lockers

locker units ,detroit to be specific... what are the if any ... (ill) side effects of running them on the street. please dispell the myth of the unit burning the inside of the tires, if this is true is it relative to tire size,weight in vehicle? if you run a locker, your experiance would be greatly appreciated.....

They will slightly scrub the insides of the tires when turning and under slight load. But nothing to major . I run Detroit lockers in 2 of my rigs & love them . They are the only diff that have held up for me. They will let out some weird noises from time to time , but no problems as of yet.

I use a Detroit locker in my car and have no complaints so far.You can hear and feel it rachet a bit but thats nothing compaired to using a spool on the street.And it works great at the strip to.Best et 7.025 @ 105mph. 1/8 mile.

Had a Detroit Locker in my 70 CJ car for years. No biggy at all. Sure it makes a little noise but who cars. Unless you are putting it in a Lincoln town car don't worry about it. :-)

I don't think a locker would cause any sort of unusual tire wear(inside edge?).... While they won't burn the inside edge they CAN want to burn the inside tire when cornering.... With a locker what happens in a corner is that the OUTSIDE wheel unlocks and can over run meaning that the car is only driven by the inside tire. If the locker malfunctions and does not lock the outside tire back in right away when exiting the corner it could cause the inside tire to be spun when power is applied. We had this problem when using a Detroit Locker in an asphalt modified when the little dogs in the locker became worn after a LOT of use. It was easy to repair anyway.

thanks for the responses, i'm goin with this, looking forward to the noise.....

Which Detroit Locker are you specifically talking about??? they make about 4 or 5 different types.
everyone is assuming original locker, but if you're looking at a tru trac, then they would be very street friendly, and not so much race friendly.

Going straight down the road you will get a click-clink-bang-twitch and all the cars around you will do an evasive manuever. It's the locker unlocking and locking due to the slight difference in tire pressure or diameter and it is normal but random an a little unnerving if you don't know to expect it.
This is the No-Spin variety I am referring to.
There is a "Soft" version of the Detroit, but I've never run one.

My circle track customer also had a couple of the Dan Press differentials which worked as a torque sensing device. They worked ok but he felt that the Detroit Locker worked better and it was lighter.

We did some testing with a plug in the Detroit locker(simple little piece that screws onto the end of the axle to make it act like a spool). With the spool like setup and the correct tire stagger the lap times could be a little better but not much. The locker made the car more free and able to pivot at the apex of the turn easier if you had to run a less than ideal line around the corner when actually racing.

We have about 200k miles on a detroit locker on ford 8.8 rear axle. The suspension on that vehicle (explorer) is very soft (for wheeling).. We we did noticed a few things over the years..

If your tire pressure isn't the same you will get locker wiggle. When you get on/off the gas, the rear will move around a little.. Just something that happens, gets annoying.. I just fix the tire pressure.

With soft suspension, on a long sweeping turn on the freeway, if I get on/off/on the gas, I can actually change lanes if I don't correct the steering.

If I make a u-turn while coasting I can do it in < 2 lane. If I do it on the throttle I need 2 lanes plus the sidewalk.

The rear tires do wear quicker than the front tires now as they scrub when turning and on the throttle. Just keep the tires rotated.

Its one of the best investments we have made for wheeling (I know, probably not what you want it for), but it works wonders, and only has a few quirks. We rarely, if ever, get a 'bang' from it.

~Mark