I heard limited slips are useless off road, but I am worried about loss of control in snow and on ice if I go with a locker.  Any experience or opinions are welcome.  (I am talking about the rear axle and leaving the front open, by the way)

The posi in my k1500 isnt "useless" off road. Its better than an open diff, but not by much.

I had a 84 burban with 35's, and a 14FF with a detroit locker. I live in Ontario, so i know all about slippery roads. The locker made driving on snow and ice "interesting" but bearable. The difference off road made the handling quirks on road quite tolerable. You get used to it, just dont let someone borrow your truck who hasnt driven a locker in the snow!

The locker became a bit of a pain in the ass when it came to backing up my snowmobile trailer on snow and ice. The locker makes the truck fishtail ALOT, and when backing up a trailer a fishtail leads to jacknifing the trailer. Putting the truck in 4x4 helped control this somewhat.

All in all, I'd do it again, and would trade my posi for the locker again in a second.

Good luck.

i had a limited slip in mt 2000 1500 and it did good in the snow ice mud soupy mud clay mud. both back tires bretty much spun all the time. it aint goot on them to be spinning around on pavement it is hard on the rear end  

hey bud well worth the money get a locker of some sort but if you do alot of snow driving be carefull i spun my blazer out bad once and almost took out some broads new grand prix p.s. what do you drive i have an extra locker for a gm 10 bolt new in the box some how i ended up w/2 it fits a 28 spliner set up aka 88 and older  

If you really want to go places offroad, don't go with a posi/limited slip diff.  If you want a locker, but don't want the negative side effects it brings offroad, go with a selectable locker.  There are air actuated lockers, electric activated lockers, and cable activated lockers.  Detroit makes an electric locker, ARB makes an air locker and I believe OX makes an electric locker too.  I'm not sure who makes the cable activated locker, but I'm pretty sure they exist. 

Just a word of advise.  You might want to stay away from the ARB for one reason.  There is a tiny rubber o-ring that will be inside the diff.  If that o-ring goes bad, then your locker won't engage, and you'll have to tear apart your diff just to replace it.  Wouldn't that suck?  There are some air lockers out there that are actuated outside of the diff and use something like a shift fork or cable to engage the locker.  Those might be a better choice.  The electric ones are obviously what they are, electronically engaged.  I believe some of them can be manually engaged/disengaged by doing something to the outside of the diff should you lose power to the locker. 

Just do some serious research and chances are you'll know all of the pro's and con's about each locker for your truck really quick.  Good luck and good hunting!

Scoutnut

I've never heard of a "soft" locker frankenestine.  My best guess is that what you may be referring to as a "soft" locker may actually be a mini locker.  Most lockers are full case lockers.  That means that they replace your open diff and bolt straight to the ring gear.  If you check page 41 of the April 04 issue you'll see a pic of a lock-right locker.  It doesn't bolt to the ring gear, you'll also see something called a mini spool which replaces the spider gears.  These Lock-right lockers made by Powertrax are good lockers, but as far as I know they don't replace the full case.  They are more prone to failure in heavier vehicles under hard use.  Full case lockers, especially the time tested Detroit, generally last longer and won't explode on you.  More often then not the ring and pinion will go first. Hope this helps Frankenestine!

 I'm no expert, so someone correct me if I'm wrong with the mini lockers and mini spool.  Also if anyone has heard of a "soft" locker please let us know what it is.

Scoutnut

the soft locker is the new version of the old detroit locker. it engages and disengages smoother so you don't "feel" it doing it's job. that's why about a year ago the price for a detroit for a 14 bolt went up from $325 to $404, and now the box that it comes in doesn't say "no spin" on it any more.   

Hmm, that's interesting.  I'ld like to use one sometime.  My detroit can be rough around corners sometimes.

Scoutnut

I was just on the Tractech website and found nothing on this soft locker.  I did a websearch though and read some info about installing one into a Toyota 8".  From what I understand, the Detroit soft locker is just a smoother operating version of the standard Detroit locker.  Tractech just made it more bearable to own and use on and offroad, but charges a little more for it.  It's still a fulltime locker (meaning it can't be disengaged), and should be easy to install.  So to directly answer your question, the soft locker will not be a limited slip.  You cannot disengage it like an ARB, Detroit electrac, or some of the other selectable lockers out there. 

Scoutnut

Anyone have experience with those new electric lockers?  Toyotas use 'em right?  Do Rubicons?  Anyway, I was thinking of using one in my car.  Does anyone know if there's one available for a pass. car Dana 60?  Thanks for everyone's advice and wisdom.

I would imagine that the same locker that would go under the D60 of a 4x4 would fit a car D60 as well.  The spline count would probably be the biggest factor, but a Dana 60 is a Dana 60, right?

Scoutnut

I would lock up the rear differential and put limited slip in the front. unless you are doing hard core wheeling then you would want a locker in the front as well. you have to be carefull though because lockers are not easy on small axles such as the chevy 10 bolt. And if you drive on the road alot you probably want limited slip  

How much for the locker??  I might be in the market for one soon.

I'm in the early stages of building my 85 K5 and am evaluating the whole thing.

I plan on a 6" lift and will run 35's or possibly 37's depending on the cashflow.

let me know...........thanx!