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Locker Vs. Spool

We welded mine back in March this year and I have not had any problems exept for accelerated tirewear. I have towed my friends Jeep with it, I have also pulled a trailer on a 2 day wheeling trip into the mountains which included 5 hours on pavement and 6 hours on dirt each way. Besides that it is also my daily driver. Exept for an intake and dual exhaust my engine is basically stock so I don't have monster torque but when I go to the dunes down here I drive it pretty hard and so far it has held up good. I don't know how you welded yours but my spiders are welded to the carrier, basically my spiders and carrier is just a big blob of welding material now. I paid a guy $50 to take it out and weld it, I guess I will drive untill it breaks, then get myself a 14 bolt and weld the snot out of that one also. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
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spool and wleding spiders is meant for straightline driving,
you will put more death to the tire on inside of every turn you take with a spool or welded spiders

spools are for straight track vehicles

if you trun such on pavement you will end up either breaking the welds or breaking a shaft and killing the tires because the inside tire will spin on every turn you take

good luck



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I have never seen any axle parts brake because of a spool. I have ran a spool in my rock crawler for over 2 years now and wouldnt trade it for a regular locker. it is true that a welded axle can fail because of the weld but I havent seen that either. my rock rig is heavy so turning has never been an issue but a guy in our club has a light toyota and I have seen his spool get him in trouble on steep climbs.
 
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Lockers do not wear out. There is absolutely no advantage of a spool over a locker except price.

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I have a locker in the front of my rig and a spool in the rear. at low rpms alot of times my front locker wont engage. and yes they can wear out. lockers have springs and other mechanical parts that fail after time.
 
In regards to the guy wrecking because of the spool, a Detroit or any other type of locking diff would have done the same thing......

I've been running a welded 14FF (functions exactly the same as a spool) in my Blazer for several years now with no issues. It's not driven daily but has several thousands of miles on it driving to and from the trail. The only time you ever notice it is while making sharp turns in a parking lot, and it does increase the wear of the back tires. I wouldn't do it to my daily driver, but for a mainly off-road vehicle I think it's great.
 
detroits can wear out... but they tend to last quite a long time. I got my detroits just a couple of years ago... by the time they "wear out" (15-20 years?) Im sure something better will be available anyway.

j
 
Yes detroits wear out, so do bearings, TRE's, king-pins and seats.
I have ran a welded 14FF and now a detroit. I tore up my 35's in about 8000 miles, the stress on the front from the truck pushing through a corner all of the time ate up some balljoints and bearings pretty quick too. I would not go back to s spool type setup for anything that ever sees pavement. I like the detroit better in rocks also, I can turn sharper now and seem to have more control. I would reccomend a detroit over other options first.
 
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Yes detroits wear out, so do bearings, TRE's, king-pins and seats.
I have ran a welded 14FF and now a detroit. I tore up my 35's in about 8000 miles, the stress on the front from the truck pushing through a corner all of the time ate up some balljoints and bearings pretty quick too. I would not go back to s spool type setup for anything that ever sees pavement. I like the detroit better in rocks also, I can turn sharper now and seem to have more control. I would reccomend a detroit over other options first.

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so you ran a spool or were you welded also in the front? if so I can see where you would wear the ball joints and bearings out if you were talking about the rear being welded causing the front to wear out that sucks. I have never seen or heard of that happening before. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif
 
I can't see how welding the spiders or running a spool can wear out the balljoint unless ofcourse you are talking about the front. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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detroits can wear out... but they tend to last quite a long time. I got my detroits just a couple of years ago... by the time they "wear out" (15-20 years?) Im sure something better will be available anyway.

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That's what I meant. Hell an open carrier can wear out in 20 years. A Detroit isn't going to wear out in our lifetimes. Not like a limited slip.
 
I was welded in the rear and open in the front (hubs unlocked), I only have a D44. The truck is my DD. When you turn on the street with a welded or spooled rear the truck will want to push through the turn (keep going strait). It turned fine but the constant lateral stress on the front end killed it. I also caused the tires tuck the sidewalls (roll under slightly). To combat this I ran the tires at 35psi (max on a 15" MTR) I only had 8" wide wheels and wore the centers fast as hell. Like I said it worked, I loved the traction so much I "poood" myself. I would not say don't do it for offroad, but I would say not on the street, get a detroit for that. To get to the trail and back is fine, it is a pain at the mall during x-mas for sure.

p.s. I spooled it with stop welds. DONT do it this way!! The stop welds crush, the spiders crack, and the slop created from that will cause a snap load to your driveline (ya know: u-joints, tranny, t-case)
 
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