There is also some technique in pulling yourself out of a slippery situation. If you apply a lot of throttle to (for example) climb out of a sandy boat ramp, your going to slip like an open rear end. Slow and gradual works better and I have found that lightly applying the parking brake in these situations helps. It euqalizes the torque requirements of the back wheels. Obviously that's just to get going. You wouldn't drive like that.

 

I just bought my second F150 4x4 , this one is a 2000 light duty 3/4 ton (7700 pkg.) and apparently has a limited slip diff.

This has chattered around turns frequently during the 120 miles I've driven it so far . . . no other LSD that I have ever had has done this. Did the dealer not add the correct lubricant?

Please recognize that I make my living working on race cars with LSD units, some as tight as 75% . . they rarely do this.

We often use Redline in these and in some cars have added a GM additive to help this . . .

I'm concerned as many of the streets I drive have slow right or left hand turns . . . stop signs etc. The tires chirp as I turn around in my driveway!!!

Mario L.
www.vsr1.com

 

Sounds like good ol Plano, TX. Home sweet home..

 

I would drain the rear end fluid and replace it with the factory recommended and the proper additive. Has always fixed the problem for me.

 

I wouldnt pay for a 3:55ls rear end from ford, as they have lots of issues. Read all the post about ford rear ends making noise. There are a lot of dissatisfied people who have this rear end in there truck. But just my opinion.

 

I have the 3:55 LS in my new SCrew, and I lost rear traction in a turn two weeks after I got it. The roads were wet, and the LS didn't do a thing for me. I spun twice, bent the axle against a curb and wrecked both wheels on the passenger side. How I didn't hit a tree or a light pole I don't know....I'm not used to a light rear end.

They replaced the axle, and it drives just like it did when I drove it home from the dealer.

I do lose traction in both rear wheels when the roads are even just a little wet. And I'm not even hitting the throttle hard. I really dont see how the LS has gotten me anything.

Oh well... I now drive like an old lady around turns

 

I have 3.55 LS, and have had others in the past. Never had a problem with it. I would never own another truck without it. $255 is dirt cheap for an excellent upgrade and better traction.

I have never heard of any problems with the 3.55 or any other LS, I am sure there is a few here and there, but very small percentage, so I wouldn't worry about that...

 

I lost the rear end for the first time on this truck just today. I tend to think that was more a factor of the 5.4 than the axle. I recovered quickly because I knew I was pushing it, plus have driven these trucks enough to know when I'm pushing it.

I have spun out the with the 3.73 regular axle too. It's not as easy becasue one wheel wants to spin and the other holds the road. Happened twice, and both were a bit of a surprise. The second time was on dry pavement after I became less fearful of the truck's low end torque.

I did it once intentionally on dry concrete when a white Mustang 5.0 thought it was funny not to let me out of a gas station. I turned left, lit up the tires and swung the rear end around behind him. He was gone by the time I got to his spot. It makes a lot of noise, but the truck doesn not go anywhere.

The anger management classes have been very helpfull.

 

Limited slip is evidently a joke. I have the 3.55 LS rearend, and I was stuck in a bad place, and the driver's side wheel was spinning and not touching anything, and the passenger side wheel was firmly planted on the ground, but not moving at all. Had to have the beast towed out of that spot by a madman in a Tacoma, because my Limited Slip evidently doesn't work.

 

The factory limited slip setup is good for average use. The factory clutch pack in the rear end has little bias to make it streetable. And to make things worse the clutches wear out quickly. If you do more off road driving than paved road you might consider some type of locking differential. There are aftermarket performance clutch packs available for the factory differential which can be adjusted with more pressure but it's still a compromise when compared to a true locking differential.

If I recall correctly you were in the woods w/ your girlfreind at the time. To me that does'nt sound like such a bad place to be stuck.

 

LS won't get you out of every mess you get into but I would not be without it. My 99 had an open diff. and I was always putting her in 4x4 at the boat ramp and on even the slightest amount of snow. The 02 has the LS and I could almost get along without the 4x4.

As far as driving it goes... it is different and the back end will come around on you but if you take it out to a parking lot on a snowy day and practice you'll find that it is very easy to control. I was worried about my OL driving the LS as she has a lead foot and doesn't know how to drive but I showed her on the interstate one day what would happen if she punched it to hard.

Something about sliding down the road sideways at 50mph caused her to get the idea much easier then all my preaching did.

 

Sorry to hear that! Isn't having your stuck F-150 pulled out by a Tacoma is almost enough to get you banned from this site.

Back when I had my 99 I stopped to watch a Chevy truck pull a 4x2 truck out of the ditch. The 4x2 had slid off the road, down the ditch and up the other side so with a short rope the Chevy had to back into the ditch a bit. In short time the Chevy was in the ditch too, and he had to disconnect the rope to get himself out. I joked with him that if his Chevy could not get the job done my Ford could, but in reality I could see he had LS, and knowing I had an open dif it would not be a good idea for me to back into that uneven ditch.

Back in the 80s I had a Jeep Cheoke that not only had an open dif, but it had an open dif in the transfer case between the front and rear wheels so you could drive it 4H anytime. Once I dropped one wheel over the edge of the ditch in front of my house and it was stuck. That one wheel just spun. Nothing a good garden tractor and a chain couldn't fix, but is showed me the limitations of an open dif.

 

I just came over Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado on Monday with my 3.55 LSD F-150 5.4L. Icy conditions on very steep grades at 10,000 feet is quite an experience.

I was one of the relatively few vehicles without chains to make it over. I think the LSD helped some. I had tire cables in the truck but didn't put them on - prolly should have. I did the fishtail thing when I tried to accelerate quickly around a truck in front of me, but when I backed off, I was able to slowly accelerate around slower vehicles, some of them stuck on the snow and ice.

I had about 300 lbs of sand over the rear axle which also helped.

LSD is intended to help when one wheel slips, not both. If both are slipping, you fishtail. I continued to make slow forward progress while fishtailing, but it was a bit alarming furiously countersteering, and it really freaked out the cars behind me ;-)

I say the LSD is worth the $265. It will chatter on tight turns - which lets you know it's working ;-)

 

But if you have 4X4 you could lock in, and then lose both the front and back end, for some nice quick scenery changes!