Weld the diff on a DD?

Brilliant.

 

Hahaha!!

 

Yeah, just weld the spyder gears on my only daily driver, thats a great idea, that wont eat through tires, and drive like crap on the road

 

I have seen it done many a time. Depends on how far you drive on daily basis yes. Me I put a few hundred miles a day on my xj. So I probably wouldnt run it daily. But I used to only commute about a mile so Then I may do something like that.

 

Yeah.......definately not gonna do that, haha

 

If you do go with the lunchbox locker, you get to freak out friends who never been in a vehicle with a locker when it slips or bucks in the parking lot. lol the best is when they get ready to jump out thinking the jeep is going to explode.

I love having a locker for when I need it, but over 2 yrs of DD'ing it I'm rather sick of it. I might just need new pins and springs...

 

They are not cheap, but Eaton/Detroit lockers are very good. No clutches and pretty quiet. Powertrax Lock-rights are decent and cheap, but buck and make some noise. The Detroit lockers I have had in Mustangs were pretty quiet.
But the Detroit's are about twice as much "$750" as the cheaper ratchet types and about $200 less than an ARB Air locker "$950.

Clutch types are not that bad, but you have to put friction modifiers in the diff lube and they do eventually wear out. But they last a pretty long time and the clutches are easy to replace. I have done it a couple of times to freshen up older Ford 8.8's. And the clutch replacement kits are not very expensive.

The Auburn is a cone type limited slip that has no clutches and is warranted for 4 years. I have seen a bunch in drag mustangs and they are strong, quiet and work good and are about $460.

The Truetrac is a helical cut gear posi and is a good option. $550

All of these have compromises, you either give up true 50/50 torque for DD duty as in comfort. Or you give up the comfort and get the 50/50 torque distribution. Air lockers or magnetic lockers like the ARB and Eaton are probabley the best. But you need an air supply for the ARB and you the Eaton Magnetic locker takes one or two rotations to engage. And they are very expensive and you need someone experienced, especially with air lockers to install them or it could be botched.

You need to decide how much off road duty your XJ will do compared to how much paved DD duty it will see.
For the price and drive comfort, I think the Truetrac is the best bet for a DD. I have a Quaife in SRT4 "which is like the Truetrac" and it is quiet, smooth and puts down power to both wheels really well. I turned around on the Pikes Peak road and one tire came off the ground in a little drainage channel on the shoulder and the tire on the ground pulled me right out of it without a hitch. I couldn't even feel anything other than the one tire off the ground.

 

Hi, when replace the clutches, do i need to re-shim ?

 

I doubt you do because the clutches go in the carrier

 

Yeah, i drive my xj around 25-40 miles every day, so i think id be better off with some form of lsd, as opposed to a locker, i already know im gonna run an aussie in the front

 

I see your from Ohio. Being that they get decent snow and its your daily driver you may want to think about not locking the front

 

Yeah, i already took that into consideration, i figure it only snows like 2 to 3 months out of the year, and the roads are cleared after like the first day, so it shouldnt be too bad, like last winter i only used 4wd like 2 times. But thanks for looking out

 

Snow + rear locker = lots of fun!!! I repeatedly out drift friends in all types of vehicles,

 

Yes it does

 

No, you don't have to re-shim. You just pull the carrier out and then pull the "S" Spring out or whatever type of retainer spring used and pull the clutches and friction plates out. It's easy. Then you just put the carrier back in with the same shims.

But in all reality, you will probably not even own your Jeep anymore when they do wear out. They normally last over 100k miles. I know everyone thinks they will own their Jeep forever but most won't own them for more than a few years. I have been through 30 cars and trucks. Which many I regret selling but it happens.
So I wouldn't worry about having to replace the clutches, but if you do have your Jeep for a long time, it's easy.