... I was assuming you all were checking to see if his locker was engaged or something

How is your idle? Drove a friends truck last month that wouldn't idle down, at rest it was at 1500RPM. It was a bit slippery out and on more than one occasion it overpowered the front brakes and pushed me forward. Basically a brake stand.

I was just testing out my locker the other day (only cause I had the wheel up anyway, I knew it worked fine) and I had one wheel up and the other on the ground. I just turned it by hand. When I would give it a quick spin it would lock right up. Then when it locked there was no way I could get it to move any further.