[stockman]

Thinking about putting a spool in the rear of my sierra.
Is a mini spool the next best thing other than a air locker?
What the spline count on my 95 axles?
and how easy are they to fit?

cheers in advance.

[steak_knife]

Spool is constant lock, no off , just all drive all the time...

easy fit & your rear is 26 spline..

[stockman]

I've never had a lockrite, but I have had heaps of cars with lockers and don't mind them.
Is the advantage with the spool that it's fully reversable?

[Blueberry]

yea, its also a bit more reliable.... although ive never broken a welded diff and dont know anyone who has.

[steak_knife]

Blueberry wrote:

yea, its also a bit more reliable.... although ive never broken a welded diff and dont know anyone who has.

I have!!!

Spool is a bolt in, well, pin in, thay replace the spider gear's & side gear's with a, well, spool...
It's like being welded, you rear tyre's will spin at the same rate, making turning a PITA, your front's will be pushed & the rear's will skip..( & chirp)

But if it never see's the road, why not..

[Gwagensteve]

I've welded quite a few diffs and they work well, but they do, generally, seem to crack given time. They might not fail altogether, or the carrier might break, or they might take out a side gear, but, ultimately, you're welding teo dissimilar metals together and asking a LOT of the weld.

Personally, I'm not a fan of lockrights, so for me, yes, a mini spool is the next best thing to an airlocker.

I've had a mini spool in my sierra for a couple of years. I've broken sierra rear axles with it, and it's now in my Vitara rear centered floater. I'ts taken plenty of abuse.

Yes, they are (relatively) easy to fit. If you are fairly competent with the tools, you can fit it yourself, although you'll need a rattle gun, a torque wrench, a service manual, and the skill to make a tool for setting bearing tension. A diff shop will charge around $150 to fit one (or less)

What's the downside?

Well, they definitely change the handling of the car. Understeer is more pronounced on corner entry, and oversteer more pronounced on the exit. It's disconcerting at first. The effect is magnified with a shorter wheelbase. (My car is about 7" longer than a LWB, so about 100" wheelbase, and it's not very noticeable.) It's definitely noticeable with a SWB sierra. It's quite good fun once you get used to it, and it's hilarious fun on fast dirt.

The thing is, it's 100% predictable. That's not the case for a lockright, where the car sets up an odd "see-sawing" effect on long corners, a series of corrections and counter corrections as the locker unlocks and locks.

Would I run one in a daily driver? No. But I wouldn't daily a Lockright either, and plenty of people daily sierras with both. Personally, run a spool rear and Airlocker front in my off-road only sierra.

Spools aren't road legal. AFAIK, neither are lockrights though.

Steve.

[stockman]

Thanks guys.
Thanks Steve. You're worth your weight in gold!

[whincup]

Gwagensteve wrote:

neither are lockrights though.

not 100% on this, but i think that because they still differentiate (or at least are meant to) that they are legal. i could be wrong...

[MrRocky]

mine lasted 2 years, i did like the predictability of the spool compared to the lockrite but tyre wear can be an issue in a daily rig.

[lump_a_charcoal]

Lockright are not road legal, either are spools, but I would choose a spool over a lockright any day. IMO lockrights are shit.

[BlueSuzy]

Spool=Tyre wear, chirps, grandmas think your hooning in shopping centres and yell at you. Lockright=bangs and unusual car behaviour grandma's think your hooning and yell at you. Airlocker = airleaks, and when locked grandma's think your hooning and yell at you

You can't win.