Any updates on the powertrax locker. I am ready to do the 4.10 swap and will need to get the locker so both can be done at the same time. I am going to send powertrax an e-mail today to see if they have been able to resume manufacture of the gears..

 

Mine was suppose to ship out by the end of last week. Hopefully anytime now

 

Check the Aprin 2002 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords. There is an article with pics of the install of a locker in an 8.8.

 

Thanks!! You Rock

 

If anyone has the bandwidth and would like a scanned copy of this artical, let me know. It's roughly 5 magazine pages

 

Well taxes are in and its time to order. I'll start on monday trying to find out how long it is going to take to get this locker. Dam shame no-one has yet recieved one to let us know how well it works.
I'll keep you informed...

 

I called them in Dec about one for my 9&3/4 and they said it should be avail in the spring of this year. Who knows. I had a ranger before my F150 and I had one of the old-style ones they make in the 7.5 rear, i loved it. I never really noticed the bad behavior problems people often complain about in the corners. As soon as they come out with it, I'll have one. Well worth the money. I will NOT be puttin one in my front 8.8 although they said that one will be avail at the same time as the 9&3/4 and they will offer them in a kit or seperately.

 

They told me last year that it was coming out in Spring of 2001 and now it's 2002. I wish they would hurry up. I'm waiting for it, but if they can't come up with one, I'll have to resort to putting in a stock Ford LS.

 

Well, I finally got my powertrax no-slip and took a shot at installing it this afternoon.

Very smooth install. Haven't got to drive it yet as I ran out of time and I wanted to give the silicone sealer plenty of time to set up before I added the diff lube. Nothing worse than leaks!

Couple of minor things to be aware of before getting started:

1 - My '97 calls for 75W140 synthetic gear lube. This isn't too common around here, I wound up locating an amsoil rep to get some @ $12/ qt. Ford wanted $17/qt for the ford part. None of the auto parts stores I called carried it.

2 - Have a good 3/8 drive 8mm 6pt shallow socket. I broke a 1/4" drive crapsman trying to remove the pinion shaft retaining bolt. I only mention this because 8mm isn't a particularly common size in 3/8 drive and isn't included in too many sets.

After wasting an hour chasing down the snap-on guy to buy the aforementioned 8mm socket everything went well. Actual install was only about 15 minutes. Total time was about 2-3 hours which included jacking, blocking, draining, cleaning up the sealing surfaces etc. Little grief with the final checkout step. Supposed to preload one wheel in a given direction and then try to rotate the other wheel in the opposite direction. Instruction say it should rotate freely. I found that it took a pretty good effort to initially break it loose and then it would rotate stiffly.

 

When you are on the road again give us your driving impressions including the ratcheting noise in corners in any.

 

see how good it is turning on the road. im dying to know if its fully streetable.

 

I so hope mine comes in this week. They said it was going to ship a week ago. The weather is going to be great this coming Saturday and would be an Excellent work day

 

I called today and was assured that PowerTrax had one in stock. I ordered it. Mine is specific for the limited slip carrier. I will let you know when/if I get it.

 

Had it on the street for the first time today. First impression; in normal driving I couldn't tell it was there. An occasional ratchet, mostly in low speed, parking lot type of situations. After driving a bit more I began to notice it somewhat . Definitely not in a bad way though. I can tell a difference making turns away from a standstill. Much more tendency to chirp the inside tire (in either direction). Guess that is the difference between applying power to the inside tire versus the open diff applying power to nowhere. Doesn't seem to take much spin from the inside tire before it starts driving the outside tire. Feels like you are always being pushed forward. No need to let off the gas to allow a spinning tire to hook up. Feels nothing like the open diff as far as just wanting to endlessly spin the inside tire in a right turn and go nowhere! Tried putting one tire off the edge of the road in the grass and pulling away from a stop. It would actually bark the tire that was on the pavement, instead of spinning the tire in the grass, just as powertrax says!! If it continues to perform like this, and isn't drastically different on slippery roads, I will be very happy.

 

i think im convinced. time to order