full float axles or power steering?

Looking for yall's $0.02

After having issues for awhile, my rear 19 spline Lockright finally ate itself up this weekend.

It is a hunting/play jeep that spends 90% offroad. Traction hasn't been a problem with the sm465 and lockers front and rear, so recently my mind has been wandering to drive-ability issues.

Option 1: Herm 30 spline full float kit, Detroit locker, and lockout hubs since I flat tow it quite a bit and don't have anywhere to store a trailer.

Option 2: revert back to open diff and use money for power steering to replace original ross. In low range 4wd, this thing is almost impossible to turn.

It will be hard enough to convince the wife that either 1 or 2 are necessary, so I can't do both for a few years. I feel like I'm at a crossroads of drivability and making it bulletproof for its intended purpose.

 

If you lock-up the front axle, you need power steering even ram assist (i needed it for 36" tsl).

Also about the manual lock-out, if you have a external lock you will have the loosening bolt issu, best to turn to internal lock.

 

Do the FF conversion.
Best bang for the buck that pays a dividend right away.
Traction more important than luxury of P/S. (But dang, P/S is nice once you have it)
The P/S conversion is more complicated and time consuming.
Live with the steering or do at waaaay later date.

 

I don't understand regarding the internal vs. external lock....I was just planning on using the warn manual locking hubs, are they the internal type?

Thanks for the responses!

 

External lock is what you're looking at. Internal lock would use a hub for a chevy/ford or similar that has splines on the inside of the hub. I have been told that the weak point of the external design is the hub itself. I have also been told that this is most certainly not the case. If you're concerned you can use drive flanges or just go with a ford hub with internal splines to keep the same bolt pattern. I use the external warn hub design. Do a search for this and you will find some information.

 

The power steering mod is probably gonna be much cheaper. If you source the right used parts(if looking at 2 years, you can be patient) can easily be done for under $100. It has been done on just about every pre 71 Jeep still on the road so there is a lot of information out there.

 

Perhaps, but some sort of traction device in the rear axle isn't really optional for a real trail rig. I would go with Herm's set up. If nothing else, the wheels/brakes stay functional if you twist an axle shaft off. I'm not a big fan of Detroit Lockers (really bad road manners in a short Jeep), but they do work great on the trail.

Also, I think a lot of the problems people have with external hubs can be traced directly with what is used to bolt them on. All the Dana-Spicer hubs (at least all that I've looked at) have about a 1/4" of un-threaded bore at the surface. It is absolutely imperative that a solid, un-threaded section of fastener is present in that section. The pitch diameter of a 3/8's-16 thread is 0.3344 and the minor diameter is 0.2983. So the shear strength of the threaded portion is only 63% of the solid un-threaded portion. Perhaps worse, the major diameter leaves about 0.040 clearance so the only thing keeping the lock-out hub from moving that amount is the tightness of the fastener-not a good formula for success. Bolts or studs makes no difference in this regard. I ended up making my own studs out of grade 8 bolts that have 1.25" of thread. Those effectively bottom in the threads of the hub bore and leave a solid shank at the surface. I couldn't find appropriate off-the-shelf studs anyplace.

 

This is just me, but I'd do a mini-spool in the rear, or better yet, stick the gears back in it and weld them up. It's more predictable than a Detroit on the street, and traction is as good as you can get.

That's just about free, so you have all that money left to do the power steering swap.

 

I've never had issues with my Warns loosing a bolt and I know about that space in the hub. I either use the stock bolts or have gotten longer shouldered bolts and cut off the threaded end to match the stock bolts.
I think I would go for the PS myself.

 

This takes my vote with a FF.

 

I'm perfectly happy with my Powerlock. The neighbor kid welded up the rear in his Blazer, it took about three days for him to destroy it. If you aren't going to a locker, a spool is good if you spend most of the time in the dirt.

 

I've welded up 5 rears so far and have no bad things to say about the results. Dana 25s up to 60s. I weld spider gears to side gears, side gears to carrier, and I'll throw in pieces of square stock between the large gap in the side gears and weld them together too. Stick weld, 7014 or 7018 for best results, from my experience. Take your time, don't overheat any of the gears or bearings. It has mostly been a last resort after I blew out the spiders and the rear was almost trashed anyway, but I did the flanged '75 D44 in my 3B from the get-go, and it has held together through the toughest of abuse for 15+ years. Many street miles on 33s, too. Chirp chirp chirp...

 

I would do the stock open diff and use a lock right or similar lunchbox locker. Easy. Cheap. And simple.

Use the leftover diff cost for ps.

Rich

 

I would not weld the differential gears or the CASE in a street driven vehicle. Been there, done that, removed tons of them for customers and replaced too many broken and twisted axles because there is no cushion or give in the drivetrain. Just too many down sides for me. If it works for you, great, but I won't recommend it. Especially on a fairly light duty axle.

 

I have the Warn FF rear axle set-up and like it very much. Really simplifies towing. I live with a tuned up Ross steering system that does fine most of the time.