The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 1953 one ton locking differential

I’ve been working on a ‘53 one ton pickup for years, and it’s getting closer. I had another one years ago, and it was very poor off road. We have a farm, so this one is going to be used (carefully) off the pavement. I was thinking of adding a posi traction unit to help. I understand there are some factory Eaton “no spin” lockers out there, but they are hard to find. I’ve also heard a 14 bolt locker will fit in, and I can use 14 bolt axles instead of my old ones. Has anyone done this? Was it worth the effort?

How crazy "off road" are we talking? We used our 1-ton p/u around the christmas tree farm, sometimes in slightly muddy/soft ground, out in a grass-covered field or around a pond without any real traction issues. And as always, the more weight, the better the traction ... Tire tread makes a difference, too.

In wet muddy conditions, softroad, standing water mud more than a couple inches deep, anything where you'd be even *thinking* to put a 4wd truck into 4wd ... a locker rear won't help -- wrong truck. We had a beater 4wd 1-ton we used for that -- the "Farmdawg."

My 2 cents, anyway.

An old trick with an open differential in "stuck" conditions when only one wheel would spin is to lightly apply the brakes, which puts more resistance on the spinning wheel and makes both wheels turn.

That and John's suggestions (weight, etc.) will help. But if you run into ice with water on top of it, all bets are off. The only option there is to chain up. I've been in a situation where standing stock still on a road with freezing rain where I slid down the crown of the road.

Adding a locker to the rear of a 2WD truck is an expense that won't help that much. There are situations where even a 4WD with a LS rear can't move. Unless the front diff is also a LS type (no production truck is available that way), even a 4WD is really just 3 wheel drive.

Just light use on a farm. Mostly dry ground, in smooth fields. I’ve never driven this one, but getting close. We had another briefly, and if there was dew on the grass it was nearly helpless. I was hoping for better than that. I thought with the “traction” type 17” tires and a locker it would go pretty good. Maybe the traction tires and some weight would get me there too.

The military M38A1 Jeep had Dana type 44 axles, with lockers front and rear. Trying to push a non-running one around a parking area was a challenge- - - -the only way it wanted to move easily was in a straight line!
Jerry

That sounds more like a tire issue. If it's going to be used primarily off road, don't buy all weather touring tires.

Well, FWIW, here is an action shot of Sweet with our 1-ton out in the field assisting customers during christmas tree sales. Of course, on wet, sloppy ground, the truck would be useless. It did just fine otherwise on mostly firm ground and grass. I have used it to haul firewood a time or two ... with a load of firewood, I had traction out the wazoo.

For our choose and cut tree operation, though, we mostly used a couple of John Deere 6x4 diesel gators. From time to time, we even got miss Peggy out from behind the antique cash register to join in field ops. And her little dog, too.

Most days, the '49 would have been just fine. I just didn't want to get it dirty. But there were times when we needed a "third Gator" and Charlie did great. Not as nimble in the field as a Gator, but he picked up the slack admirably.

14 bolt Detroit locker is easy to install. Drop it in and use 14 bolt shafts from a 70’s 14 bolt. You need to trim about a half inch off the 14 bolt shafts. Or post a want to buy for an original ho52/72 no spin. Lots of guys like me have them laying around.