Spider gear replacement in Trac Lok

Ole Rusty

Shadetree Mechanic
Lifetime Supporting Member
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Oct 8, 2022
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Location
Kentucky
Pulled the front and rear differential covers to take a peek at gear condition since the Jeep is approaching 200k miles. No surprise on the front but the rear spiders are damaged.

Not a big deal and figured I'd just swap them out since side gears look fine. Buuuutttt, I'm used to seeing a bolt holding in the cross pin and this has a roll pin. Is there a trick to removing the roll pin? Or will it drive all the away thru the ring? Roll pin hole appears to go thru but I can't tell. Was hoping to swap these in the housing if possible.

05 Unlimited. Dana 44 w/ Trac Lok


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It's common to need to remove the ring gear to get the cross pin out. The roll pin can be punched through either direction.

Make sure to thoroughly clean out the diff and all parts since you probably have metal floating around.

I have not regeared a Dana 44, but if any shims fall out make sure you keep track of which shims belong to which side.

Let us know if you need further assistance getting the carrier in/out.
 
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IF you still have the stock gearing installed; once you have the roll pin removed there should be just be enough clearance to slide the cross pin out without disassembling the carrier.
Once you install 4.11 gears or higher; you will probably need to remove the ring gear.
 
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Trac Lok is a bit more involved and you have to pull the carrier and ring gear. Here is the manual to give you an idea what is involved. https://media.spicerparts.com/cfs/files/media/PJTM8M3vzjeT4ch7H/5313-3.pdf?token=eyJhdXRoVG9rZW4iOiIifQ==&store=original

Thanks for the link. That confirms what I was afraid of. Not a huge deal but also not as easy as the open diff.

Now the question becomes do I do it right and attempt to replace the clutch in packs, just pull it and slap in some spiders, or look at a TruTrac or maybe the Dura Grip.

The full rebuild option for the stock Traclok seems to be comparable to the cost of one of the after market LSD options. Found this thread on the forum about the merits of both TruTrac and Dura Grip and the consensus points towards the TruTrac.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/trying-to-decide-on-truetrac-duragrip-limited-slip.64525/

This is my fun mobile that may see 2-3k miles a year and my usage is light off road, think service roads and mild trails, hunting, fishing spots, etc. Based on that, and all three options (OEM Traclok, TruTrac, and Duragrip) being LSD, which way would you lean? In terms of money the best price on Tru Trac is $580 while the Dura Grip can be snagged off of Amazon at the moment for $320.

I'm tempted to just toss in the spiders and just roll for now.

Edit: also tempted to put in some new grease and keep rolling since it's not noisy. Issue there is I can't unseen it. Should've never looked
 
Thanks for the link. That confirms what I was afraid of. Not a huge deal but also not as easy as the open diff.

Now the question becomes do I do it right and attempt to replace the clutch in packs, just pull it and slap in some spiders, or look at a TruTrac or maybe the Dura Grip.

The full rebuild option for the stock Traclok seems to be comparable to the cost of one of the after market LSD options. Found this thread on the forum about the merits of both TruTrac and Dura Grip and the consensus points towards the TruTrac.
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/trying-to-decide-on-truetrac-duragrip-limited-slip.64525/

This is my fun mobile that may see 2-3k miles a year and my usage is light off road, think service roads and mild trails, hunting, fishing spots, etc. Based on that, and all three options (OEM Traclok, TruTrac, and Duragrip) being LSD, which way would you lean? In terms of money the best price on Tru Trac is $580 while the Dura Grip can be snagged off of Amazon at the moment for $320.

I'm tempted to just toss in the spiders and just roll for now.

Edit: also tempted to put in some new grease and keep rolling since it's not noisy. Issue there is I can't unseen it. Should've never looked

If you shop around you can find Trac Loks for $300. In order of preference of limited slips for me would be Truetrac, Auburn, Eaton Posi, Dura Grip and then Trac Lok.
 
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