I posted this pic in another old thread I had but I think it was pretty much dead and nobody looked at it again. Here's a snap of the equip tag in my glove box. I don't see anything about lsd or anti-slip on here. Do I have it or not? If I don't, what do I have specifically?

 

From what I see in your pic, no. But I'd be interested to see what the line under the "Axle - Rear Corporate 9" says.

and for future pics, you really need to do a better job. My 43 year old eyes had a hell of time trying to read that...

 

LOL Hammer, keep in mind where that sticker is - that's the best I could do. Granted it is a cell phone pic but my cell has a flash and a 5mp camera on it. Still, after several tries, that's the best I could get.

And, there is no line under Corporate 9. That's the whole tag. I just cropped out the VIN at the top and lost a little bit on the paint code side since I figured that doesn't really relate to the rear end.

 

Hey hammer (Windows) Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Ease of Accesss -> Magnifier

If it does not say LSD after the 9 then you have a regular diff. Nothing special.

 

So the good news might be, I don't have the potentially self-exploding factory LSD? What's the bad news? What do I lose by not having it?

 

You have 4x4 so your good. The LSD is good for us 2wds because it keeps on tire from spinning and the truck standing still. The LSD is also good sometimes in climbing up something offroad because most of the truck weight is on the back tires.

 

An open differential always applies the same torque to both wheels, and the maximum amount of torque is limited to the greatest amount that will not make the wheels slip. It doesn't take much torque to make a tire slip on ice. And when the wheel with good traction is only getting the very small amount of torque that can be applied to the wheel with less traction, your car isn't going to move very much.
With a limited slip differential, even though the wheel on the ice is not able to transmit much torque to the ground, the other wheel will still get the torque it needs to move. The torque supplied to the wheel not on the ice is equal to the amount of torque it takes to overpower the clutches or friction plates, depending on the type of LSD. The result is that you can move your truck forward.

Off road you can have a problem because the open differential always applies the same torque to both wheels. If one of the front tires and one of the back tires comes off the ground, they will just spin helplessly in the air, and you won't be able to move at all. With a LSD the tire on the ground will get some torque, although not as much as with a locker...

 

Well I've been most everywhere (sand, snow, mud, loose gravel inclines) over the past 5.5 years with it I would care to go and a few places I don't care to go with it again and have always come out the other side. So, at least I don't have to worry about the specific, known potential issue with the 9.25" LSD. Thanks for the info guys.