Thanks to all who waded through the build with me. Mike Smith, the editor of TCAM told me that this article has had 1200 hits already. When my neighbor, Rob, stopped in and wanted to 'see' how all the upgrades 'looked', he was sorely disappointed. There was nothing to see. We walked around the TC trying to find anything that enhanced the 'look'. None found, unless you consider white painted steel wheels an enhancement. Approaching zero elements to this build had anything to do with the 'look'. A short vid during the shakedown cruise in November: click on pic if it does not start: turn up your sound to hear the Cummins Death Rattle:
I've had the truck and camper out in the snow, some pretty deep, in the last few weeks, and with the True Tracs on both ends, it works out to be very surefooted. I could not spin a tire, even on icy patches. Of course, 10K pounds of weight on new AT tires has something to do with it, but from my experience this is now a cut above; exactly what I was hoping for. With no clutches to wear out, and no special LS gear oil in use, longevity will be the only question. I guess I should find out, as is my historic want, where the edges are and try to get this BigBlancoBox stuck,...... and of course have a suitable winch point handy for self extraction. I've found that the heavier the vehicle, the faster it succumbs to gravity and goes south, no matter how many lockers you have.
I had my Jeep XJ, the Not-so-grand cherokee out for some wood scavenging today and found a cashe of Oak down a narrow, snow covered trail. So narrow that pickup trucks had no chance for entry; hence the abundance of downed Oak. The XJ has the same True Trac on the front axle and a Trac-Lok on the rear. When I was loaded up and pulling uphill, all four wheels were grinding away, non-stop to get me out. So, another positive result using the True Trac LS.
No, I don't work for Eaton; just a happy camper.
I'm no noobie to traction devices having had: These 3 True Tracs; Full Detroit Lockers; Detroit Soft Locker; several Trac Loks, several Power Loks; ARB air lockers; a couple Lockrights; and whatever Jeep has installed in Jeanie's 2011 Grand Cherokee MK2. Oh, and a mechanical foot pedal operated cog diff locker on my Kioti tractor.
Each has it's 'sweet spot' where it continues to propel your rig forward. Some like the True Trac are very transparent. Some are a force to be dealt with. This includes Detroit Locker, Lockright, and any automatic full locking mechanism that oversteers under acceleration and understeers when off the stupid pedal. O.K., I'll take my foot off the stupid pedal now...8<)
jefe
