soon, i will probably be getting a mini spool from trail tough for the rear of my 89 sidekick. but will the trail tough mini spool fit/work in the front of my sidekick too? id really prefer lockers, but these are barely over $100 each, and they still lock the diff like a locker. any help will be appreciated.
also, anyone who is running this mini spool, how does it hold up? how is it on road? quaddawg, i know you have one, do you like it? would you reccomend it over a locker?
thanks!

kirk

Spools are good for the rear but in the front you need a locker or you will not be able to turn for crap. A spool in the front will add a ton of stress to the cvs just driving down the trail doing almost nothing. Very bad idea.

Mike

thanks for the quick reply, Mike. but i dont understand how a spool would add more stress than a locker, except that automatic lockers can ratchet. if i put a locker up front, it will most likely be an ARB, and i thought that when engaged, the ARB locked the diff where it couldnt slip (or ratchet), kinda like a spool.  sorry to ramble on, but im trying to learn as much as possible about spools and lockers before i go buy something that wont work properly, causing my zuk to detonate.
thanks!

kirk

Lockers allow for the outside tire to spin faster on turns.  The spool does not because both axles are tied together.

Doesn't matter anyway, cause it won't fit, and I don't know of a spool for the front.


You said it yourself "besides that the locker ratchets"  that is exactly why it works in the front. On an ARB, you only engage the front when you ABSOLUTELY need it, and usually , if not always disengage it on turns.  Don't get me wrong, with good power steering and such, you can turn the wheels... but with all four wheels pulling the same speed, the rig just doesn't want to turn AT ALL.. even full cranked one way, they will often go straight ahead... right into that tree you are trying to miss (sound familiar anyone?)

 fully locked fronts are a B I T C H to turn...  you can always drop out of 4wd to turn, if you say, weld the front (and many have)  but then, unless you have a 2wd low kit, or a twin stick from Stan.... you will lose your gearing....  all in all, like Mike says, it just isn't worth it to weld the fronts solid on a kick.... and even then, with the fronts locked together, they STILL have to turn at the same speed, so even though they are not pulling, they are still sliding.  fully locked fronts just suck when turning...  so unless you get out and unlock a hub everytime you want to turn on a surface with ANY traction at all.... you got a problem..    and when it's really slick... LOFL.... you won't go anywhere that you thought you would be going,.... LOL...been there....

thanks for the replies! y'all cleared things up a bit, at least for me. so, ill put the spool in the rear, and just leave the front like it is, at least for now. thanks again!

kirk

ARB for the front AND rear would of course be Ideal, but I can build a spooled tracker for the cost of adding those... LOL..


ARB for the front and leave the rear spooled sounds good, but still expensive.

For less than half, around 300 hundred or so, you can use the trail tough front locker set up...  That is the way I am going to go I believe, that AND a Stan twin stick, or a RR 2wd low kit..   that is one of the next major things I want to do to the turtle.

You can spool the front of a trackick....you just need to use the 26 spline front axleshafts found in the later trackicks.  Then just use a samurai rear spool (might be able to use a trackick rear spool too...I don't know if they are too big to fit the front carrier or not).
Then you can either....1) use a samurai carrier (4 pin) in the trackick housing or, 2) use the trackick front carrier (2 pin) and hope it holds up.

But as suggested previously...I would not recommend it either.