what diferential should i get

[grizzlyk20]

Hi, I have a 82 chevy k20 with 6in of lift with a 350 ,sm465, np 205 ,10bolt front diff and a 14 bolt ff in the rear, I want to use the truck as a dd and driving in the snow, and hitting a mud bog every once in a while. I'm thinking of putting a detroit tru-trac in the front and the rear I don't need a locker but i don't know if i should leave it open or put some kind of a posi unit in there.

[VileZambonie]

You want a locker in the front and an open differential in the rear?  why?

[eventhorizon66]

For 3WD, of course.

[Irish_Alley]

you want posi in the rear and a locker in the front i do good in the snow except when i get stuck but that was on a hill well a 3' bank that my front hung up on and the rear was on ice . but what size tires you running , are you going to be changing them if you do diffrent things i kind of have the same set up d44 in front and 14 in the rear with a 465 203 4.56 running 38.5 they run my rpms about 2k at 50mph and 2200 at 55. kind of suck if you on the highway but i make it work

[4x4x4x]

can't help you with mud running, but on ice and slippery packed snow having a locker in front and open rear differential can cause torque steer problems.  i don't know if you want to spent the $ but on our K10 we are running Auburn Gear Ected lockers front & rear. the system consists of posi traction and electric lockers.  we also have warn hubs.  last winter we had a chance to really test the system and it worked great. we live in the greater Seattle area with lots of steep hills and a lack of proper road maintenance equipment.  on several occasions the roads were bad enough that major streets (hills) were closed to traffic.  we run 33/1250 goodyear MTR tires.  we feel spoiled with a turbo diesel and auto trans and the f/r positraction system we go when others cant, but with the electric lockers, we have the choice of locking just the rear or both the front and rear differentials. with both f/r locked we can creep up the steep slippery snow covered hills with little of no wheel slip.  and we were in 4 high.  we still had 4 low if we needed it. (these were hills that most other vehicles were getting stuck on. 

this system is silent when we turn.
we changed from 373 to 411 gears.
you can get a lot more info at Randy's ring & pinion, including RPM/gear calculators.

http://ringpinion.com

Alec

[Irish_Alley]

i don't have a locker in the front does crappy in a mud pit but no problems on the ice or snow i would think a locker on ice or snow would cause one of the front tires to spin faster than it would have to causing a loss of traction in that one tire

[4x4x4x]

regarding f/r selectable lockers (electric) and driving in snow/ice.

on ice it's usually better to stay unlocked, the non drive tires helps to keep the vehicle going straight.  if i lock up the diffs then i have a problem with torque steer with my diesel.

in other conditions snow, mud etc, in slippery conditions or deep snow, locking up both front and rear gives great traction. (remember when locked about 25% of the torque is being transferred to each of the four axles).  since my system is controlled by two electric switches one for the front and one for the rear diferential, i can turn on/off the locker as needed(on the fly).  this allows me to turn off the front locker when i need to turn.  it's also a nice feature for rock crawling but i haven't tried that yet. 

Alec
85k10 turbo diesel

[Irish_Alley]

i don't have a locker in the front does crappy in a mud pit but no problems on the ice or snow i would think a locker on ice or snow would cause one of the front tires to spin faster than it would have to causing a loss of traction in that one tire

thats what i meant by this^^^^^^^^ forgot to add when turning
the only time i had problems with traction is when i got stuck on a snow bank then if i had a locker i would of got out no problem

[grizzlyk20]

Thanks for the input,by the way a detriot tru-trac isn't a locker its a gear driven limited slip.

[Irish_Alley]

lol that would of been nice to know