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The Green Grendel

Not for a road tripping rig. I'm too cheap for a selectible, and I don't have the steering mods to support a full-time locker. The posi leaves a bit to be desired, but I wouldn't want full lock on the road, either.
 
Understand, and it makes sense. A road tripper would make little use of any front locker.

A Detroit locker is just a very stiff limited slip. It locks when it has any amount of torque applied, and with the hubs unlocked and in 2wd, it behaves like an open diff. You can see my front Detroit locking and unlocking in the drivetrain video I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Way back in '99, my Auburn did well in the rear, but failed to maintain 2 wheel spin when used on the front of my heavy pig of a truck. They're also expensive.

The protouring crowd seems to be all about the Detroit Trutrac.

David
 
Understand, and it makes sense. A road tripper would make little use of any front locker.

A Detroit locker is just a very stiff limited slip. It locks when it has any amount of torque applied, and with the hubs unlocked and in 2wd, it behaves like an open diff. You can see my front Detroit locking and unlocking in the drivetrain video I posted a couple of weeks ago.

Way back in '99, my Auburn did well in the rear, but failed to maintain 2 wheel spin when used on the front of my heavy pig of a truck. They're also expensive.

The protouring crowd seems to be all about the Detroit Trutrac.

David

Maybe I need to review my research. I thought the side springs on a Detroit were controlled by inertia. As in, always locked unless cornering at speed. I have almost never heard or felt any indication that mine is locking or unlocking. It skids around low-speed parking lot corners and glides through everything else. Aside from the rear end steering itself I'd forget it's even there.

Time to find some animations.
 
If I'm wrong, don't let me stay that way! I can tell you mine is locked whenever I'm on the foot feed, cornering or not.

David

Interesting. On the road, my rear axle will progressively counter my front steering as the throttle goes further down. If I lay off the throttle halfway through a curve I hafta turn the wheel toward center to correct. If I hammer down I will swing slightly wide. But it's an incremental thing, not a sudden lock/unlock correction. And I do not hear or feel any engagement aside from steering.

At low speeds I notice skidding, but even on icy roadways I never had a problem with the Detroit at speed. It's not skidding enough for me to worry about spinning out. :dunno:
 
If I'm wrong, don't let me stay that way! I can tell you mine is locked whenever I'm on the foot feed, cornering or not.

David

This isn't very helpful, but here is the official description:


Summit is a little more helpful, but it still leaves you to connect the dots.

 
I love my Detroit Tru-trac up front. No it's not 100% locked up on the front, but it's way better than being open out in the dirt.
 
So this happened today:

20170525_155244.jpg

6.2 burnouts are rare, but any time a 6.2 diesel with a locker roasts just one rear tire, something is broken.

A quick check at the likely culprit revealed I have some work ahead of me.


20170525_160323.jpg


I decided long ago that if anything ever failed on these brakes, I was going to install discs (I hate the brake setup on the old 14BFF axles). Looks like that time has come. :thinking:
 
I have rear disk brakes, and I really do like them.
 
Yep. Time for rear discs, you probably even have the calipers in your junk pile.

I have calipers, pads, and brackets lying around (I've been planning on discs for a while). And my new proportioning valve should be here tomorrow. And yet, if I'm selling this rig off anyways, it's easier for me to just replace the pads and leave the hydraulics intact. Why open a can of worms now, eh?
 
Took the wheel off today, and am now confused. The brake line is the source of the fluid leak, the M/C is nearly dry on the back side. But not quite dry (so the amount of fluid lost isn't huge). The differential fluid level is juuuuuust barely below the fill plug.

The brake line is loose in the coupling, which has firmly rusted in place after one winter of driving (of course :rolleyes:). Yet it has been working. And this week, it was working much too well.

How can a fluid leak from the brake line happen while that wheel is locking up prematurely? I'd think that isn't even possible.


I iz kornfuzed.
 
For the record, I always appreciate updates to this thread because I have nearly the same vehicle (mine's a gasser conversion).

I am totally pulling this idea out of my rear quarters...is it possible that something that shouldn't be there (piece of brake line, perhaps) is moving around in the brake line near that wheel, and its position changes when the pressure in the line changes, causing it to sometimes clog the line?
 
For the record, I always appreciate updates to this thread because I have nearly the same vehicle (mine's a gasser conversion).

I am totally pulling this idea out of my rear quarters...is it possible that something that shouldn't be there (piece of brake line, perhaps) is moving around in the brake line near that wheel, and its position changes when the pressure in the line changes, causing it to sometimes clog the line?

Cool. Haven't had many updates because not much has happened. Aside from DD duty.

I don't think my line is getting clogged, because I've never had a lack of rear braking. I've always (consistently) had too much. This last trip is when it acted up at that particular tire. No excessive brake pressure, and only one wheel skidding. Haven't driven it since due to staying home over the long weekend.

Leaking brake line should mean weak brakes, not strong ones. :dunno:

Unless that tiny quantity of lost fluid is somehow enough to ruin a set of brake shoes. On the other side of the backing plate. :dunno: :1zhelp:
 
Refresh my memory on what has been done on this rear, short of swapping it in...
 
Refresh my memory on what has been done on this rear, short of swapping it in...

Not sure, it came with the truck. I just changed gears and installed the Detroit. It came with a new seal & bearing for the pinion. And the slave cylinders looked brand new shiny when I connected the brake lines. But beyond that I do not know what's inside the brake drums.
 
I would keep the drums just spruce them up. Disk brakes mean you loose your parking brake, unless you go elderado calipers which I hear suck. Other than being heavy there is really no down side to drums in the rear. I wish I would have kept drums for the simplicity and the functioning parking brake. No proportioning valve to deal with etc.
 
I would keep the drums just spruce them up. Disk brakes mean you loose your parking brake, unless you go elderado calipers which I hear suck. Other than being heavy there is really no down side to drums in the rear. I wish I would have kept drums for the simplicity and the functioning parking brake. No proportioning valve to deal with etc.

At this point I'm baffled by the symptoms. Not seeing the benefit in tearing it apart if the fluid is coming from the brake line.
 

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