locking my 8.8

i'm thinking about getting a mini spool for the 8.8. why cause its 100 bucks and i don't like wheeling with a open diff in the rear. I get thru most of the simple stuff with out any issues. Its just that when I get to the hard stuff I only have 3 wheels turning. My mind is fairly made up on this cause its not like welding the gears that I can't change once I have welded the rear. The axle shafts are plent strong to do this plus I plan on getting some spares just in case. The only other Idea was to try to get a LS for the 8.8 from the junk yard but that means a new carrier and resetting the gears which I dont want to do yet cause my front is going to be done this winter and then I'm going to upgrade to 4:88's or 5:13's. Any tips or ideas you guys might have are welcome.

I think the lowest you can go with a 8.8 is 4.55 gears or something like that. LS sucks because in order to upgrade to a real locker, you have to get a open carrier. The only sucky thing about the spool is eating your rear tires up quickly on the pavement. I'm also thinking about going with the mini spool because I have the LS in mine.

Joe i was taught a cool trick for your 8.8 to make the LS stronger. Get another LS carrier and you can built a getto locker. Yeah I know that nick is running 4:88's in his 8.8. The street driveing isnt a issue cause I have it tagged but just so I can street drive it when its nice I need to.

Whoa, I would like more info on this ghetto locker. I have the LS rear with access to another complete LS center section. What needs to be done?

Okay I will explain this the best I can. One of the guys at Oakridge was telling me about this and I just figured Joe likes trying new stuff so we could do this to his but for anyone that wants the try your welcome but if it doesnt work dont get mad at me.

So the way this is rummored to work is you take the Z clip that holds the cltuch plates appart and gives them pressure for the LS to work at some 400-500 ft lbs of torque. Its just plates to you take your donor LS and you take one clutch from each side and add each one to the carrier your going to use. This will increasure the pressure for LS to slip to some where around 800 ft lbs. In thought it will double the strength of the LS thus making a GHETTO LOCKER

save your self time and money and WELD IT!

you can weld the spiders and still be able to remove them from the case if wanted to down the road.

Yeah but the LS carriers is weaker than the open carrier and I'm afraid if you weld the spiders in the LS carrier you are just asking to break it. That's why no one make a locker for the LS carrier but there are a plethora of lockers available for the open one. I fully intend to install a full spool carrier when I have the jingle to pay someone to set up my gears (can't do that yet) but in the mean time this may be a free "upgrade". Hmmmmmmmmm.

makitupthehardway wrote:

Okay I will explain this the best I can. One of the guys at Oakridge was telling me about this and I just figured Joe likes trying new stuff so we could do this to his but for anyone that wants the try your welcome but if it doesnt work dont get mad at me.

So the way this is rummored to work is you take the Z clip that holds the cltuch plates appart and gives them pressure for the LS to work at some 400-500 ft lbs of torque. Its just plates to you take your donor LS and you take one clutch from each side and add each one to the carrier your going to use. This will increasure the pressure for LS to slip to some where around 800 ft lbs. In thought it will double the strength of the LS thus making a GHETTO LOCKER

So essentialy you are just adding a clutch plate to either side, seems easy enough. I want to say I've heard of "shimming" a clutch pack before, this must be what they are referring to.

he has an open case now

rockdw72 wrote:

he has an open case now

Dang, I buzzed right over that part. My bad, X3 on the lincoln lock. Weld those spiders up and rock it!

So I did a little research and found some interesting stuff about modifying the factory trac-lock. Looks like it's a huge PIA.
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=774871

Like I said I'm just going off hear say and the guy was a master tech of 15 some odd years so for him it could be a cake walk. I brought this up for Joe and those that have the 8.8 with the stock LS.

Matt yes I have a open carrier and yes welding the rear would be a great idea if I had two things. One a welder (yes I have plenty of friends with them but I would have to wait for them to make the time or have the chance to do it one odd day. Two is my local junk yard is a crap hole and has nothing good and the best one after that is a 2 hours away. So with that and thinking that travel and waiting its going to cost me more money to weld. 100 bucks for the removable mini spool is not a bad idea. That and to install it I dont have to pull the carrier out just put the rear on jack stands and pull the wheels. But hell lets keep talking about this its fun

If you decide to weld let me know. I have the welder, not too far away, and the garage space to get tit done. also you may want to touch base with Dave Leasure to see if he can get ahold of used parts. he knows a couple of good junk yards in the Hagerstown area. I can pick it up since I'm in Hagerstown every other week and get it down your way. Just a thought.

to install the spool on limited slip you just have to pull the spider gears, slide the axels out a little, install spool, and then slide the axels back in right?

The Joe if you want to run a spool you need to get a full spool due to the size of the spiders in the 8.8 and the carrier size it to small. thats why I was talking about the clutch pads in the LS for you. They do make a mini spool kinda like a lunch box locker for my open 8.8

I think I may leave it alone then and just wait till my grandfather decides to get off those dana 60's he has rusting in his back yard.

i bought the spool today. it will be here tuesday