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To spool or not to spool.....

R

rockymtn6.5

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Before I get thrashed I tried searching, but only came up with how to weld the 14.. Planning to head to moab in a few months, but I'm open front and rear. Have heard a spool on the rear of a short wheel base truck makes it a bitch to turn, just curious on what everyones opinion is towards either lincoln locking the rear or a mini spool....

I probably ought to bring up that it will be street driven just so I don't have to trailer the thing everywhere, but it is not a DD.

And before I hear it I understand a locker would be best, but that's not in the budget.
 
If you're going to spool it just weld it. If done properly you won't have any problems. I've been lincoln locked a couple years now and it's great off-road but brings the suck on the pavement.
It'll eat your tires FAST but if it's just a wheeler with minimal street time it's cheap and greatly improves your wheeling situation for next to free if you have access to a welder.

I'd only do the rear and yes as you mentioned it does make it a little harder to turn but not impossible and off-road you really won't notice because the tires will just scrub.
 
Spools are great for what they are needed for. They don't make great street drivers. I had a friend who did some underground street racing in his Ford pickup.

He drove a minispool for almost a year and a half as a DD.
The truck was light enough in the rear so it could skip around corners, but he went through a lot of rear tires.

He used the truck not only as a DD, but as a general purpose truck. One weekend he was helping a friend reroof his house, and went down to the hardware store and picked up a load of roofing material.

Two turns later, he snapped the housing on the Ford 9 inch in half............

I helped drag it out of the intersection with my truck, and then we went to his house and got a trailer and winched it on and got it home.

His engine was showing the strain of hard driving, so he replaced the rear end with a junkyard 9 inch and retired the mini-spool along with his racing.
 
Spool in a 14b is a waste of money. Tac the spiders together and weld that sucker up. leave the carrier unwelded, so that it can be reversed.

I ran a welded and it worked great offroad, but onroad sucked. Will not do it again.
 
Thanks for the input guys, I have a buddy that spooled his 9 in a F150 and it seems to work good for him, but hes also bobbed the bed and boat sided it so he weighs a lot less out back than a K5.

Also I am what one might call.. CHEAP, so I havent bought a new set of tires in years, always seem to come across a good used set on the local classifieds. (5 37" bfg km's with half tread $200:D)

@NorCal Chris, You say you wouldn't do it again. curious, why, was it more of a DD?
 
I dd'd my k5 with a spool for 3 years. It was barely noticeable on the street. Actually drove straighter too.

My brother drives his xj regularly with a spool in the rear. No complaints.
 
rockymtn6.5 said:
Thanks for the input guys, I have a buddy that spooled his 9 in a F150 and it seems to work good for him, but hes also bobbed the bed and boat sided it so he weighs a lot less out back than a K5.

Also I am what one might call.. CHEAP, so I havent bought a new set of tires in years, always seem to come across a good used set on the local classifieds. (5 37" bfg km's with half tread $200:D)

@NorCal Chris, You say you wouldn't do it again. curious, why, was it more of a DD?
Click to expand...

Drove it once or twice a week. It kinda depends on the tires you have as well. With my other TSLs it would hop and screech around turns. Tire wear was pretty bad with my other soft bias TSLs. Some sort of auto locker is worlds better. Couple times offroad being welded put me into some spots i didnt want to be.

Overall i did it because it was cheap(free) and worked. But from now on i will pay the couple hundred for a lunchbox locker or detroit because i think it is worth it.
 
I hardly notice my rear being welded with 110" WB. Really only makes itself known in parking lots. I also have more than 3k lbs on my rear axle. Granted, my rig is street-to-trail only, but it does get driven a lot on the road.

For a rig whose purpose is offroad, I prefer a spool/weld/selectable to a ratcheting such as a Detroit. Reason being that there is a bit more slop with a ratcheting locker. Especially with something leaf-sprung that is already poor at controlling loading/unloading of the back tires, my experience has been that even a good ratcheting locker like a Detroit in the back will increase wheel hop at times. I also don't care for the sudden change in behavior when you go from coasting around a corner to even light throttle. Basically, in the back, the only time it's going to be unlocked is coasting around a corner. Well, in my trail rig, I don't drive fast enough to coast through many corners that are tight enough to make me notice a spool.

DD/weekend wheeler, totally different story. Anything I drive frequently needs to be able to coast through a left turn in a small intersection, in which case I'd rather have a ratcheting if I can't have a selectable. It's not a big deal to get used to avoiding the throttle in a corner, it's just not something I can really avoid in a 40" bias tired boat because I drive very slow on the street with it.
 
1BEATK5 said:
I dd'd my k5 with a spool for 3 years. It was barely noticeable on the street. Actually drove straighter too.

My brother drives his xj regularly with a spool in the rear. No complaints.
Click to expand...

This , 95 percent of the time I don't even know it's there. It scrubs in parking lots and when turning right from a stop sign. Does wear tires strange though. But don't listen to me , I also run a fulltime 203.
 
Nice, given the info I'll probably go a head and do it, at least weld it up that way if I don't like / want it there anymore I can easily remove. Since it'll be like owenst7 says a street to trail rig.
You guys rock thanks for the input.:waytogo:
 
rockymtn6.5 said:
Before I get thrashed I tried searching, but only came up with how to weld the 14...
Click to expand...

We like to see people search for their own answers but you're not going to get thrashed for asking questions here, thats a pirate thing:thumb:

I daily drove my swb truck for a year with a welded 14b. At least 20 miles a day. Wore out a set of bfg muds that had 3/4 tread when I welded it. When I bought new tires, I bought a detroit and used those same tires under the same conditions for four years and sold them with 1/4 tread left.:D

It will eat tires if you drive it on the street a lot but that was the only trouble I had. I actually like the way it performed better welded as I didnt have to deal with the quirks of the detroit but the detroit is nicer to my tires.
 
Welding up the front, without some sort of aftermarket type steering, say crossover or something, will be a real bitch to turn.

I did this as a trial thing with mine awhile back, started out with the rear govloc moved up front, didn't work right, then I installed some welded spiders up there,, THAT brought on some serious suck while trying to turn, especially if you don't unlock at least one side and have to drive anything other than a trail.

Even on a dirt road heading out to some trails, I as having to rotate the steering wheel almost 180* to make long gradual sweeping type turns, was very annoying, that setup only lasted about 3 trips and was yanked to install a Lockright.

I like the Lockright much better, I can keep the hubs locked all the time, just keeping the t-case in 2wd and when I NEED 4wd, put the t-case in 4wd, torque is applied to the diff, locking in the front end. :D
 
Mine has a minispool in the 14 bolt rear, and a solid spool in the front 60. BUT, I still have not driven it yet...
 
I daily drove my 79 bronco with a welded 60 in the back for lots of years. It was always noticeable and quite obnoxious on the street. I never really noticed a tire wear increase, but I was hard on tires anyway. worked perfectly offroad, and I never did put an auto locker in it. I got along with the welded rear end alright, and for the money it is hard to beat.

We welded up the rear in my friends 80 455 olds blazer at about the same time, and he hated it and bitched me out for doing it almost everytime we talked.
 
That alot of money to maybe throw away if you don't like it. Welding wire is cheaper
 
yeah a Detroit is only like $200 more and have seen them cheaper. If your doing a spool in a 14 bolt you might as well weld it, but do the orb so it doesn't break.
 
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