Detroit TruTracs- Front and Rear- Anyone?

N

njjeepthing

Explorer
Ok so here is the story, I am accustomed to having selectable lockers on a Rubicon, however I sold the Rubi and I am now driving a XJ with a Dana 30 front, Chrysler 8.25 rear axle, both currently open. I am planning on adding a Tera 231 HD T case to get a slower crawl ratio(4:1), but I am also looking at adding some sort of traction device, locker, LSD, etc.. I don't really want a FULL TIME locker, as the Jeep sees a lot of pavement driving to and from the trail as well as snow driving duty in the winter. There also doesn't seam to be a lot of selectable choices for the 8.25, ARB only. I am currently running 31" tires on the Jeep, and I am considering the Detroit Tru Trac's for both front and rear axle. From what I have read, on road they are 99.9% invisible, and are great in snow, ice, etc, off road they don't offer all the traction of a full locker but do quite well. They are also priced better than doing ARB's both front and rear.

So anyone here have Tru Trac experience?
 
P

purdueXJ

Observer
My friend had one in the back of his WJ, he said if you got one wheel off the ground it acted like an open diff but other than that he liked it. I'm thinking of putting one in the rear of mine and then an e-locker up front. I too have the c8.25 and ARB's are definitely too expensive.
 
N

njjeepthing

Explorer
purdueXJ said:
My friend had one in the back of his WJ, he said if you got one wheel off the ground it acted like an open diff but other than that he liked it. I'm thinking of putting one in the rear of mine and then an e-locker up front. I too have the c8.25 and ARB's are definitely too expensive.
Click to expand...

I read the same thing, most say you can apply a little brake to get some pressure to built and it will lock back up. Shouldn't be hard on an Automatic trans.
 
tweenerlj

tweenerlj

Adventurer
I have detroit electracs front and rear in my LJ, so when disengaged they are a heilical gear limited slip just like the trutrac. Since I have a fairly slinky suspension in the jeep, I only lock the diffs for the hard obstacles. I love them and I am bummed that they were discontinued when eaton took over tractech.

Anyway, IMO, the trutrac is one of the best LSDs on the market. I have seen folks with these gat them to lock up quite well by maintaining a constant rpm on the accelerator and modualting the brake for movement with an auto tranny.

If you get into many hard obstacles where wheel lift is possible, I am afraid you might be disappointed in the amount of work it takes to get them to lock up. If this is the case for you, I'd go ahead and look at an ARB for the rear.
 
M

mbuckner

Adventurer
I have TruTracs in the front and rear axle of my 2001 Wranger ...

They worked on the Rubicon trail .. Did Moab ... the have been
installed since 2002 .. low maintance ... they have never failed
me in any difficult traction requirements on the trail .....

Best regards,
 
YJake

YJake

Adventurer
What kind of terrain will you be seeing off-road?

The Tru-Trac is an excellent choice for folks who don't end up with a tire in the air while off road. With both tires on the ground the LSD will provide a decent split of torque between the wheels. I helped a friend install one into his D30 and the unit is VERY heavy duty. I would not be afraid to beat on one, that's for sure.

On my YJ, I get fairly good flex with the Old Man Emu springs, but I can and will throw a tire into the air on ocasion in rocky terrain or in silly off-camber situations. Because of this I decided to put an Aussie locker in the D30 up front for 100% lock-up (Invisible while in 2wd as well).

However... For the rear I may go the Tru-Trac route for the 8.8 that I'm building (Currently has stock LSD). If I decide not to go with an ARB that is. I dislike the idea of a lunchbox or full detroit locker in the rear... I do too much street driving for that nonsense.


The point is, they work great until a tire lifts off of the ground, or you end up in a silly off-camber situation. So for lots of street use and trails without those two situations they work great. Kind of perfect for the rear of an Expo rig really. (Unless you can afford ARB :) )

-Jake
 
M

mbuckner

Adventurer
Tire in the air has not been a problem ... tap the brake to lock up
the front ... use the parking brake to lock up the rear .....
the brakes will be just enough to get the bias working .... done
this many times .....

With that being said, they are not and will not lock hard like
a locker will .....

The reason I chose TruTracs was for rain, mud, and snow conditions
when out hunting .....
 
Metcalf

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
Tru-tracs front and rear are a really good combo that often gets overlooked. If your running an automatic transmission its very easy to use some left foot brake to get the diffs to lock up almost 100%. The same trick can be used for most limited slip differentials that have any torque bias...including the old school powr-lok.
 
wADVr

wADVr

Adventurer
I ran a true track in the front of my XJ for a few months and was impressed how well it worked. using the brake method is not a myth, much to my suprise. I only used it a few times but was able to lock up the diff and pull the jeep up the obstacle, even with one side off the ground completely and no traction on the rear.

I must say though, Im not fully understanding the logic of spending $$$$ on a 4:1 T case and not fully locking diffs. Assuming you have factory gearing and an auto, it is my opinion you would be much further ahead by leaving the case alone and spending the money to regear and add ARBs to the axles. 4.10 gears or even 4.56s will yeild better gas mileage and much more control on the trail yet not be too low to use low range on easy trails. I have 4.88s and 33s and have been super impressed with crawl ratio.
 
ROKTAXI

ROKTAXI

Adventurer
I've have a TruTrac in the front and a Detroit Locker in the rear. Running 33 x 10.50's AND a 4:1 T/C with 4.88's. For me and my location it's a great combo.... BUT... I would prefer a selectable in the front. Tach reads 2500 rpm's @ 65 mph. This combo may not be good in Kansas but in my neck of the hills it's the prefect combo.
 
N

njjeepthing

Explorer
T&A-XJ said:
I ran a true track in the front of my XJ for a few months and was impressed how well it worked. using the brake method is not a myth, much to my suprise. I only used it a few times but was able to lock up the diff and pull the jeep up the obstacle, even with one side off the ground completely and no traction on the rear.

I must say though, Im not fully understanding the logic of spending $$$$ on a 4:1 T case and not fully locking diffs. Assuming you have factory gearing and an auto, it is my opinion you would be much further ahead by leaving the case alone and spending the money to regear and add ARBs to the axles. 4.10 gears or even 4.56s will yeild better gas mileage and much more control on the trail yet not be too low to use low range on easy trails. I have 4.88s and 33s and have been super impressed with crawl ratio.
Click to expand...

I'm actually quite happy with my factory gearing and 31's, I thought about going to 4:10's, but after some behind the wheel time I figured what I had was good enough until I went to a larger tire size. The reason I was thinking about a new T case is to slow it down on the trail. We do a lot of slow rocky trails, and it's just too fast in 4 lo in 1st gear, I would like a slower crawl speed. I've been looking at the ARB option as well, the Trutrac's seam to be a lot more reasonable in price, and actually serve a purpose on road driving in wet winter weather, something the Jeep will see a lot of.
 
Jerry L

Jerry L

New member
two thumbs up!

I have been running trutracs for 6 years now.

We are still running the stock dana 30 front and dana35 rear with 4:56 gears in a 1999 wrangler.

The choice of trutracs was to take it easy on the axles and yet take advantage of being locked to some degree.

So far it has been the perfect fit for me

cheers
 
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