Trac-Lok Made Easy


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Trac-Lok Assembly Made Easy

By Randy Lyman

Although Powr-Loks may be the limited slip of choice for many applications, they are not available for every application, and they are priced much higher than their Trac-Lok counterparts. Over the years Trac-Loks have gotten a bad rap for several reasons. The original Trac-Loks had very weak spider gears and a weak case that would break in half under a heavy load. I would not be surprised if many readers have seen at least one broken Trac-Lok or have broken one of the older designs themselves.

Dana Spicer has become one of the world's leading manufacturer of differentials and differential parts by constantly making improvements. Being aware of the shortcomings of the Trac-Lok, and the high cost and low OEM demand of the Powr-Lok, Dana has made several improvements to the Trac-Lok design over the past ten years. The cases have been beefed up and are now much meatier, and made of stronger metal. The spider gears are now produced from a much stronger steel than was used for earlier models. And the cross pin shaft retention has been improved on models where improvement was needed.

Gears

The results of these changes have made a much better unit. A limited slip that holds up well when abused by horsepower and tall tires, and lasts fairly well in many applications. Even if it is not the best for a rear differential, it does work well in many front differentials.

Gears

I admit that the Trac-Lok clutches were never very aggressive and they never lasted as long as the Powr-Lok's, but then again they are a lot cheaper and it is still less expensive to replace the clutches once or twice in a Trac-Lok than it is to spring for the Powr-Lok. And, if the Powr-Lok is not available for a particular application for which the Trac-Lok is, any point about clutches doesn't matter. If you need more traction then step up and spend the extra money for a locker.

Now that I have done my best to defend the underdog, I will share a few tips that make it easier to assemble a Trac-Lok (the real point of this month's column). These units look very simple and in fact are very simple. Assembly however, is not always so simple without the right tools.

In order to make assembly easier, I use two homemade "tools" (along with the units own cross pin shaft) that make a world of difference. The first is a common bolt and nut. A 1" x 5" coarse thread bolt and nut with a few washers will work well for many different size Trac-Loks. The second "tool" involves three pieces. A large C-clamp, and two spider pinion gears that are of equal or lessor size that the ones in the unit being assembled.

The bolt is used to compress the clutch pack on one side while the case is being spun around into place around the internals by pulling on the cross pin shaft with a pipe for increased leverage. Be careful of how much force is being used and the position of the shaft so the case is not damaged.

The C-clamp and extra spider pinion gears are used to compress the clutches on both sides at once so the thrust washers can be installed without pressure on the units own spider pinion gears.

This technique may seem awkward at first, but with practice it makes assembling just about any Dana Spicer Trac-Lok pretty easy.

OK, so it is still not that easy, but now at least it is possible to change the clutches or assemble a Trac-Lok without large hammers and a lot of swearing.

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