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Confused on why people are choosing detroit over powertrax for 14bolts FF

camarossguy2

camarossguy2

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Ive been searching for the past hour or so on which to get and this what i have found...

both are the "lunchbox type" spider gear replacement.
Both are practicaly the same design
both are made of the same materials
I have yet to find one post on this site where someone has broke a 14 bolt FF powertrax or detroit

With that information...
The powertrax is $250
the Detroit is $450

(those are prices from summit and i realize BOTh can be found for less elsewhere)



so why does everythime someone ask "what locker should i get" people only say detroit? No one has yet gave a reason, and im having a hard time justifiing doubling the price for practically the same thing

Im open to all of your comments, but i will ignore ignorant post lol, so dont just say "cuz"
 
A detroit for a 14FF is hardly a lunchbox locker. The carrier is designed srong enough that a detroit can't hurt it (unlike most civy axles). It is designed like rockwells, peterbuilt 2 speed rears, and such (I would not call those locker kits lunchbox). The powertrax is a weaker product. The detroit has a reputation of abusability, and reliabilty. You don't hear of the powertrax rear breaking cause nobody runs it.
 
reputation, hands down.
detroits came in a plethora of military 14's.

the reputation of the gov-loc ruined it; well, quite the opposite for the detroit
 
The price you quote for the 14-bolt is pretty high, though the cost of the Lock-right/Powertrax seems low.

I know the price of the Detroit has gone up over the last couple of years, but at one time there was only about a $50-$75 difference between the two. As mentioned, with the reputation the Detroit has it's hard for most people to go for the Powertrax for the relatively small difference.
 
Cuz I bought the whole 14 bolt with the detroit in it for $200, with 10k on the locker and new gears (too bad they are 4.10's). :p:
 
Detroit Locker/Tractech has an awesome warranty and service dept. that cant be beat. They sponsor our sport including rock crawling comps and many trail rides every year. Cant say the same for Powertrax, and oh yeah, the Detroit is stronger too.
 
blk87K5 said:
Detroit Locker/Tractech has an awesome warranty and service dept. that cant be beat. They sponsor our sport including rock crawling comps and many trail rides every year. Cant say the same for Powertrax, and oh yeah, the Detroit is stronger too.
Click to expand...

I'm not doubting that a Detroit is stronger, but I've heard differently about Tractech's warranty department.

I've had a good experience with Powertrax/Richmond's warranty department when I broke/wore out a D60 Lockright:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341281

I have also heard (from multiple vendors) that Tractech's warranty department are a real biotch to deal with.....on all of their products. Their product only has a one year warranty, and I've been told that no-matter how you break a Detroit, they often say, "You broke an axle first....the warranty is void" even if the axle did not break. One vendor stopped carrying the E-Trac or whatever it's called due to Tractech not honoring their warranty claims.

Roy
 
I have only the best service from Tractech. I can only speak of what I, personally have experienced, and they have treated me great. No BS he said, she said, just my personal experiences have been above and beyond what they had to do for me.

After running their products for five years on very hard comp courses and trails, I would not hesitate to recommend their products to anyone.

I have dealt with their service dept. on four seperate occasions and have only had great results.
 
Ok... I keep seeing this through the post:

"the Detroit is stronger"


Yet no one has actually posted anything proving that the Detroit is stronger. For those of you who are saying this, have you run both in similar situations and had the Powertrax unit break and give you reason to say this? Or you just going Detroits rep? I am not knocking anyone or knocking Detroits.. They are strong, but how can you say they are stronger without using or testing both?

I looked on both mfg's sites to see what they are made of.... Only Powertrax listed the material they used.. They state it is made from Zytanium which is 67% stronger than Titanium..... :dunno:

Also, Detroit offers a 1 year warranty where as Powertrax offers a 2 year warranty...

**EDIT** I e-mailed Tractech to see what material is used in the making of a Detroit.. Will post it up when I get a reply...
 
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Good replies, but still all i hear is "detroit is stronger cuz" sure they have been around forever, but that doesn't mean there particular product is better then a simular one (lockrite) in another brand.

I did some searches on pirate4x4.com and still cant find a single person who has has a powertrax for a 14b FF break.


Are you guess in a cult?? lol j/k

But seriously, unless they is some more evidence, it looks as if the power trax is winning. unbreakable reliable performance with twice the warranty and have the price.
 
You sure those prices and stuff arn't for the simifloating 14bolt??? If you were to hold both a lock right and a detroit in your hands you would see the difference. Lock rights just don't last under hard use...detroits do...
 
rcurrier44 said:
You sure those prices and stuff arn't for the simifloating 14bolt??? If you were to hold both a lock right and a detroit in your hands you would see the difference. Lock rights just don't last under hard use...detroits do...
Click to expand...


PLEASE! someone find me a person with a lock right thats has failed or broken in a 14 bolt FF. Every one calims they wont but no one has yet to show proof.
 
rcurrier44 said:
You sure those prices and stuff arn't for the simifloating 14bolt??? If you were to hold both a lock right and a detroit in your hands you would see the difference. Lock rights just don't last under hard use...detroits do...
Click to expand...

semi float lock right cost more than a full float

how do I know?

bought one for a semi float!

works great
 
like a said at summit the detroit is $425 and the powertrax lockright is $245

Both are for a FULL FLOATER
 
How often do you hear of people breaking their detroits? Not very often at all. They manage to stand up very well behind heavy rigs with big tires, big blocks, and a lot of right foot. I know your thinking "well i dont hear of powertrax lockers being broken very often either." Just think about how many people run powertrax lockers on here. Not very many. Even in this post, its hard to find more than 1 or 2 running powertrax. The detroit has proven itself time and time again to be the part in the rearend that you dont have to worry about when you hit the gas. I have seen on more than one occasion people snapping 14ff shafts and the detroit survived. Lockers are usually supposed to go with axle shafts, not to mention the enormous load that had to be present to break a 14ff shaft, and still the detroit is working fine. I have never owned a powertrax locker, so I dont know how well it works. The numbers speak for me. I know tons and tons of people running detroits and only know of a few rare instances of it breaking. I beat on my detroit every day and it works fine. I love to gas it on the street and spin my 37's. Hasnt seemed to affect it in the 2 years its been in there. Your case seems to be about the price. If thats whats your worried about, go ahead and buy the powertrax and save money. It may always work fine, but with it in there you may always be wondering "just how much is this thing going to take before something breaks in there." I went with the detroit and it is the last thing on my mind when im wheeling.
-Harrison
 
camarossguy2 said:
like a said at summit the detroit is $425 and the powertrax lockright is $245

Both are for a FULL FLOATER
Click to expand...

And like I said, that's way high for a Detroit...........the link 78Buford posted shows Detroits for $359. I looked at several sites and the $245 Summit price for the Lockright is the cheapest I could find. Granted, it's still an extra $100 but a long ways from "double the price" as somebody mentioned in another post.

Why hasn't anybody broken a Lock-right in a 14FF you ask??? Well, how many people have broken ANYTHING in a 14FF? The Lock-right's main limitations is how much material they can fit inside the stock carrier. The size of the 14FF carrier, and the fact it's a two piece case, let's them fit a lot of metal in there.
 
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