Quote:
Originally Posted by Xtremluck
Yup fully armored except for rear shock mounts, rear diff and lower rear links. All places that have already gotten hammered. I was thinking about armoring up the rear diff since I drag it so much but I'm not so hot about the lost clearance. Sometimes millimeters count when it comes to clearing something or having to pull winch line to drag myself across things.
I have my eye on a front locker (Already have an Eaton rear) but that definitely won't make it for this trip. I'm also a bit concerned about the durability of our front axle in low traction situations with a locker up there. Supposedly the CV axles will be the fuse that breaks before anything in the diff implodes but who knows. I recently saw a 5th gen grenade his axle with light throttle while locked. Although he was on 37s and had upgraded CV axles which probably transferred the breaking point to his diff/
|
100% agree. I absolutely waffle on the the front locker. I've seen ATRAC be very capable, but a fully locked diff provides SO much more traction, but at the cost of stress on components. (flip flop, flip flop goes my opinion..lol)
I would say that 34-35's locked would by my upper limit personally, as far as durability on our front end/CV's. I don't like the idea of aftermarket CV's, since as you say, they move the fuse to somewhere else. I'd rather carry 3-4 CV's and the kit to swap them out than deal with a busted ring gear or driveshaft yoke, or something like that.
As far as the Rubicon trail goes. Everyone I've talked to who goes, tells me that 35's are the minimum, in their opinion. Have to say that while I agree 35's are probably better - again there's that balance. I think I'd rather have a 100% durable, armored truck that I have to drag a bit over the trail than a truck on 35's/37's that is at the limit of durability front-end wise. I have no doubt that the rear-end can handle 35's-37's, so maybe it's a choice:
A. 33's, fully locked, fully armored and prepared to drag and winch as needed. I think 33's wouldn't stress out CV's very much at all, with conservative driving - maybe plan on 4 days on the trail to provide time needed/rest from long trail days.
B. 35's, open front/locked rear, fully armored with less traction, but less drag and less chance of busting a front-end component.
