LSD or Locker…

Gents,
I know this has been beat to death, but I’ll be honest. I struggle with the search feature via my phone…

The quick rundown:

I just ordered 5.29’s and will replace my differential when it all goes together. Truck is my daily driver, and primarily street driven. Light off-road use only. I have 34” tires, but am going lower gears because I tow regularly and live in hilly western Oregon.
I am very familiar with the benefits of a selectable locker, and have used them a ton on my off-road rigs. My thoughts on this truck is that a LSD (Auburn) is going to not provide as much traction as a locker, but should be a substantial improvement over the factory diff. A LSD would, in my mind’s eye, be beneficial every time I get on the throttle because it should limit tire slip. Duh…. A selectable is still an open diff unless I hit the switch, which will likely just be a few times per year when I’m screwing around….
Thoughts? Anyone use their truck like I do with a LSD and wish they’d gone full bore with an elocker? It’s not the money driving the decision. It’s all about usability and appropriateness for the intended use. Thanks for any input!

 

Oh, I should mention that my biggest LSD concern is the longevity. I drive a solid 25-27K miles per year. I’m expecting to keep this truck as my daily corn another 5-6 years.
I realize there are about a zillion variables, but how long are people getting out of these things? Replacing it will be a chore…

 

Unless your beating the S%$@ out of it regularly, a decent LSD will last the truck's lifetime.
To me, lockers are for full time harsh environment running.

 

I have the Auburn lsd in my current tundra and had it in my 2010 for over 50k miles with no issue. I am thinking of getting the Eaton e locker and regearing soon. I’ve had other trucks with a locker and it was a big difference off road, but I see your point that the lsd would be active all the time.

 

I went with a Powertrax Grip Pro LSD which is gear driven vs the cone washer/clutch setup of the Auburn so theoretically shouldn't wear out, though from my understanding locks up more under torque (so offroading you'd need power to make it do much, but if you're onroad and punch it it'll certainly lock both wheels together) where as an Auburn is always applying the same amount of slip limiting. I don't off-road the tundra to the point a locker would be of any use, but the LSD always being "active" onroad is why I went with it. 5.29s is a lot of torque and easy to break the rear end loose.

 

LSD for your needs without a doubt.
Though from my reading the PowerTrax seems to be a better unit.
Biggest downfall of these trucks is the craptastic electronic LSD they should have used true LSDs far more useful.

 

LSD for your needs. You don't need a locker and it will cost you $2k (for front and rear), and a little more $ for installation even though they're already in the diff doing the gear, then you'd also need to purchase the air compressor as well. That's at least $2.5k more for something you would rarely use - based on what you stated.

 

I was just looking into this and the Grip Pro is what I'd consider for identical reasons the OP needs... I'm on tall 33s, use my truck for hauling, and have a light constant load in the bed with a topper plus...and I have a SC'r...one wheel spinning with the OE setup hiccuping all the time is as lame as an electric supercharger...

 

Powertrax, you say? I hadn’t even thought of them, but sure will! I like to idea of non-clutch over the Auburn style.

 

I’d go LSD. The powertrax is in my future plans. I had an Auburn before and it was decent, gonna try the powertrax next.

 

Group buy potential? @dirtydeeds

 

I have the auburn LSD only because the powertrax kept getting delayed for release in early 2020 and I needed the gears installed before we had a trip towing our camper from san antonio to pencecola.

 

And...? Has it worked well for you?

 

That would be great as he is a vendor /sponsor here (from what I can tell). Might be worth shopping a little further though. Unfortunately, DD’s advertised price is getting close to 50% more than some other outlets I found in a quick search for the GP501536 model of Grip Pro. I found the same when pricing Nitro Gears.

Before I get slammed door calling out prices without backup…. Apologies if I am sharing ads for different items. Please correct me if I am, as I do not want to make apples look like oranges!!!

Grip Pro:
http://dirtydeedsindustries.com/product/grip-pro-traction-system/

Powertrax GT501536 Powertrax - Grip PRO Traction System Grip PRO Traction System

$842 Powertrax GT501536 Powertrax - Grip PRO Traction System Grip PRO Traction System

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZHY99MQ?_encoding=UTF8


Nitro: $536 difference… In a panic, I called Nitro to see if they have a huge price jump on the firs of the year. The fella I spoke with was unaware of any increase beyond the typical 6% they saw recently. Almost buys the Powertrax….
http://dirtydeedsindustries.com/product/nitro-front-rear-gear-package-kit

https://www.justdifferentials.com/Toyota-9-CS-10-5-Nitro-Gear-Package-p/gptundra5.7-xxx.htm

 

I was looking at gears around Black Friday and DD was $1300. Not sure what happened to make it jump $600 in a month. Even direct from nitro is $1500. Has to be a mistake.

https://www.nitro-gear.com/Toyota-9-CS-10-5-Nitro-Gear-Package-p/gptundra5.7-xxx.htm

 

I’d sure like to think so, unless his kit is including additional pieces that I didn’t catch. Seems that gears, setup items like shims and crush sleeves, bearings, and seals are the norm. Maybe he’s including enough oil for break in and the second change, as well as who knows what else??? It’ll take a couple hundred bucks worth of oil.

I did not attempt to call DD to verify. Only a call to Nitro on the 30th to check if all hell was breaking loose on prices. I also saw his Black Friday pricing and agree that this may have been a mistake.

 

Sorry guys. Seems like I’ve hijacked and derailed my own thread here!! Back to the original intent, I’ll be adding a Powertrax Grip Pro to my order this week…. Appreciate the insight from all of you and am glad to find an alternative to a clutch-based LSD.

 

How hard is this to do on your own? No different than my Silverado I assume? I want a true lsd and what gears would you recommend if any for trd bbs pro forged wheels and I'm told 295 is the biggest but I just want a more aggressive than stock at rt tire for my 21 on 6112 at 1.9.

 

I wonder if DD includes an install kit?

But if you are surprised at prices on things skyrocketing you have not been paying much attention.

Falcon leveling kits jumped about $350.

Slee Slider Steps for the Tundra jumped $400.

The list goes on.

 

I absolutely understand the recent (15 months in my industry) escalation on material costs, which has a direct effect on retail pricing for the commodities we all love. That is exactly why I reached out to the manufacturer as soon as I saw a big price difference from one retailer. Being told that the price was not going up, to the knowledge of the rep I spoke to, I assumed one of three things are happening with retailers that are advertising prices well above MSRP.

1. The items included are not the same, as I’d wondered above. Are there more eggs in the basket for this price?

2. A price update was entered incorrectly on a website.

3. Retailers are able to set pricing where they like, and can take advantage of the supply /demand balance if they have inventory.


Any of these are plausible, and would certainly make sense here. If the boxes are packed with different items from different retailers, the price may not be the same. If a price is listed incorrectly, it’s an easy fix. If pricing is being adjusted because a retailer has the advantage of inventory, it happens. It’s up to the consumer to decide if they’re willing to pay extra to have the items now. BTW, I’m looking at March before mine arrive. I’m fine with that.

 

I wish they make lsd for our front diff.

 

Alrighty! Everything is on the way. A close friend owns a local off-road parts manufacturing company and has ordered the Nitro gears with install kits for me at a fantastic price. The downside? Nitro supplier is currently looking at March for delivery…. No biggie. As long as they’re in before June!

I had him check the Grip Pro, but the best price was Amazon by a significant margin. Lucked out and bought the last one from there yesterday.

Stay tuned boys. It’s all coming together…