d44 trac lok ????

[cashmoney37]

i have a trac lok from a 79 bronco. i bought it used. how do you tell what gear ratio you can use withe the trac lok. because i have herd there are two styles one for like 3.73 and up, and one for below 3.73's.

another question is how do you get the side gears and spider gears out? i got the cross pin out, but i cant rotate the spider gears to get them out, the side gears and the spider gears wont move, there almost as if there stuck.

i am trying to get my parts together to do my dana 44 sas

 

[IZwack]

i have a trac lok from a 79 bronco. i bought it used. how do you tell what gear ratio you can use withe the trac lok. because i have herd there are two styles one for like 3.73 and up, and one for below 3.73's.

I dont think that's "Trac Lok" dependent - its just the nature of carriers in general and is called a "carrier break". To sum it up, the lower the gear ratio (which is numerically higher in the automotive world: example - "5.13" is a lower gear ratio than "4.88"), the thicker the ring gear becomes (and the smaller the pinion becomes since gear ratio is not so much a ratio between teeth count, but rather of diameter between the ring gear and pinion gear). Conversely, the higher the gear ratio, the thinner the ring gear becomes since the pinion gear diameter needs to increase. So there is a "carrier break" at some point in the ratios which physically moves the "deck plane", or where the interface on the carrier to which the ring gear bolts to, laterally to eliminate the need for a super thick ring gear for those who want to run low gear ratios.

To get back to your question: to tell what gear ratio the carrier is compatible with, first find out what gear ratio it already has (counting the teeth is one method). Then find where the carrier break exists. Obviously, the carrier will be compatible with all of the ratios on the same side as the existing gear ratio.

There is an exception to the paragraph above and that is: there exists what are known as "thick" ring gears which allows you to install lower gear ratios beyond the "carrier break" on a carrier that's made for a higher gear ratio. The advantage of course is that, if you have a carrier for higher gear ratios, you can install lower gears beyond the "carrier break" and not have to buy a new carrier. This isn't really cost effective if all you're going with is an open carrier since new open carriers are pretty cheap - but for more intricate full carrier lockers which can run well over $1k, it can save you quite a bit of money.

EDIT: oh and there are also "ring gear spacers" which basically makes a regular ring gear into a "thick" ring gear (they look almost like wheel spacers).