what do people have to say about a full spool or even a mini spool in the rear of an 88 4 runner. any advice would be helpful.

 

How much road driving will does the rig see? If it's a DD you would be better off with a selectable locker like an ARB or e-locker, if it's mostly trail then go for it. You will see a lot more tire wear and you'll get tire chirp and wheel hop when making sharp turns (ie: parking) on pavement.

 

I've got one- and prefer it over the Detroit No-Slip I had previously. I drive my rig every day to work about 40 miles round trip, and at least twice a month off-highway.

The Detroit was noisy, I disliked the locker "wiggle" when shifting, and the dang thing was un-predictable as far as when it would or wouldn't un-lock on asphalt. Off Highway, it rarely unlocked anyway, so it acted like a spool 99.9% of the time.

We do get snow and ice where I live in AZ. The spool is awesome in snow, but a little nutty on ice. I've learned to prepare for corners by slowing down early, and blipping the throttle to get the back end to come around. Without a little throttle to break loose the back end, it will just push ya straight as an arrow. Off camber slopes on ice suck with any locker except a selectable one, so its no different than any other for that.

Having a hard locked axle does cause severe tire wear. The tires bark at ya on tight corners, but it's not really that bad. The truck definately pushes going into turns, it takes more steering effort than stock. I've spent enough money on tires to have paid for an ARB, but I like the dependability of the spool- no air lines, wires, cables or other actuator mechanisms to fail.

A spool is cheap, virtualy indestructable, and predictable (it's always on)

later