I think this is a faily rare occurrence compared to say the eaton lockers out there or others that are availible. 10bolts are going to be somewhat weak no matter what. A trutrac is still the way to go until you get north of 400hp or major abuse. the price is awesome and it has no clutch packs which wear over time. 100s of trutracs with no failures vs the hand full of guys who are high powered and most likely abusing their trucks. (I don't mean this in a bad way burnouts and racing are what these trucks are being built to do.) I bet you can't find truck under 400hp that blew a trutrac apart on this site.

 

Mine never blew apart. It got chewed up inside. After I figured out when I bought it I believe I had about 5k miles on it. My truck is a street tire truck with a foot brake. I used it with my Magnacharger. My fastest run was 12.42 in the 1/4 mile. When I did the turbo engine I wanted to change gears so I tore it apart. It should have handled my power I had without a problem at all. The problem you see in this post wasnt due to power at all. It was a poor design and lack of knowledge during the install. Thats why I started this thread to help anyone else with one.

From what I have recently learned about the TrueTrac I wouldn't tell people to not get one, I would just say make darn sure that plug between the axles is in there very tight, and don't ever install it with used C clips.

If I were to suggest things to the engineers I would tell them to put a stop in the gear the axle slides into so that the C clip cant rotate, and make the thrust area on the housing 360 degrees. Right now it is about 270 degeees, and is a pretty poor design.

The one thing everyone should do is pull the cover within 1 year of the purchase in case it is getting chewed up. If more than a year passes, you are SOL even if you only have 5k miles on it.

 

Funny thing is the only time that gear should be turning seperate from the case is going around a corner. And even then your only going to see a slight rotational difference from left to right. Which side was the worse gear and thrust surface on? Left?
Damage done possibly when doing burnouts at the track? Or on the street doesn't matter.
It is still only a limited slip not a posi. Meant to help with traction to the tire that has the least amount of traction not equal out tire spin. Just .02.
Not triying to blame or say you did anything wrong, just describing how it works. I think that your recomendation for the c clips is wonderful and should be in the installation destructions.

 

Are there any specific things I can mention to an installer to help prevent this? Mine is going in on Monday. I'd need to sound like I knew what I was talking about..

 

I think the worst thing for this setup is a long gradual turn like going on a long bend of a thruway. I have never done a donut with my truck. I will only do a rolling burnout, and the truck always spins posi.

My right side was the bad side. Other members have ahd the left side.

I have never had any noises come from the rear end indicating there was a problem

I really think the problem comes down to the C clips, and how they turn inside of the gear. The C Clips holds that gear out away from the housing. The plug holds the axle out therefore holding the C clips out. At this point after taking it apart to look at it, I would get another one int he future, but I would take it apart before the install, and put a piece of weld in the gear to keep the C clip from turning.

If anyone is reading this that has a TrueTrac, and are wondering if there is wear there, I think you can do an easy check. Im not sure if this will work, but wiggle the truck side to side by the top of the box. If you hear a clunking sound coming from inside the rear, it could be your axles hitting the plug suggesting that it is too lose. Now mine is nice and tight, and I have made some hard pulls with it lately.

 

Get new C Clips. Without taking it apart to weld a piece on the gear to keep the C clip from moving, I would just make sure that plug fits in there nice and tight. Im sure taking it apart will void the warranty, and I would be certain welding the gear would. If there is something that your mechanic can think of that will keep your C clip from turning that will not weaken the C clip it might be worth a shot (remember that is the only part holding your axle in place). Most importantly take your cover off and inspect it BEFORE the year is up from the time you purchased it, even if there are no noises coming from it. inspect the oil, mine had sery small metal filings in it. I never even noticed them at first.

 

Great info! I like how you seem to keep it unbiased and simply post your findings, void of emotion.
Now I've gotta find some time to check the truetrac in my Sierra! Probably about 25k mi on it...

 

had mine apart several times and never noticed anything like this. been abusing it for 5 yrs. now. going to have failures with any brand. like said the 10 bolt is not the best no matter which unit you use.

 

Heres what happened to mine with no racing. I DD drive my truck and pull a trailer. It also has 160k on it. I'll buy another one to replace it with. Still in the truck workin' for now.. lol

 

Went to put my 5 lug axles in the other day and noticed this same problem on the left side.. Couldn't get the c-clip out..
Also been noticing the LR quits spinning during a burnout ..
Has anyone had any luck with the valuetrac??