Hehe I was being serious thou. I mean figure by the time you sleeve the d30 and possibly toss in some kind of traction device you could have found a used rubi 44 for not too much money installed it good to go with tossing on some C's. Then sell off your D30 and you are not talking a big difference and you have a much heavier axle and a selectable locker then. Can reuse all your brake gear, sensors, etc.

 

Nitro sleeves and gusset kit ($220)
Detroit True-Trac ($380)

maybe solid axles ($699)

Dana 44 front axle ($2000-2500)

This has been whats driving me crazy.....I settle on open D30 front and Ected in the rear D44, then people talk Detroit True-Trac LSD front and rear, and I like how that sounds....then it always turns into changing out the front D30 to D44......not doing that.

So......open front and Ected rear, or True-Trac front and rear?

 

If those are the two options then I would go with the Ected rear and open front.

 

First of all a Dana 30 can handle a locker. I know from personal experience with a 92YJ that had an ARB in the rear(Dana 35) and a Lockrite in the front(Dana 30). The key to the 30 is tire size. 33's are fine, 35's are pushing it, and 37's+ carry lotsa spare parts. I had a friend who had Truetracs front and rear on an 84 Toy PU. They were extremely good as long as tires stay on the ground. When you start lifting them, then you have to apply brakes and all kinds of crazy stuff. So ask yourself what kind of wheeling are you planning to do? If rockcrawling and heavy mudding isn't part of the equation, then Truetracs will be perfect and you will never notice they are there.

 

I'm not a big fan of the D30 and wouldn't recomend spending any more money on it than you have to, save it to pay for the D44 when you break or bend the D30.

Correct me if I'm wrong but most the people I know that run in the desert typiclly just use 2wd. If this is the same for you then putting any kind of traction device in the front isn't money well spent. I'd be ok with sleaving and gusseting the D30 and if I were at I'd also regear and put in better axle shafts.

As for the rear, my JK has a limited slip in the rear and my XJ has an ARB in the rear, so from my expericance with both types of lockers I would say go with a selectable locker. Based on the type of off roading that you say you do and that your JK is also your DD then I would say go with a selectable locker. When your in the sand the limited slip may not lock up like its designed to do because you may not have enough traction on one tire to get it to lock up. I don't know much about the Ected locker but haven't herd any thing about it when I've been in the TeraFlex shop. I've had my ARB for over 10 years now and have yet to break an air line yet. Yes ARBs are pricey but they have a proven tract record of dependablity and reliablity. And the cable lockers aren't bad but then you also have to buy the cable to run the locker which brings the price back up to that of the ARB. I personally can't wait to replace my LSD with an ARB.

good luck

 

380 for the LSD
220 for the sleeves and gussets
700 for axles
300 in labor
800 to sell your used D30 that you have

2400 You could spend on a rubi 44 with a selectable locker that is an easy bolt on install you can do yourself. Add a hundred bucks for C's. Sorry I just had to throw that out there. I know you said you didnt want to go that route.

 

Hard to really compare a YJ to a JK when talking about what is needed. A JK weighs almost a thousand pounds more then the YJ. If we are talking about a loaded JKU you are near two thousand pounds more. That surely changes what you need under you.

 

Besides the fact that he doesn't want to go that route, even though the prices are comparable not everyone has $2400 to drop on a D44 then hope to sell their D30 then on the other side he doesn't have to drop $1600 all at once on his upgrades he can slowly piece it together as funds allow

 

I honestly don't understand why people say an automatic locker like a Detroit Locker, Lock Right, etc is so bad. I've had two trucks with them in the rear and DD'd both of them in Northern Michigan including winter (feet of snow, ice, slush, etc.). Handled slightly different but as long as I didn't drive like an ass I did fine.
One automatic locker in the rear made both trucks great offroad despite being open in the front. I never wheeled hard enough to need a front locker but the rear locker giving traction 100% of the time made everything better offroad and walked me over things that required speed and careful planning before. Even made onroad better when the tire on dry pavement was still getting power to it instead of all the power going to the tire on slick surfaces.


If you're that worried I'd say find someone with a Jeep with an automatic locker in the rear and drive it around a little. See how it goes. I heard the hype too once upon a time and was saving for an ARB. Learned otherwise and spent half the money on a PowerTrax NoSlip I tossed in myself.

 

There are benefits and drawbacks to anything really. A LSD can work just fine for many people there are some drawbacks many of us dont care for thou.

Benefits: Cost, Automatic activation

Drawbacks:

The activation method for the LSD requires the use of wheel speed to activate the locker. So you need to spin the tires to get them to lock up. When they reach the locking point different companies use different engagement methods but all add shock, wear, and heat in some varied degree. Those are all things I dont want anywhere near my diffs when I am on a trail out in the middle of no place.

If I had a choice I would probably just leave them open before putting on an LSD. The brake traction system is really not all that bad and I would much rather have brake pad wear and heat on my rotors then inside my diffs. Then I can save for an ARB which is a gear driven unit.