Hello all,

I have a '96 Blazer. 4.3, 4dr, 4WD, blah blah. You know what it looks like. It's black and all stock.

I got the vehicle from my parents, who had put 150,000 miles on it. They are pretty good about performing regular maintenance, so I had no issues paying the $1500 they wanted for it. They could've gotten twice that if they sold it outright, especially considering it's rust- and accident-free. My DD is a 2006 Audi S4, but I wanted a winter beater and something to haul stuff in when I need to. Since I have two 10" subs in my S4, there isn't much trunk space.

My DD - 2006 Audi S4.




Anyways, the one thing I hate about it is the one-wheel spin when it's in 2WD. On dry roads, no problem. If there's rain or snow on the ground, fuggedaboutit. So, I decided to do something about it.

I took it the 4 Wheel Parts & Services in Ham Lake, MN. Gary, the owner, is one of the best mechanics I've had the pleasure of doing business with. He is very busy, obviously because he is good and because of that, has lots of business. He would call me at least daily to let me know what was going on. What started out as a roughly $900 job ending up costing me almost $1400, but since the truck has 171K on it now, it was mostly maintenance items that needed to be taken care of anyways. The truck also had a slight vibration in the drivetrain. This was because of the u-joint, which was frozen in one axis.

Pinion seal was leaking - replaced
U-joint was frozen in one axis (two caps were completely dry!)- replaced
Pinion bearing - replaced due to age
Axle bearings (OEM bearings were still there)- replaced due to age
Diff vent (had sand in it and was barely in place) - replaced

I took the Blazer out to Ft McCoy, WI this summer when I was doing my Annual Training and did some four-wheeling with it. That's where the sand in the diff vent came from. I also hydro-locked the motor by driving too fast through a REALLY big mud puddle. I pulled the plugs and air filter, then ended up having to replace the TPS. It still runs as perfect as the day I got it!

Driving up to it. I didn't get stuck, I got water sucked into the engine and this is where it stopped.


Hooking up.


Mad Chief is mad.



So what about the review? Oh yeah. The day I picked it up, it felt like a new truck. All of the drivetrain vibration was gone (almost 100% due the u-joint). It drives like butter. I took it to a dirt road nearby and gave it about half throttle from a dead stop and laid down two neat tracks in the dirt. Perfect! As for drivability, it drives like a stock truck. You can't hear, or feel, it engage and disengage. You would never know it's there until you floor it on a wet road and notice that the one-wheel spin is gone.

One thing I should note is that this LSD requires no maintenance outside of what you would normally do. The rear axle on my Blazer had never been pulled apart. Gary told me that everything was all original. After installing this, and doing the extra needed maintenance items, it should last another 100K easily. That's what sold me on buying the TrueTrac vs anything else. That and the DD drivability.

I wish there was snow on the ground, but I'll update this post later once the white stuff starts flying.