If you lock the rear, it will affect driving in snow.
Besides the salt used here, the way it handles in the snow is why I don't drive my Jeep in the winter.

 

this was the first year it snowed really bad in the past like 10 years. I'm not too worried

 

i have BFG Land Terrain (which ive never seen before on any other truck and ive still never seen another set of them, bought it off a guy who had them on his TJ) and they are 31X10.5LT15 they occasionally hit the top of the front fender when im being especially rude to it off road with alot of steering on.

 

my uncle had them on his z71 and they wore really good......not exactly a mud tire but not exactly a road tire......good all around tire

 

Your looking at about a $70 difference. It is worth the extra money.

Here is a Lock Right...



Here is the PowerTrax...

 

wow, big difference... same with the installation costs, but like TJ said, it's worth it
but TJ, how bad is the difference between a locked (power trax or other) & a limited slip or open diff?
does it really kick around that much?

 

The installation is the same for either of them. Takes only a few minutes to put in. Takes longer to remove the cover and drain the oil.

The cheaper Lock Right is noisy during turns (clicks & clacks), and is not as well designed. It is cheaper, so you get what you pay for. The PowerTrax version is better designed, silent in turns, and has a much better track record for durability. The pins in the cheaper model are known to break easily. I have had mine in for several years now without any issues. Originally I had a pin issue which was replaced for free as there was a bad run of pins used. You can see my damaged one here... http://www.luvmytj.com/Jeeps%21/Locker_Photos.html They sent me a whole new setup which has been great for several years now.

When your off-road, it will help. But on-road is where the biggest difference is. When on a slippery road surface, the wheels will stay locked, but if the wheel has tension holding it back, ie; road surface friction (dry), it unlocks so the wheels can travel independently of each other since in a turn, the outside wheel is going around faster than the inside wheel. The problem arises in slippery conditions, the wheels both travel at the same speed in a turn, thereby one wheel is skidding, and without traction. Should the other wheel lose traction from the slippery conditions, your gonna spin out.

 

well im not to concerned about the on road conditions as winter is over now and no amount of wetness makes this thing slip lol but i always find myself getting stuck in off camber situations when the truck is flexed and one wheel has little weight on it and then i get stuck and it is so frustrating that is the only reason i want to get some form of locker, posi, or lsd for the diff cause it always happens to me.

at this point im thinking of just welding the damn diff, its free and its gonna work every time and i buy all my tires used anyways so if i burn em up a lil faster it will be worth the trade off i think....

anyone have a welded diff? does it damage anything other then the longevity of the rear tires?

 

So ya wanna make a Lincoln Locker eh? You can do that, but be sure to do a REALLY good weld job as it will be under tremendous strain. I have seen lots of them break at the welds. ALso have lots of tires on hand as you will chew them up. That means having the exact same height tire as the rest every time. You will not be able to run it in any kind of snow as your cornering control will be gone. Usually this is done to off-road only trucks. It can easily be done, but with a heavy price to pay as far as street driving goes.

 

yea i hear ya on the tires and im not quite up to that frustration level yet, but im going for an off road weekend 2 weekends from now and i need to have something done about my diff situation before i go, and by the looks of the money that i have its either gonna be a g80 or welded diff at this point im just super scared of the g80 now that everyone has trashed it.