Auburn Locker

[sirhk100]

I tried a search for info on this but my computer says the search option is disabled. Sorry if this has been heavily covered in the past, I tried. Anyways, what are your experiences with the Auburn unit? Is this a limited slip or does it lock up 100%? Any info would be great as I'm considering putting on in the rearend.
Thanks
Khris

 

[CAC91]

The Auburn is a limited slip unit, not a locker. It is great on the street and I've never had a problem with it off road. If you think you're gonna try to be a rock crawler with your Explorer though (yeah right!), skip it for an ARB or a Detroit. Also the Auburn helps out with snow and slick driving conditions once you get used to it. The people I talked to before I got mine recommended it as the best limited slip available (diff shop people, other parts places, etc)

 

[Alec]

I just got an Eaton posi unit thrown into my rearend. I don't have any experience with the Auburn units, but the Eaton is working very well. It is a true posi unit with varying degrees of lock. This makes it very nice on the road and has worked well for me so far in low-traction conditions. It doesn't make any noise at all, or give any clunking feel when engaging. It really helps me get my power to the ground now.

BTW, The Powertrax unit was always recommended to me over the Auburn. I have good experiences with a Ptrax unit in my friend's truck, and the Eaton is even better IMO than the Ptrax.

The only problem I've had so far with the Eaton was when I was driving on the highway in a hard rain. I gave it a little too much gas when merging onto the freeway that I slid a little. One wheel had lost traction and the posi kicked in, sending massive amounts of torque to both wheels and making the back end kick out. I let off the gas a little and both wheels immediately caught and I was on my merry way again. No biggie, just another adventure of Splat the wonder truck!

 

[swak6287]

alec, how much was your locker? is there any that is less then 100bucks? those stuff are so expensive. i only have a 2wd.

 

[sirhk100]

I'm considering putting it in my 2wd also. I have a jeep for rock crawling with a Lock Right locker made by power trax in the rear and have had excellent results from it. I go much further in 2wheel low now. So much that I put in a roll cage cause it will just drive itself over on real off camber stuff instead of getting stuck and spinning wheels. This unit for the Jeep was the cheapest true locker. I don't remember the price as it was years ago that I put it in. On road characteristics are somewhat sketchy. It pushes in corners if on the gas and if you let off mid corner it jerks into the corner. It's real easy to pitch it out sideways in the rain with the locker on the road. It also clicks, pops, and bangs. I've actually had people in parking lots tell me that my Jeep sounded broke and I told them that I actually spent money to make it sound that way.
$100 or less? Hmmmm the only thing I've heard of for that price is to actually weld your spider gears together which would act as a full time locker that doesn't unlock, basically you would have a home made spool. Make sure a good welder does this for you and that the gears are really clean cause you need a good bead to make sure the weld doesn't break under load. (That would be bad to have metal stuff breaking and floating around in your rearend.) How would the Auburn do in sand/dunes? I'm putting it in an Explorer that is used for blasting around the desert, not rock crawling. Can you actually see both tires spin if you roast the tires on pavement or dirt?

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hi Kris,
The Aubrun is a limited slip, not a locker. It is much better than the Trac-Lok and will last longer, however it will go bad eventually and have to be replaced. If you are going to do some hard wheeling, get a locker, but for most everyday driving, the Auburn will do just fine.

 

[Alec]

My Eaton posi was $360 shipped and install cost $360. I haven't done a burnout since I got the posi installed due to the fact that it's much harder to lose traction on pavement now. To do a really good burnout I'd risk the brakes and the tranny. But I was in some mud and got some good roostertails from both back wheels. The true test of the posi will be Moab!

Oh, and as far as road manners go, I ran around a short parking lot autocross course last weekend with no problems from the rearend.

 

[RangerX]

Auburn makes two LSD's regular and Pro. Tdavis is the only person I know that had the Pro, and he wore it out fast. I have the regular, with 100,000+ miles, and together with the Trac-lok LSD in the front, I make people with lockers look bad. I highly recommend one. It has no bad onroad traits.