im not throttle happy at all. it would only get used offroad, which isnt that often.
Thanks for the input scott. Im happy to get both sides of the story.

 

Hey no problem, trust me im a huge fan of lockers. Post up your results if you do go this route and keep us updated as to the durability. I guess alot of it also depends on what type of terrain you wheel on, mud and sand would probably be less stress than rocks

 

lol, not that extreme. Mud only. to get me to and from my tree stand and a little fun now and again. This truck is by no means a rockcrawler nor will it ever get anywhere near that stuff.

But...

You just gave me an excuse to go buy an old bronco or blazer or something solid axle!

 

I have owned about 4 beater trucks and they are a blast. Usually you can pick one up for less than a grand and you can flog it to death and not worry about getting home.

 

Any updates from this thread? I'm looking at either the Eaton or Auburn for my 01 with the 8.8.

Thanks!
Peter

 

Yea. I got a deal on the Auburn for 200 bucks less than the eaton. Auburn is an LS/Spool unit whereas the eaton is an open/spool unit. I am happy with the auburn. Ive had it for about 8 months now. You cant go wrong either way.

 

I just bought an ’08 KR that I plan on using in the sand and am leaning towards an AM front locker( as that’s where most of the weight is) and staying with the factory rear Lim Slip for now. The Eaton seams fine to me, I just need to figure out where to have it installed. It seems like a fairly involved install.

 

I ran an aussie locker (automatic locker) in the front of my 2005 Sport Trac with 4.88 gears and 33" tires with no problems. I've heard of several people going through lots of CV joints that way (I kept spares with me but never needed them), but I'm "sensible" with the throttle. In 4x4 it liked to go straight though. It turned okay, just took more force. In snow, meh. It was okay in snow but like I said, it likes to go straight when on the throttle. The nice thing about the aussie is you could back of the throttle and steer like normal 4x4.
A selectable locker would be good, but only use it when you really need, especially running 35's and 4.88 gears cause you'll tear the CV joints apart. I'm better a limited slip wouldn't be that bad in snow up front if you know how to drive it.
I'm considering the ected in the future too. There are a ton of times I wanted a little extra traction up front but didn't need a locker. With a real locker in the rear I rarely needed 4x4 in the first place.