I know Nate Cannon is running a spool in the rear of his ZJ, anyone else running 'em in the front or rear? What's the verdict? How bad are they on the street? Do you only notice it on tight turns, or do you always feel it? How about on the highway? Anyone using one in the front? I'm just kickin' around some ideas...
OK, who's running spools in their grand?
Mike_Lib
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I know Nate Cannon is running a spool in the rear of his ZJ, anyone else running 'em in the front or rear? What's the verdict? How bad are they on the street? Do you only notice it on tight turns, or do you always feel it? How about on the highway? Anyone using one in the front? I'm just kickin' around some ideas...
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558 Posts
I really like it. You kinda need long arms though. Without em it really likes to bind up and you get kinda of hefty body roll, I've seen grands with long arms and arb's lock up the rear and get none of the affects I'm talking about. Also, again with short arms, it likes to wheelie if you're aired up. When aired down it makes noise, cool squaking. Unless you have manual hubs a spool in the front is a very very very very bad idea, even then if you have an atlas or 2wlow you lose it's advantages if you spool the front. I think detroit with a 2wheel low in the front is the way to go.
Honestly, I love the spool though, wouldn't trade it for anything. I like it in the snow, I like it in the rain or dry I like the price. It kicks ass off road. I had a detroit in the rear when I had my 35c and it would lock sometimes, unlock, it was spooled sometimes not others it was being stupid, but everyone has tales of the fickle grace of the detroit, I like the predictability of the spool. I would definetly recomend it to someone who KNOWS what they're getting into at the same time though. Because the spool is definetly more rough than an arb or even most lunchbox lockers, it's not walk in the park, but it's sweet. And oh yeah, when I installed my lock right in the front I messed up and it spooled...it broke the steering box off in a parking lot. Good luck with whatever you decide to do though.
-Nate
damn I typed a lot, most is useless...cliff notes...spool is good!
Honestly, I love the spool though, wouldn't trade it for anything. I like it in the snow, I like it in the rain or dry I like the price. It kicks ass off road. I had a detroit in the rear when I had my 35c and it would lock sometimes, unlock, it was spooled sometimes not others it was being stupid, but everyone has tales of the fickle grace of the detroit, I like the predictability of the spool. I would definetly recomend it to someone who KNOWS what they're getting into at the same time though. Because the spool is definetly more rough than an arb or even most lunchbox lockers, it's not walk in the park, but it's sweet. And oh yeah, when I installed my lock right in the front I messed up and it spooled...it broke the steering box off in a parking lot. Good luck with whatever you decide to do though.
-Nate
damn I typed a lot, most is useless...cliff notes...spool is good!
I don't even notice my spool in the rear with the 36s. Its great. For the kind of wheeling we have in the east (usually sloppy, even in rock crawling) I love my front welded spiders as well. On slickrock I'd bet it would be too hard to turn though. Gotta have manual hubs for the front spool as well, but I am sure you do. Are you sick of the arbs or something?
Tim
Tim
I drove Tim's spool around town and to be honest, its hardle noticeable. It wants to carry you a bit straight through turns, but thats no biggie and like others said, they are predictable. Hell, for $80 for an 8.8 mini, you better believe thats what I'm throwing in mine. I really only drive the ZJ like 70 miles a week and thats on the interstate, so I'm not too worried.
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2,095 Posts
I got ARB's front and rear, I wish I had saved the money on the rear and just went spool.......I leave it engaged the entire time I am on the trail and usually forget about it until I am 3/4 of the way home, I don't even notice it.
However, if I forget to unlock the front........I notice.
spool rear= Great
Spool Front= Bad Ju Ju
However, if I forget to unlock the front........I notice.
spool rear= Great
Spool Front= Bad Ju Ju
I have heard that while it may be drivable on the street, that it will wear your tires a lot faster. Is there a distinct difference in how fast they wear?
I had a lockright in my D35, and didn't mind it at all. Now I am looking at getting a Detroit for my D44, and would love to save the money with spool if I could. That would leave me money to get my front locker.
I had a lockright in my D35, and didn't mind it at all. Now I am looking at getting a Detroit for my D44, and would love to save the money with spool if I could. That would leave me money to get my front locker.
Cool. Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not tired of my ARB's, but I don't like the possibility of total locker failure (compressor goes bad, solenoid, etc). I've got to tear into my diffs to do some other stuff and I was thinking of spool rear and ARB front. After wheeling with ARB's, I don't think I could got back to anything other than a spool type locker. I've only driven a jeep once with a detroit in the rear, and my only complaint is that it kept ratcheting on the really slow technical stuff and it wouldn't lock up right away.
Again....just kickin' around some ideas
I'm not tired of my ARB's, but I don't like the possibility of total locker failure (compressor goes bad, solenoid, etc). I've got to tear into my diffs to do some other stuff and I was thinking of spool rear and ARB front. After wheeling with ARB's, I don't think I could got back to anything other than a spool type locker. I've only driven a jeep once with a detroit in the rear, and my only complaint is that it kept ratcheting on the really slow technical stuff and it wouldn't lock up right away.
Again....just kickin' around some ideas
Front spools:
I have spools in the front of both my ZJs, and unless you have hydrolic steering I wouldn't suggest it. In my purple ZJ I can't turn for crap off-road even with one hub unlocked. The blue one its easier to turn the wheels when stopped, or moving sightly, but my turining radius still leaves a LOT to be desired.
I'm thinking about going with an ARB or Detroit front for the blue one just to make it a little easier to turn, but having it locked in the front 100% of the time sucks...
In the rear I don't mind it. I'm also hoping that an Atlas Twin stick with fwd capabilities will help my turning as well, since all these comp courses seem to be made for small buggies.
Hal
I have spools in the front of both my ZJs, and unless you have hydrolic steering I wouldn't suggest it. In my purple ZJ I can't turn for crap off-road even with one hub unlocked. The blue one its easier to turn the wheels when stopped, or moving sightly, but my turining radius still leaves a LOT to be desired.
I'm thinking about going with an ARB or Detroit front for the blue one just to make it a little easier to turn, but having it locked in the front 100% of the time sucks...
In the rear I don't mind it. I'm also hoping that an Atlas Twin stick with fwd capabilities will help my turning as well, since all these comp courses seem to be made for small buggies.
Hal
I'm detroit in the rear, lockright front.
Were I to build the HP9 again, I'd stick a spool in it. Not going to bother at this point, plan to replace the rearend next year. The Detroit is fine, reliable, 99% predictable.
The only downsides are on-road:
-when it unloads with gas-pedal modualtion can send you half-lane over.
-bumper to bumper traffic, on the gas, off the gas, on the gas, off the gas.... after several of these, the locker will unexpectedly unload with a loud BANG and the ZJ bounces. Nice when I feel like a little privacy, everyone kinda backs off for a bit.
Offroad the detroit is ever as good as a spool, and has the added benefit of allowing a wheel to freewheel if little/no torque applied. This if beneficial when turning in tight corners. I've laid the ZJ's corners into rocks cuz the trail was so tight on a turn and the detroit wouldn't unlock (due to terrain) in a turn. Expect understeer in turns offroad 100% of the time with a spool. If this is acceptable for where you wheel, go for the spool.
Were I to build the HP9 again, I'd stick a spool in it. Not going to bother at this point, plan to replace the rearend next year. The Detroit is fine, reliable, 99% predictable.
The only downsides are on-road:
-when it unloads with gas-pedal modualtion can send you half-lane over.
-bumper to bumper traffic, on the gas, off the gas, on the gas, off the gas.... after several of these, the locker will unexpectedly unload with a loud BANG and the ZJ bounces. Nice when I feel like a little privacy, everyone kinda backs off for a bit.
Offroad the detroit is ever as good as a spool, and has the added benefit of allowing a wheel to freewheel if little/no torque applied. This if beneficial when turning in tight corners. I've laid the ZJ's corners into rocks cuz the trail was so tight on a turn and the detroit wouldn't unlock (due to terrain) in a turn. Expect understeer in turns offroad 100% of the time with a spool. If this is acceptable for where you wheel, go for the spool.
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599 Posts
The detroit in my HP 9 never does that, but it is used. I wonder if its worn or something. Because it definatly locks up on the trial. The risk you take with gettin a used axle i guess :roll:cbassett said:-when it unloads with gas-pedal modualtion can send you half-lane over.
-bumper to bumper traffic, on the gas, off the gas, on the gas, off the gas.... after several of these, the locker will unexpectedly unload with a loud BANG and the ZJ bounces. Nice when I feel like a little privacy, everyone kinda backs off for a bit.
.
Ditto. Really scares people in the yuppie town that I live in most of the time. Ever had people on the side of the street duck when this happens? :lol:cbassett said:I'm detroit in the rear, lockright front.
The only downsides are on-road:
-when it unloads with gas-pedal modualtion can send you half-lane over.
-bumper to bumper traffic, on the gas, off the gas, on the gas, off the gas.... after several of these, the locker will unexpectedly unload with a loud BANG and the ZJ bounces. Nice when I feel like a little privacy, everyone kinda backs off for a bit.
Jweiss-
sure you can drive with a spool on the road. Mine in the rear isn't so bad. You cannot run a spool up front unless you have locking hubs, otherwise you won't be able to turn. My only experience with my front welded spiders so far is at tellico in rain/ice. It did really well, and the turning radius didn't hurt me too badly. On dry rock it might be an alltogether different animal, but we don't get that much around here
Tim
sure you can drive with a spool on the road. Mine in the rear isn't so bad. You cannot run a spool up front unless you have locking hubs, otherwise you won't be able to turn. My only experience with my front welded spiders so far is at tellico in rain/ice. It did really well, and the turning radius didn't hurt me too badly. On dry rock it might be an alltogether different animal, but we don't get that much around here
Tim
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