Libby Locked
I have a 2WD ’06 Jeep Liberty Renegade, with the 3.73 rear end and auto transmission. I would like to put a locker in it. I use it for some off-road use during hunting seasons on some nasty muddy roads. Can you suggest what would be best for my application? The Jeep has the ESP system in it as well as ABS brakes. Does this change anything?
Allan W.
Via
jpmagazine.com I believe your rear axle should be a 29-spline Chrysler 8.25. I like the 8.25: It’s a durable axle with a good overall design when not overtaxed. There are several lockers manufactured for this axle, including the Detroit Locker and several drop-in “lunchbox” locker types like Lock-Rite, Aussie Locker, and so on. The downside with these automatic lockers is harsh engagement and degraded on-road handling. You’ll get a lot of feedback through the steering wheel as you let on/off the gas around corners.
Your best bet for not giving up your on-road civility would be an ARB Air Locker. The downside is they’re expensive and require a source of onboard air, such as ARB’s compressor. The ARB will be fully locked (spool) when engaged, but open when not. Your Liberty will drive and handle just like stock when the locker is unlocked.
Another good choice would be a limited slip. There are several available for the Chrysler 8.25 such as the factory Trac-Lock (weak perfor-mance), the Auburn Limited Slip (good unit but requires case grinding for clearance during install and special lube with friction modifier…has clutches that can wear and degrade in performance over time), and the Eaton Truetrac. Of all these limited slips it’s the Truetrac I’d personally recommend.
The Truetrac will cost you roughly less than half the price of the ARB Air Locker. It has excellent on-road manners, is 100 percent gear-driven (requires no special fluid and has no clutches to wear), and of-fers excellent off-road traction. I often use a Truetrac over a locker in many of my dual-purpose on/off road rigs.
The ESP or ABS function won’t be hampered. The limited-slip won’t cause either system to freak out. The Truetrac will just limit rear wheelspin, allowing the ESP to hold off activation longer. Once you reach the traction limits of the Truetrac, the ESP will kick in.
Steer Clear
I am in the middle of swapping a late ’70s Scout Dana 44 into my ’77 CJ-5 and have a few questions about the steering. I’ve already taken care of outboarding the springs to accommodate the spring pads on the axle housing and had the knuckles turned for the caster issue, but I have been searching around on the web and it seems that the steering arms on the outers are going to give me problems. My original plan was to run a well built Z-bar drag link, but I heard the steering box would need moved forward 4 inches. I don’t want to get into that crap so my next plan is a high-steer setup (which was in the plan for the future anywho).
However, I need to get this done for the Carlisle All Trucks event in August. It seems everybody has their different ways of mixing and matching Ford and Chevy parts to get the flat top outers and keep the 5-on-5½-inch bolt pattern. All my Scout Dana 44 outer pieces are new (bearings, seals, rotors, calipers, pads, hubs, and so on), so I would like to use what I already have. What are my options? Who sells a here-is-everything-you-need-kit so I can get my Jeep together before the truck show? I imagine I’ll be out $500-$600, but if I had to buy all new everything again, plus get the outers machined, drilled, and tapped, I’ll probably be in the same ballpark. I don’t know which way to go and I’m running out of time, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Greg Sloan
Pittsburgh, PA
Reid Racing (reidracing.biz) makes or used to make a right-hand knuckle under part number D44001SR for the Scout axle. It has a flat, machined top for use with a standard crossover-steer arm and ac-cepted all the stock Scout spindle/brake/hub components. I didn’t find it on the company’s website, so perhaps it’s been discontinued. If so, hit up Google and start looking for vendors that may still have one in stock.
For a crossover-steer arm check out Parts Mike (partsmike.com). The company can set you up with the correct steering arm for tire and spring clearance once you provide a couple measurements. If you run a steering arm that’s flat or doesn’t have the correct angle you could run into tie rod end-to-tire interference or your drag link could hit your spring pack. Parts Mike would also be the place to set you up with the parts to do your crossover steering setup if the search for that Reid knuckle turns up snake eyes.