and with the front limited slip could you possibly go with a weaker or half worn limited slip or would that be to much work to do to even bother with it

 

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Its not worth it when its worn. I had one in my TA I killed it. It acted like a normal open diff. I just ended up welding the spiders.

 

they do make a limited slip for the front of daks! the only problem is it's for the 97-00 with dana 35's. i think i know why, the 35 was used in late 80's early 90's comanchee and cherokees for the rear and came with an optional trak-lok.
anyway after a lot of thought and some research i think i'll stick with a front limited slip over a wench for a couple of reasons. (only if i can find a new one for the rear of the early dodge cars that will fit).
where i fish there is pretty well nowhere to attach a wench, it's nothing but rock and alders. the ground is pretty solid most of the time but it's sand, loose gravel, large rocks, deep pools of water and steep hills covered with the loose gravel. (they don't call it the barrens for nothing !) i think 2 lockers would be better for that. i also spend a lot of time burning around town in snowstorms. the power company kinda frowns on you attaching wenches to there poles.
i found out that they warn you not to drive in 4x4 at high speeds on pavement even if it's wet, it will cause sever understeer. as long as your in 2x4 and your truck does not have full-time 4x4 your ok for the highway.
if the snows heavy on the roads or your off-road your good to go, there should be no problems.
not sure when i can start this project but if i can find the parts and hopefully get it going this summer i'll try to take lot's of pictures. should be interesting. if anyone runs into an early dodge car locker for the 7 and 1/4 please let me know.
thanks

 

Yes they do make it for the dana 35s, but how does that help you? The dana 35 is completely different than the 7 1/4 (different ring gear size, spline count, etc)... unless you plan on fitting a dana 35 to your truck, in which case write up the swap and post it cause that would be a cool swap. If I were going to go through the trouble of creating a new center section, I'd use the same diff I have in the back and let a machine shop make the intermediate shafts.

As for driving with 4x4, its not safe to do at any speed on a high traction surface. It as nothing to do with understeer... the transfer case locks together the front and rear axles, spinning them at the same speed, and when you turn, all 4 wheels are traveling a different speed. This will cause the drivetrain to bind up and you will break things that won't be cheap to fix.

 

nope i don't plan to swap axles or housings. it just tells me it can be done for the front and it shouldn't cause too many steering problems. thats all i need to know to give it a shot.
i'm hoping that the spline count is the same, don't see why not because there the same assemblies they just changed the position of the carrier and added a vacuum lock, according to the article i read, but i will make sure before i buy anything, i've got plenty of time to research. fishing seasons opens tomorrow and there's 3 feet of snow in the woods and at least a foot of ice on the lakes with 2 more snowstorms on the way. at this rate i might have to trade the truck for a ski-doo and ice auger anyway.
don't think i want the extra work involved with swapping whole assemblies. if i can just swap out the 7 1/4 carriers i'll be happy. my not even have to remove the housing from under the truck, it's no piece of cake trying to get the entire diff back up in place on a gravel driveway with 2 of us and no jacks.
i did see a picture last night of a guy who put a solid axle under the front of his dak out of a f-250. looks real nice but it was a lot of work, he even put leaf springs under the front. too much work to catch a few brook trout for me.
i usually work outside in the yard, so if everything matches up and it's simple i'll go with that, if not then no harm done.
your right i wouldn't drive far in 4x4 on the pavement in the summer or down your way much at all, but from Nov. to March up here there is snow or ice patches on the highway everywhere and when you hit them the wheels spin slightly relieving the tension, so where in 4x4 quite a bit, but if i install the limited slip i won't be able to do it at all unless theres a foot of snow covering it.
oh yes thanks for that reminder about the splines 95 318slt, guess i just automatically assumed they would be the same and thats probably not a good thing to do!

 

You have me kinda confused right now. You said that you found out they make a LSD for the dana 35, but our trucks have the chrysler 7.25 inch in the front. I have looked everywhere and nobody makes a LSD for our 7.25, so I am confused as to what you are tring to use for a LSD. I took your last post to mean you either wanted to put a 2nd gen housing in your truck or try to put a dana 35 carrier in your 7.25. Changing the housings might be possible, but I've never seen one of the dana 35s up close. Changing the carriers is not possible.

I have been thinking about it over the past few days, and I think I've changed my mind about having an LSD in the front. Like I've said before, a limited slip differential's clutches press together with more force as more torque is transferred through the differential, but if you have the truck in 2wd, there should be no torque transferring through the differential, so it should be able to slip enough.

As for the snow, lol, yeah the one day of snow we had all winter (and it only lasted til about 2:00 pm) I had my truck in 4 wheel drive, but the only other time I ever use 4wd is off road. I understand that ya'll need 4wd in the winter up north, I was just correcting your last comment from saying using 4wd on pavement causes understeer to using 4wd on pavement causes driveline bind up and will break things. If it weren't for road salt, I'd love to have snow to drive in all winter so I could use 4wd more often.

 

no they don't make an lsd for the front of 4x4 dak but that doesn't mean you can't get one. i found out over hours of searching that the chrysler 7.25 carrier in all those 70's and 80's rear wheel drive cars is the same (darts, dusters, even the 5th avenue up to 89,etc. will drop in) only it has to have 9 cover bolts and not 10.

the fact the dana 35 has one means nothing to me except that if you can get it for later models daks from the factory then steering problems should not be an issue if i can find a way to put an lsd in mine.

i found out the axle spline count is the same in the car rears and my front (25 splines)
pinion shaft dia. the same (1.38)
ring gear bolts (both 8-3/8 x 24 L.h. thread so i can put my 3.90 ring gear on)
pinion splines are the same (27 splines)
also the bearing rebuild kit for both is the same #

there was something about carrier cases that i saw, one site mentioned that there was a slightly smaller case for the cars with a 2.47 stamped on them (i'm guessing ratio) but ones with 2.76-3.90 where the same.

now heres the kicker, the 7.25 carrier assembly in the rear of the 87-96 dakota 2x4 is also the same as those cars and the front of my truck! i did not realize that.

to get to my point there might not be a lsd listing for the front of my truck but there should be for a 72 duster or 93 dak 2x4 with a 7.25. and if i can find one it should fit the front of mine like a glove. also my front diff is pretty well completely worn out (new bearings didn't help much she's shot) and i'm finding it hard to locate a carrier up here (the harsh climate there isn't many gen 1's left around here) but it might be a lot easier to locate a 2x4 carrier.

hope that clears things up a bit 95. if i have to change the carrier i might as well try to find an lsd to fit while it's apart.

even though we get a lot of snow you still have to pick and choose what days you to use the 4x4 on the highway up here, you would be suprised how many people must think they have full time 4x4 and end up with a blown diff, transfer case or tranny. even if your lucky enough not to blow anything your u-joints take an awful beating.

 

I understand what your saying now. The thing is when I did a search for LSDs for the chrysler 7.25, I did not search our trucks, I did a general search for that differential and didn't find anything, but you are right, any 7.25 inch carrier will work. If you find one definately post the link for it!

Lol, not to mention excessive tire wear!

 

with all those diffs there has to be one available somewhere. if not new then a used factory limited slip already installed that i can replace the clutch packs in.

if i find one i'll post it but if not then at least if someone with a 2x4 blows there rear, they now know they can replace the carrier with the front of a 4x4 and get a 3.90 ratio at the same time. i don't think the 3.90 was an option for the 2x4. kill 2 birds with one stone. at least that's something for all the time spent searching.