Dana 44 front with Spool. Question

When driving in snow or out on the trail, is it hard on the axle to only have one of the hubs locked in? I guess it wouldn't be a problem in snow on the road, but what about on the trail?

Anyone have any 44 spool experience? For wheeling, is it too much of a pain to steer and too hard on components?

Bad idea IMO.

Just do a lockright or aussie if you want something cheap.

Turning will be a biotch. Running one hub disengaged, you'll bread easy.

I have wheeled the dog piss out of my setup. Waggy 44's 5.38s spools front and rear. I had planned on switching the front spool out to a selectable locker later on. I have yet to break anything other then a front axle shaft u-joint, and when I did I unlocked that hub and used the good side to get me back to the trailer. Its super strong and its really hard for anything to fail on you. And there cheap. Anything else just ask or PM me I will forget about this tread I'm sure.

I run a detroits front and rear on my rig. When I wheel I will usually lock the hubs at the check in station and only unlock them when I'm done wheeling for the day. My rig seems to turn just fine even when I'm on the gas in 4Lo, but it has detroits and not spools though.

Thanks for the comments.

I'll give some more detail. I am buying an XJ that has a 44 front spool, so I haven't had any experience at all with them.

The purpose for the jeep will be multipurpose, trail and street. Street is no prob because of the lockouts.

If I plan to keep the spool, do I need to plan to use alloys shafts and heavy duty U joints to minimize breaks? OR is it worth it?

I don't have a lot of trail experience so probably the best thing I can do is take it out and see what happens, but I'd rather not break something doing it.

Just getting an idea of if I need to just open the front back up, or get an Aussie, or stay with the spool. Like most of us, my budget and time is limited. I also have no axle mod experience, but I have tools and a place to work on it so I'm not afraid to take it apart.

How labor intensive is it to put a locker or open it back up? I believe it has the minispool. (I can search this i guess)

Thanks for the comments