mini spool or not mini spool?!

[ready2explod]

what would you guys recommend? im running 327s with an open diff.

 

[Elessar65]

What are your plans/uses for the rig? If it sees a significant amount of street time, then I would say no. If it were me I would buy a lunchbox locker for the rear instead. They aren't too pricey, and you won't destroy tires on the street. Besides, if you wanna do it on the cheap just weld up your spiders. Same result.

 

[techieman33]

I would get gears before I got a locker.

 

[ready2explod]

for me right now traction is the issue. and i have a guy that will weld it but i want to be abel to reverse the process if im not satisfied and welding i would have to basically throw a new rearend under it. gears are in the works but not as big of a worry. it will be a weekend warrior rig. more DD then trail and i work 3-4 miles from my house so im not too worried about work travel. i looked into lunch boxes but the ones i saw were pretty pricey and the wife keep lowering the rig budget. so im thinking mini spool/ spool because it is reversable but a full spool i need the clip elim. kit and those are pretty steep on top of the price of the spool. but who knows.

has anyone ever heard of a flossie locker? it is a special way of welding up the diff to get a 1/4 turn of the tire before locking. i heard this is bad but im just checking to see if anyone else has heard bad things because the mech. is telling me all good things about it.

 

[yellowford]

Just scour ebay and classifieds and see if you can come up with a lunch box locker on the cheap, I also agree 3.27 gears aren't as bad as what people try to tell you.

The flossie locker has been talked about before but it just doesn't seem very smart to me to weld up a diff like that, although it could work the only way to find out what its actually doing would be a stress analysis with a diff in a lab.

 

[ready2explod]

thats what i was thinking too. . i have searched for a lunchbox locker but no luck finding one on the cheap. but oh well i will keep looking.

 

[ready2explod]

i ordered the mini spool. yaayyyyyyyyyyy!

 

[jd4242]

That thing will be hell on the road and if you gotta expensive tires,you will go through them in no time!!should have went aussie locker for the price

 

[ready2explod]

there like 300 bucks man. i dont have that kind of money. the explorer is basically a weekend warrior rig anyways. sees MAYBE 100 miles a week if its lucky.

 

[boominXplorer]

For around $150-$200 you could of got a junkyard axle with a l/s. Then you could of gone 3.73s and picked up a front axle at the junkyard also. You could easily acquire both axles for under $300 if you do some shopping. Then you would have more power, and get rid of the one wheel wonder.

 

[bmxking5]

Invest in a chromoly cross shaft if you're definitely gonna run that mini spool. Had a standard cross shaft blow up into about 8 pieces when I had a mini spool in my 9". Seen normal cross shafts break in a bunch of different axles, and those cheap $5 parts have ended up taking out a few hundred bucks worth of ring&pinion/carriers/lockers! Think Summit had them for about $20 bucks for the chromo one for my 9.

 

[ready2explod]

i have a parts eb explorer now so im going to see what im going to do. i alreayd ordered the mini spool so if i dont like it i will just swap out the axles.

 

[danwaters]

I ran my rear end welded for almost a year. The spider gears in the l/s were so sloppy I just welded the **** out of everything. With the 8.8 you will eventually break something in the axle with the mini spool. They can't handle the strain in extreme or pro longed conditions

 

[ready2explod]

i guess we will see.

 

[danwaters]

i guess we will see.

Ya if it's not your main means of transportation then it doesn't really matter but what I would do is carry a spare carrier in case it busts on the trail.

 

[ready2explod]

i have freinds with welded rears in f150's that take them off road all the time and there rears are welded they havent had problems yet and i know of one that beats the snot out of his and runs 33's and has been welded going on 4 years now i believe.

 

[ready2explod]

and actually one guy with a ranger with a 302 and a welded 8.8 that has not had any issues with his and says it was the best bang for the buck in his opinion.

 

[danwaters]

I was talking about the mini spool breaking. Not the welded rear end. I ran a "lincoln locker" in my explorer with an f-150 8.8 and the 5.0 and never broke it. It's just not good for street use.

 

[FireZapper]

The mini spool will break. I destroyed 2 in my truck before welding the rear. A friend had one in his BII this an explorer 8.8 and after 1000 road miles it was almost destroyed.


Mine has been welded 5 years now and no problems.

 

[ready2explod]

i see what you guys are talking about now. i decided against it anyways.