Care must always be taken with any LSD or locker in slippery conditions, even in rain. You need to adjust your power to the road so the tires will not slip. However you still have two tires driving and will have more traction than an open differential so typically you can get through more situations without getting stuck with a LSD or locker. You just need to learn how to drive with them.

You certainly do no want to stomp on the accelerator pedal when going around a corner in slippery conditions with a LSD or locker because your rear will beat you around the corner.

One thing you can do with a LSD in conditions that cause one wheel to spin is use the parking brake. This applies drag on the spinning wheel which in turn increases the torque needed to turn it. That in turn sends torque to the non-spinning wheel which will get the vehicle moving. This can be tricky with a stick but doable. The problem with using the the normal brake pedal for this is is also applies drag to the front wheels and that is counter productive to getting unstuck. It can work but not as effective as the parking brake.

The Torsen is better at start up than a clutch style LSD and that is an advantage if you are using the rocking method to get unstuck.

 

my ranger did this to me last winter. the roads were bare with big patches of 1-1.5 inch thick compact snow and ice and a friend and i were coming home from another friends house that lives 3 kms down the road from my house at 10pm and we're doing 60km/h (speed limit is 80km/h) in 2wd and the rear end switched places with the front, my front bumper missed a powerpole by about 4-6 inches.. and we slid into some dudes front yard. waited a couple mins, got the truck running, switch into 4wd, drove out onto the dude's driveway, got out, taking a breather and hear air leaking out, holy ****, jumped in the truck drove home. it wasnt so fun.. and had a brand new set of 31x10.5x15 BFG all terrains on the truck.. exactly why i dont like em..

my ranger is limtied slip but very rarely spins only 1 tire, on any wet or dry surfaces like grass, dirt, snow, mud, pavement etc. usually it spins both.. its definitely NOT the best feeling when your pulling out in front of someone and you tromp on it and the tires sit there and spin. just for ****s and giggles one day i was at a 4 way stop and was turning left so i got moving shifted into 2nd (manual trans) and tromped on it and the *** just about beat me around the corner, pitched it sideways haha it was fun!!! i was expecting it do that.

 

i dont know what you guys are talking about, my 2wd open diff'ed 02' would pitch completely sideways on the tiniest contact with ice or snow, theres so little traction its still going to spin both.

 

mine hates wet weather.i slide all over the place.

 

My open diff i slid all over the place... a couple of times i was going in a straight line. It sucked. My L/S when i drove it the first time last night in the rain it was almost like it did better.. i even tried to do some doughnuts and it was harder with the L/S. So far im liking this L/S thing way better than L/S...

My old truck 93 ranger 2wd open diff pitched me sideways more times than i can count it sucked in any weather other than dry

 

Thats what I was thinking. I have a open diff and last winter when my 4wd was out If I just tapped on the gas with a light coating of snow it would take me sideways a bit.

 

Doesnt matter what you really do

Icy roads + Pickup truck = fail 95% of the time

 

Unless you know how to drive in winter conditions and load your truck appropriately to handle those conditions... Due to their heavier weight, longer wheelbase, and larger tires they will do better in icy conditions than a car if you know what you're doing and its set up properly. LR

 

I think all FX4's have stiffer springs and torsion bars it will say C spings, as opposed to K "i think" on the info label. And I am not sure about the bilstiens because mine is not a level II and didnt have them, but my ranchos with stiffer springs rides like a brick with no weight in it, but is also a reg cab and should never have come with springs that stiff.


As for spinning out on ice with L/S i did it on an icy overpass on the freeway doing 100, luckily It was 6 in the morning on a weekend and had all 4 lanes to let it spin and keep it away from the concrete. Scary as SH*T tho. My truck with its short wheelbase and l/s in the winter is fun but also scary sometimes in 2wd, which is why it spends most of the winter in 4x4.

 

Enough said.

 

Dayumn... How did that happen? was wheeling involved?

 

Thats a pretty catastrophic failure right there! Looks like brake stands or spinning tires hard and they finally caught sort of damage. Judging by the cracks it looks like the ring gear tried to continue turning and one or both axle shafts wouldn't allow it (too much or instant traction).

Torsen's a very reputable company, and a Ford 8.8 is no rearend to mock - they're tough. That definitely didn't just accidentally come apart doing 65 down the Interstate driving nicely. LR

 

It started making some weird clunking noises while backing up one day. I hadn't been wheeling in like a year when it happened. I only had like 50k miles at the time, but at least I got to upgrade OX locker FTMFW!

 

Torsen is reputable company, but it was Fords' choice to not recall the auto tranny torsen equipped trucks when they knew there was a problem.

 

i heard there was only an issue in 02'/03' with the torsen and they did recall them? my ford dealer said they had to fix a few of them at ford's expense

 

Only the manual transmission trucks were recalled. I have an auto '02.

 

Hey now, I have a '98 with open diffs! I dont know what youre complaining about! haha I'd be in heaven with a newer truck.. also 4.10s. I have 3.73's

 

ADD-A-LEAFS haha

 

If you start to get stuck with a limited slip pump the brake a little, sometimes helps.