Slippery Slope

[Jeff Mumford 2]

Last week, I saw a car show about "lockers" for the drive train of your 4wd. They took a stock 4wd Jeep to the test track, put it on a 10 percent incline with rollers in the ground on one side of the road. When they tried the Jeep, both in 2wd & 4wd, it would not go up the hill when both wheels on the same side of the truck were on the rollers. It did, of course, after they installed lockers. My question is this, with our powerful Gen II Tracs (stock) with all the neat auto 4wd, anti skid, etc., will we have the same experience as the stock Jeep or will our drive systems overcome this test obstacle?

 

[scott degroot]

Gonna have the same experience as the stock Jeep unfortunately. If your looking for serious traction then the addition of lockers is a must have.

 

[Johnny O]

Dunno, be a nice test to do. The Trac's system will first apply the brakes to the spinning wheel(s), but whether the other two would get enough power to drive it up an incline is debatable. If the brakes aren't enough to "stabilize" the Trac then the system will cut power to the engine. This is why in deep snow I switch it off and just deal with having open axles.

 

[Sean M 2]

My mom has an 08 Mountaineer with the same traction control system as the 2nd gen ST. I have taken it into a ditch and gotten 2 wheels completely off of the ground. The traction control system brakes those 2 wheels which are just spinning, and transfers the torque to the 2 remaining wheels on the ground. I push the traction control button 1x, which disables the cutting of engine power upon slippage, but maintains the braking of spinning wheels. That being said, lockers are definitely more efficient. Hopefully someone with an ST can chime in

 

[Robert Caffyn]

Ford(Racing Parts catalog) has a "Torsen" rear differential that fits in the GenII Tracs. The axles for the independent rear are 31 spline and the 8.8" unit will fit right in. Mind you, this is only for the rear, nothing is made for the front(yet). +1 on what JohnnyO said, many old timers will tell you that open axles are best in the snow. Dunno why? Bob

 

[Supercharged SVT]

I can't wait to see snow... We swapped to the Torsen in my overhaul

 

[Johnny O]

Bob C. --



Open axles are better in snow for people who don't know how to drive in snow. One wheel will spin, the other won't get any power but it will help track the vehicle and keep it in line. With a rear L/S or locker in snow, both wheels will spin and make it harder to keep the vehicle in line when turning although your forward progress will be better IF you know how to drive it.



Front lockers are generally a bad thing for snow covered roads because when you want to turn, the front end will merrily plow straight ahead until you run into something.



Got a part number for that Torsen? I'd like one in the winter.

 

[Doctor CAD]

If you go to my library and look at the Traction Aids document, you will get a pretty good idea of the "Hows and Whys" on lockers etc. It is a document written by someone at the company I work for and seems to be unbiased on opinions.

 

[David Roll]

I am not as "versed' as you guys about the technical aspects of the 4wd but, I do notice that there is a corner near my house that I often need to pull out with a quick left turn to get into traffic safely, but if the road is wet my traction system lights up and I suddenly loose power - not a good thing!



My question is - what exactly is the the traction buying me? I have been driving FWD - RWD - 4WD for 30+ years and do not have trouble controlling any vehicle I drive as long as I know the characteristic to expect. Am I better off just turning the thing off?