I have recently SAS my yota. the axle came with a welded diff (not by choice ). the welded diff makes my marfields bind when i try to turn.
Will a true trac bind up my front end when it locks up or is there enough play in the true trac that it will eliminate my 4wheelin steering bind problem?
My axle is a 1983 with 4:10's.
Will a v6 rear third fit in a front 83 axle?

 

I'm sure molly will chime in here, she has a tru trac in her rig "tippy".

 

i didnt know that front was welded (this is ben by the way), yea i assume that the tru trac would deffinetly be alot better in front (i think that the v6 thirds fit, never tried it tho) .. dang thats a pisser tho.. woulda been real easy to have swaped them around when we were SASin it that night.. but i guess either way ur kind porked here.. cause well unless they did a real wicked weld job, somethin bad might happen.. haha ask my buddy kyle, the welded rear we put in his runner decided it didnt like how much strain was being put on it by his 37s and went POP.. POP..BANG! .. but atleast he had a spare 3rd layin around.

 

Yes she does, and it SUCKS. Turning is not a problem, but it doesn't "lock" - it's only marginally better than an open diff, and won't pull when you really need it to.

You spent all that money to SAS - get an ARB or elocker for the front and do it right.

 

I second the E-locker option and right now Inchowrm gear have a smoking deal on NEW FROM THE FACTORY e-lockers. Or you can usually find a used one for about $300-400 bones

 

Thanks for the info guys. i gues its time to start savin some money to get a good front diff set up.

 

I'm a big fan of the lunchbox lockers up front with a twin-stick setup. The lunchbox is cheap, reliable, and being a torque sensing diff it opens up when you kick the twin stick into 2wd, letting you turn. My setup is a used lunchbox (Lock Rite I think, but Detroit EZ or Aussie are the same thing) for $150 and a twin stick for $120. So $270 for a locked front with the ability to turn.

Yes, the V6 diff will fit anywhere a 4cyl diff fits as they use the same housing/axle shafts (and ring/pinion with the proper spacers).

 

My twin stick locks up like crazy - very difficult to get from 4WD to 2WD. I would not want to count on that to be able to turn!

 

I ran a True Trac up front for a number of years. I did take some time and practice to get the hang of brake biasing it to lock it up and how to use that technique effectively. I now have an ARB up front and that is much nicer with the single switch to lock/unlock it, but the TT was nice as well. For occasional use locked up it is a decent solution:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/TrueTrac.shtml

The two keys to brake biasing is that you need to press the brakes hard, a lot harder than you would think (it is not a light tap of the brakes like most folks say) and you also need to get on the gas a little to keep from stalling. The other key is that you need to lock it up before you get into a situation where you may need it locked. So anticipate where you think you might lift a front tire or otherwise lose traction and get on the brakes and gas before then so you don't slip a tire and get stopped/stuck. It is a whole lot harder to get going from a dead stop trying to modulate the brake and gas pedals than it is to just cruise through the same spot with a little momentum.

 

CAN it work? Sure.

Does doing what Roger discusses above add complexity to what is already a hard obstacle? Definitely.

One other thing to consider with a trutrac - if you break a birf, you just lost 4WD (or you have to do the brake thing constantly). With a true locker, you at least have 3WD.

If you truly NEED a SAS, you are running hard trails and probably would like as much help as you can get from your rig. Assuming you're buying new, there isn't a HUGE price difference between a TruTrac and an elocker, and only a little more to an ARB.

My 2cents - save up the extra month or two and do it right the first time.

 

I have a tru trac up front in my SAS. Only cause I got the diff with 4.88's and the locker setup for $200!! I was weary of it at first, but it actually does fairly well compared to say a full detroit like I had in my old truck. Turning is no problem. Been in a couple situations where I though I was hosed, but the front end did its job.

 

Never had an issue with mine. Occasionally I have to burp the throttle and then throw the lever while everything is 'neutral', but never had it lock up.

There are probably a few scenarios where turning and 4wd would be useful at the same time... but it's not worth the extra cost and complexity of a selectable locker to me. 2wd low serves 95% of my needs.

 

Longfeild has information on setting steering stops to prevent the binding, was a must for his 27 splines. This maybe more called for than a trutrac to fix the binding problem, though I would imagine that trutrac would be easier to turn with. If you don't fix the binding you may wind up breaking something reguardless, just my 0.02 though.

 

thanks again for the info