grumpin

I have very strong personal opinions on the various limited slip and locking differentials. But one of the strongest is that what I like might not be what you like, so take this advice for what it's worth (and what you paid for it!). I think a TrueTrac is great as long as both tires get at least some traction. I have one in the rear of my '97 F-250 and it's completely invisible on the road, but extremely helpful on the wet leaves on the driveway at the cabin (where I used to need 4WD but now can use 2WD with the TrueTrac). However it's essentially useless if one tire gets no traction. In serious 'wheeling this happens when a tire is in the air, or one tire is in mud. With my F-250 it happens with one back tire on ice and the other on bare pavement at the stop sign at the top of the hill three blocks from my house. So for mild 'wheeling it's probably a good choice, but if you might get more serious you may well end up wanting more. Personally my choice in the rear has been an automatic locker. Detroit, Grizzly or any of the lunchbox lockers, depending on your budget and how much you think you'll beat on it. Some people hate auto lockers on the road, and you might be one of them. But personally I find their quirks pretty easy to live with once you understand that it is easy to break the inside tire free if you get on the gas too hard in a turn. I drove a CJ5 with a Detroit and an F-150 with a LockRight, both through several winters, as well as a Detroit in my Bronco now (but the Bronco doesn't see winter use). I wouldn't say I love automatic lockers on the street, but I love them off road and can easily tolerate them on the street. But as they say, your mileage may vary. A selectable certainly gives you both good street manners and positive off road performance. Personally I'd rather live with the road manners of an automatic locker than have to switch a selectable in and out off road. But I'm not really being fair there, as I've never had a selectable in the rear axle. In a front axle you need to unlock it any time you want to turn, and it doesn't always want to unlock. I would imagine it's more forgiving in a rear axle (you probably can turn pretty well even with it locked). But I do like the don't-ever-think-about-it simplicity of an automatic locker off road. If you do decide to add a traction-aiding diff in the front, I would NEVER use an automatic locker there if higher speed use is expected. Particularly driving on a snow-covered freeway, but I think it would be too similar on high-speed sand washes if amateur desert racing is your goal. The torque steer when one front tire loses traction will put you in the next lane before you can think to correct (I know that from personal experience). If you'll never use 4WD in those situations an automatic locker in front and either a selectable or an auto locker in the rear might be my first choice. And a selectable in the front with a TrueTrac in the rear might be a great setup for mild-to-serious 'wheeling, with great road manners and very good off-roadd performance when needed. But regardless what you pick, have fun with it, and keep us posted! I'm sure you know this Bob but found this when I was deciding on a rear differential. Thought I'd post it for info. I don't off road or wheel so the Truetrac has been great for me. I really like it. I want it for snow and ice, but have found it gives great traction in all the circumstances I'm in. Like turning right at a stop and you takeoff, no hesitation, no wheel spin from the light side, it just goes, maybe with a squeal or chirp, which in turn adds to the giggle factor! You can wheel with it but need to know it's characteristics, in others opinions. Go to 1:35 and he does a demo. Edit: if you have a clutch, probably not the best choice.

Yeah, weird looking headlights. Nice close up pictures, but don't really know what the truck looks like, need to back out on some of them.

Nice job!

As I’ve thought about it, I think the drivers side panel has a crack at the top, I may just cough up the bucks and get a new one. I should, the dash in this Bronco is in excellent shape. The rest of the interior is too for the most part. It now belongs to my son and when he’s done with college he’ll come home and get it, so I’d like to hand it off in good shape.

What did I do to my Bronco today? Rolled the dadburn drivers window down one too many times! The panel broke in several places where the inner window scraper seal mounts. Thinking about a new panel but they want around $600 for them. Might pull it and see if I can bolt or pop rivet it to the panel like I did on my old 86. Sheez! Edit: add info.

That is a slick tool! Lisle makes some handy stuff! Glad you got it apart.

Good job! Man, I'm impressed how some people deal with rust, I would just walk away!

Looks great! I like the color!

Welcome!

I've used a tie wrap, the serrations seemed to help it stay in place on whatever I was working on. These things can be a bugger!

I thought maybe, “I saw her having lunch with some new guy!”

Welcome!

Welcome!

Good find! What a mess!

Thank you!

Good eye! Interesting. Although I ended up taking the molding off the 92 Bronco as it started coming off and curling at the edges.

Looks nice from here!

Ahh…somewhere behind this mess you mean? If so, that might explain it. I need to clean this up and remove a lot of spliced in wiring. Thanks for the advice as always! If I remember right, I got to that ground on my 86 by removing the dash cover.

Excellent! Good to hear!

Very interesting! Wow! Spinning an IC engine at 20,000 RPM!

A beast! Bill of sale only would concern me.

Nice truck!

Hmm... I don't know Gary, rear quarter panels came up for me. $1500.00!

Indeed! Nice Truck!

Welcome!