Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

Technical => Drivetrain Tech => Topic started by: massCougarxr7 on May 21, 2009, 11:17:12 AM

Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: massCougarxr7 on May 21, 2009, 11:17:12 AM
Is there a way too weld the trac-loc locked??????? (both tires always delivering power to the ground..?) Thanks....
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: thunderjet302 on May 21, 2009, 11:34:22 AM
Why????:confused: Both wheels would get the same ammount of power all the time and the differential action of the Traction-Lok would not work. If you want the same ammount of power to both wheels at the same time just get a spool.......which makes street driving, uh, fun.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: massCougarxr7 on May 21, 2009, 12:38:53 PM
True,.. but with little money and no experience with differentials..... id thought id just ask if it were possible..... besides,..... i like getting sideways..(once in a while),.. and i know a fully locked diff. would be sooooo much more fun!!!! But yea.. this is more a hypothetical question......havent seen it brought up yet.. thnks thndrjet!!!
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: thunderjet302 on May 21, 2009, 03:13:59 PM
When I said "fun" I meant py to drive on the street. A fully locked dif on the street is a PITA to drive as both wheels turn at the same speed. Any thing you do to make a Traction-Lok stay locked will destry it as well as your rear end. Don't do it. If it doesn't work any more wait till you have the funds to rebuild it.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Kitz Kat on May 21, 2009, 04:12:01 PM
Not for the street, You will definably break more than you want to. First time you turn you will probably bust an axle.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: CatCarMan2012 on May 21, 2009, 04:23:02 PM
They are pretty darn easy to rebuild too.  When I rebuilt mine, I stuffed an F150 spring into the carrier so it has extra sticking power.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: vinnietbird on May 21, 2009, 04:41:50 PM
Do it right the first time.Don't start welding parts together in the differential.Buy a rebuild kit.If you can't afford it,save your money til you can.Doing it right the first time means you won't have to go back and do it a second time,and,when you start "rigging" things,it eventually ends up costing more than it would have if you'd have done it right.Patience.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Sick88Tbird on May 21, 2009, 04:50:37 PM
A buddy of mine, at work, had a welded 8.8 in his ranger and he loved it...although it was a real P.I.T.A. to drive, was dangerous in the rain/snow, and was ALWAYS breaking stuff...and not because he was over-powering it...it was a 2.9 with 300k miles. 

A welded rear will also eat tires rediculously fast...

I'm trying to talk this guy out of welding the 5-ton rears in his wheeling truck...but he'll probably pump 100 rods into them anyway...lol.

Good luck,
Don
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: 32VFoxBird on May 21, 2009, 05:50:26 PM
yup....


(http://djhype.hyper-productions.net/pics/diff/welded-diff8.jpg)





but dont do this :hick:

(http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/02/Welded-Differential.jpg)
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Ifixyawata on May 21, 2009, 05:51:47 PM
Quote from: 32VFoxBird;273551
but dont do this :hick:

(http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/02/Welded-Differential.jpg)

Best story evar attached to that photo.Send To Phone
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Sick88Tbird on May 21, 2009, 08:43:23 PM
Wow, the welds on those spider gears don't look like they'd last 3 turns...lol@ pinion to ring welding, excellent visual of what NOT to do!
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: massCougarxr7 on May 21, 2009, 11:18:23 PM
LOL didnt plan on really doing it!!!I just wanted to know.. (never know when im going to build a drag car!!! lol j/k) And vinn,,,,, i dont plan on "rigging things" i just had to do what i had to do, to save my car,... 
Im doing a head gasket for this kid i know with an 89 firebird, tune port 350, should be done tomarrow,... and after that im going to find my injectors and comp,.. and im doing the swap.....(as long as nothing unexpected happens.,. fingers crossed) ill be good to go, and have a lot more enjjoyment out of the car, plus, im missing one key component with my car......EXHAUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!it looks mean,,, but doesnt sound like it,..... update tomarrow.....
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Beau on May 23, 2009, 02:51:35 AM
Another good argument against welding your spiders....what if a shiznitty weld breaks off and gets between the ring and pinion?

Hope ya brought a rope or chain ;):hick:
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Sick88Tbird on May 23, 2009, 11:17:50 PM
Quote from: FordTruckFreeek;273805
Another good argument against welding your spiders....what if a shiznitty weld breaks off and gets between the ring and pinion?

Hope ya brought a rope or chain ;):hick:


And an extra pair of shorts so you have something clean to change into...lol
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: massCougarxr7 on May 24, 2009, 09:40:38 AM
actually been lookin for a tc rear...ill find that gem sooner or later...
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: jpc647 on May 24, 2009, 10:06:40 AM
Whats the big deal about a TC rear? If they are both traction lock, and it only diverts power away from the pass wheel when its spinning its almost useless. I mean if you can't floor it and have equal length marks, you've gotta fool around with getting it to spin what good is it? Correct me if this isn't true of coarse, I'm just going off what masscougarxr7 and I were talking about.

If this is true, my v6 rear will spin both tires if I'm like in the mud or something, so what would the difference be with the trac loc rear?

Sorry for hijacking(if i did that and not added to the knowledge here).
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Thunder Chicken on May 24, 2009, 10:09:05 AM
Quote from: 32VFoxBird;273551
yup....


(http://djhype.hyper-productions.net/pics/diff/welded-diff8.jpg)

be interesting to see how you'd replace an axle with that setup - the pin would be unremovable, so you would never get the C-clips out...

Weren't those pics from a joke thread on some other forum a while back, where the OP posted them pretending to be serious just to see the replies?
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Thunder Chicken on May 24, 2009, 10:14:53 AM
Quote from: jpc647;274071
Whats the big deal about a TC rear? If they are both traction lock, and it only diverts power away from the pass wheel when its spinning its almost useless. I mean if you can't floor it and have equal length marks, you've gotta fool around with getting it to spin what good is it? Correct me if this isn't true of coarse, I'm just going off what masscougarxr7 and I were talking about.

If this is true, my v6 rear will spin both tires if I'm like in the mud or something, so what would the difference be with the trac loc rear?

Sorry for hijacking(if i did that and not added to the knowledge here).

The trac lock rear helps prevent the passenger tire from spinning to begin with, by diverting some of the power to the other tire. Its purpose is to prevent wheelspin and get the car moving. The only reason you can spin both your wheels on very slippery surfaces with the pegleg rear is that the friction inside your rear is greater than the traction you've got. You'll only spin both tires if both tires have no traction. Traction lock increases that friction a whole bunch, so that it's greater even when you've got plenty of traction (IE dry pavement). With traction lock you'll get power to both tires even if one has no traction and the other has a lot (such as one wheel on ice - with a pegleg you'd just sit there spinning, but with T/L the car would move).
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: massCougarxr7 on May 24, 2009, 03:02:08 PM
AHHHHHHHH, I C..........my passenger side always spins fist,...but the minute i turn the wheel and gas it,... they both break free,..... and i have two marks...... also,.... in the rain,... the a$$ end likes to shift to the right,......(only when i give it too much)... i was under the impression, that the pass side got the power, and when it lost traction, the trac0loc would engage and divert the power to the other wheel... i guess i was off a bit!!!
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: jpc647 on May 24, 2009, 03:13:36 PM
Would this be the same for the GM posi's as well? They are only locked in when its under a load? I'm just trying to learn here, lol.
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: V8Demon on May 24, 2009, 03:30:50 PM
Get yourself a full-locking type unit (truetrack, Powertrax) that removes the spider gears altogether and stays locked in straightaways and opens up for turns.  Noisy?  A little, but anything that takes the spider gears out of a rear is worth it IMHO....
Title: TRac-Loc question..
Post by: Thunder Chicken on May 24, 2009, 05:32:31 PM
Quote from: jpc647;274109
Would this be the same for the GM posi's as well? They are only locked in when its under a load? I'm just trying to learn here, lol.

Some GM posi's are the same as Ford's (they use the same clutch/plate setup), while others (most notably mid 90's and newer Caprices and trucks) are a mechanical locker. The mechanical lockers must have one wheel spinning fast enough to build up centifugal force, then the locker engages. When it engages it does so quite suddenly and noticeably. They're also quite brittle - I've replaced dozens of locking pins in them in cop cars back when I worked at a GM dealership