Still a little confused on this subject, and wanted some clarification.&nbsp\\; Now I remember that my truck came stock with a limited slip differential in the rear axle.&nbsp\\; Did my truck come with one in the front as well.&nbsp\\; Now here's my next question, if you had a limited slip differential in both the rear and front axles, would this mean your front differential would only engage if the truck was in 4wd.&nbsp\\; What kind of advantages are you getting with LSDs if your in 4wd.&nbsp\\; It was always my understanding that once you put it into 4wd, all tires moved at the same time.&nbsp\\; So if I was in 4wd, and had LSDs in the front and rear, what kind of advantage would I have over somebody with open carriers in the front and rear, and somebody with just one LSD for the rear.&nbsp\\; I know that's a lot of questions, but I am just curious about these questions.&nbsp\\; I also didn't know until recently that you can put LSDs in the front axle too, but it just seemed weird because the only time it would engage would be if it was in 4wd which usually does the trick alone.

 

I dont think the front is LSD. I pulled both Diff covers last weekend to change the oil. Rear diff was different than the Front. I think the front is locked, no slip.

Jeff

 

The front is open and the rear is limited slip. In open differential on 4x4's what you have is 4 wheel drive until you loose traction on any one wheel. When that occurs the wheel with the least traction spins and the other does not move. In a limited slip it will allow for the wheel with traction to move limiting the slip of the wheel with no traction. In a locker all 4 wheels will turn regardless of the amount of traction on each wheel.

 

i do no that in 4 wheel that i got only 1 to spin in the front. you cant lock the hubs on these trucks,(the locks in the center of the wheel) that would make both spin no matter what.

 

I guess what I'm asking is if you had limited slip differentials in both the front and rear axles, would this mean you would have a pretty damn lethal 4wd? Here is my other question. When a vehicle goes into 4WD, does that just mean power is being distributed to all of the wheels? I'm just a little confused how an LSD works once 4wd is activated.

 

Your front diff "engages" in 4wd now. It spins all the time because of the design of the axle, but doesn't have any power goin to it unless it's in 4wd.

L/S Both: You would have all 4 wheels pulling MOST of the time (the L/S has it's limits, they have some kind of friction device in them, some use clutch disc, and that friction device will slip when the difference in traction between the two wheels reaches a certain point)
Rear only: You would have 1 wheel pulling up front and 2 Wheels pulling in the rear MOST of the time. (see above)
Open both: You would have 1 wheel pulling up front and 1 wheel pulling in the rear

Not entirely correct... There are only a few ways to get both to spin no matter what: Spool, Locker, Weld it. If you have an open diff, the wheel with least amount of traction gets all the power. The trucks with the locking hubs use the hubs to connect the axles to the wheel hubs. they dont affect the diff. if it doesn't have a locker/spool in it, it will still only spin 1 wheel.


Edit:
A couple of links to help you out:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential.htm
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/four-wheel-drive.htm

 

LSD functions the same in the front or the back. When one wheel loses traction the lsd shifts power to the wheel that doesn't slip. In 4X2 the front axle is not supplied and torque by the front driveshaft, so the LSD won't transfer any torque. In 4X4 mode both axles are given torque via the transfer case. The LSD units will transfer only to the wheel connected to that axle obviously. My understanding is that most guys go full locker up front and LSD in the rear to keep it street driveable.

In a full locker setup, both wheels turn regardless, but turn at the exact same speed, so the loose wheel turns as fast as the gripping wheel. In an open diff the loose wheel spins as fast as it can.

 

Awesome guys, thank you for the clarification. If my rear end can prove to hold up through this winter, I would like to have a Detroit True Trac (lsd) put into the rear. The other day when I was at a jobsite collecting the debri from the job, I got stuck in the puniest of a wet patch of grass and it was very hard for me to deal with lol. I had to put it in 4wd to get out. Not only did I loose the 35" tires, I lost the mud terrain tread, AND the lsd lol. So was a sad moment for me. But I would rather have a few tough offroad sad moments to get all the great street driving i've been getting.

 

You just have an open diff up front unless something aftermarket has been added. The best option to me for up front if you offroad seems to be a selectable locker. If you don't do a lot of offroading I don't see the need for one. Anyway the selectable locker allows you to flip a switch to make it locked like a locker or to flip it back and have it just an open diff. I'm not sure I'd want a locker or even a LSD up front. If I added anything I think I'd most likely just spend the money on a selectable locker.

As for the rear sure it may have helped with you getting stuck some but there are a lot of times like that me with a LSD and mud tires have to put it in 4wd. I don't get burried stuck to where 4wd wont get me out but I have been in wet grass where going up a hill or something it just wants to spin or in light snow and I had to reach down and put it in 4wd. You can usually make it through that in 2wd if you have a run and start but you can't start out in it. I'm sure the mud tires and lsd would make you a lot less likely to get stuck there but it still may happen. Putting it in 4wd is nothing to have to be ashamed of.

 

That's what you get for putting those ghey highway tires on it