I wanted to share my experience using a Detroit Auto Locker in the front axle(prorock 44), and a Detroit True Trac in the rear axle(stock D44) of my 2008 2dr JK. During my research before my purchase of these diffs I tried to find info about the True Trac and found very little useful information and a lot of people who stated that they never owned one but did not recomend them. So here is my experience so far after the first 250 miles (breaking in the new 513 gears) and one trip wheeling so far. I know it may seem weird that I have the true trac in the rear since so many people would have reversed the two but I wanted to keep the ability to drive on road in snow to get back and forth to work where my DD wouldn't cut it, and I am not a hard core rock krawler, so there you go.

My on road/highway experience so far has been wonderful. I was warned by a lot of people that I would have steering problems, binding, and other issues with having a Detroit auto locker up front. Dynatrac then told me that the Detroit Auto Locker would be invisible when in 2wd, and Dynatrac was right. No issues what so ever with having the detroit up front on road. The true trac in the rear has also been invisible on road. No noise, binding, chirping or any other bad habits. So as far as on road/highway performance goes I have found no difference in my previous open diffs and the new set up except the jeep handles great on wet roads with the true trac. I'd say better then stock.

Now off road, let me first say that I am in the deep south and the place I wheel at that is only ten mintues from my house is not the Rubicon Trail by any means. The only rock krawling I get is the ORV Park which is awesome but it is two hours away and I will update the thread when I go back to the ORV park and can tell you how it performed in the rock gardens and obstacles. But I can tell you about my recent night time off road experience. It has been raining here for five straight days and so it was bad muddy, rutted out large deep holes and trenches in the trail, and we have one small rocky area.

First off, I had no problem what so ever with my steering. (other then the muddy spots which is to be expected in deep slick mud) I was very worried that with the detroit auto locker up front I wouldn't be able to steer comfortabley. I would say the steering was great and only suffered slightly if any from having the detroit locker up front. It was steering so smooth my passenger took the wheel with one hand so that he could see how smooth it was performing. The jeep simply crawled and the detroit did its job silently and was very responsive. I have a manual transmission which I've been told is a plus for the detroit locker, but I couldn't feel any "loading" or "unloading" of the locker. It didn't chirp or hop or anything else that could be an unwanted habit.

Now the true trac in the rear. I never had one rear tire off the ground for more then a moment so I never got the dreaded one wheel spinning while the other does nothing that everyone talks about. Now I might have this happen when we go to the rock garden but I'll let you know when that time comes. (next month if I can get off work on the weekend) But the true trac performed great. It seemed to disperse the torque 50/50 between each back tire. I left the jeep in 2wd and pulled into a rutted out muddy trail to see if one wheel would spin and the other just sit there, or if I could get the rear to bog down and see how the rear wheels spun evenly or unevenly. Well I could never get the jeep to bog down even in really deep mud. In 2wd the dang jeep just crawls and appears that both back tires are turning evenly and torque evenly. When I would floor the gas pedal both rear tires would spin evenly tossing mud up evenly between both tires. When I pulled up to a large rock obstacle, in 2wd the true trac (with both rear tires even on the ground/never could find a good spot to trick the true trac with one tire off the ground for more then a sec) just pushed the jeep right on top of the obstacle with no problem.

Over all I am very happy with my decision to follow Dynatrac's advice and run the detroit auto locker up front, and a true trac rear. If anyhting, I almost wish I had done another Detroit Auto Locker in the rear. I was so worried about it making noises, hopping and chirping that I went true trac instead. Not that I regret the true trac, but the detroit has performed so well up front I see no reason not to put one in the back axle.

If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them. I wanted the simple/stupid detroit with no air lines, or electric switches etc and I dont regret it at all. Detroit makes a fine product and I'd buy them again. If I do find that the true trac doesn't perform in the rock gardens etc, then I'll put a Detroit Auto Locker in the rear as well. I hope this helps someone who is looking for info on the detroit or the true trac. Big thanks to Northridge4x4, Dynatrac, and Planman.

 

Good info. Thanks for the review. I'm currently looking at lockers and plan to follow the simple route as well. Avoiding the complexities of air and electric if possible.

 

Contemplating my options for my 2012 auto. Problem is outside of a selectable locker for front i think I am hosed.

Heard problems with limp mode, tone ring/ ESP, with auto locker and hard pulling to the right with another TT up front.

Looks like TT for Tempe rear and that's it for me.


Selectables are just too damn expensive and high maintenance.

 

Great write up You are the first JK I have heard of running a Detroit up front. I run your opposite configiration and also love it. The Detroit soft locker in the rear is no problems what so ever. Once in a while turning and flooring it, it will churp!

Might consider putting a Detroit soft locker up front instead of the Trutrac

 

Really good review cuz I've been thinking about doing the same thing. Thanks alot

 

Awesome review. A lot of people give advice on locker set ups and never experienced them for themselves.

I wanted Detroit Auto Locker for my rear and true track in front but the shops and wheeling buddies advice me against that.

Currently, I have Eaton selectable locker in the rear which was ubber expensive at $1350 installed. I ran out of money for the front....lol In the future I do want auto locker in the front though.


bigC

 

good info... I have thought about just going true track front and rear if/when my OEM lsd wears out the way people claim they do. (before I heard about the pulling problem above... now I will likely just go true track rear)

People talk down about LSD vs Locker... obviously a LSD will never be as strong as a locker but I have gotten through several places where open differentals have gotten hung up with just a LSD in the rear axle.

for a 2012+ automatic an auto locker in the rear is a no-go right now so your options are LSD, air or e-locker.

 

Thanks guys. I'll try and post a video this werkend showing how I drive/turn with the front locker engaged. And yea I do wish I had put a Detroit in the rear also now that you guys say you like having yours in the rear

 

I'm curios how handling in 4WD HI on road at highway speeds. I was thinking the same setup in front but I live in Michigan and need 4WD in winters at times and am afraid of the handling on the highway. Thanks for you input

 

I will not be able to give you any real good data on snow wheeling. We get more ice with slush etc on our roads in the winter down here. So I was planning on running in 2wd on the roads during winter. And the true trac seemed perfect for that based off of what I've seen so far. It performs great on wet roads, and amazingly in the muddy trails