They all have their places, but in general can overlap in their capabilities. In the Eaton/Detroit line-up, it would stack up like so:

1) Detroit Locker – ultimate strength shy of a spool, great for off road, great for drag racing, not as street friendly, noisy, can be jerky going around corners, somewhat dangerous in wet or icy conditions.

2) Eaton E-Locker – most of the attributes of the locker, but can be deactivated for excellent use on the street. However it is more costly and is either on or off.

3) Eaton LSD – general good overall carrier for most applications, stronger than the Tru-Trac for drag racing – especially with the 800lb springs (400lb springs come standard), will still pull when one tire leaves the ground in an off-road application, the clutches will wear out but is rebuild-able, not as smooth through the corners as the Tru-Trac. On a side note: when equipped with the 800lb springs, the Eaton LSD can somewhat take on the characteristics of a locker in loose dirt, gravel or generally loose conditions and care needs to be observed.

4) Detroit Tru-Trac – excels in road race applications, smooth application of power through corners, decently strong, not good in off-road applications due to the carrier having the tendency sending power to the wheel with least resistance, not rebuild-able and contrary to popular belief they can wear out due to the gear to case clearance increasing with usage, once the clearance becomes too great the carrier will stop equally distributing power.

The Auburn Pro-Series is a decently strong carrier as well; it would be somewhat comparable to the Eaton LSD in its application of power as well as its capabilities. The non Pro-Series don’t have a great track record behind good power and tend to wear out prematurely. The Auburn carriers are also non rebuild-able, once the cone to case wears out it’s done.

Of course there are quite a few other carriers available, like the ARB Air Locker, Yukon Dura Grip and so on, but like I already said, they for the most part overlap in their coverage and most people here use one of the above. Bottom line is the Tru-Trac and Eaton LSD will be more than good enough and really are the right choices for a street driven vehicle.

 

Hmmm...I drive my truck in the snow, and I've been set on a trutrac. I've heard conflicting info on this, I remember a similar debate a while back and a bunch of guys jumped in saying how their trutrac functioned flawlessly in the snow. I shouldn't have a problem though...if the rear slips, the front should take up the slack...just have to hit the little "4HI" button on the left

 

I don't think it'll be bad in the snow but have yet to have the chance to try. I've climbed out of a hole onto a wet road and the tire spun a little then locked and climbed out. can't imagine it trying to immediately lock while driving on ice. Not as long as you don't go nuts with the throttle. It does require some tension to make it lock.

But I see his point.

 

I guess in a bind you could always cover the brake to apply some pressure...

 

Exactly what I was thinking...I don't see why this would be a problem.

Tru-Trac here too, BTW, at least I did have one until I sold the truck...

 

Plain and simple, the trutrac is a torque multiplying rear differential. Without any torque applied to the right rear, it can't send anything to the left rear. You have to find out the torque bias of the differential before ordering (I'm not going to do the research). If it's well say 1.5:1 which is what a zexel torsen camaro diffy is, that means it can multiply torque to the left rear by 1.5 times what is currently on the right rear. If you're on ice or it's in the air, your torque load is near or is ZERO. 1.5 times zero is nothing. You've got just 1 tire spinning dude If you're in a ditch or muddy situation where there's a "little" traction, you'll see the left rear tire move a "little" as well but nothing near what the right rear is doing. That's when you need to put your ebrake on halfway to trick the differential into thinking there's a load on the right rear wheel.

 

I work on a farm so 4x4 is mandatory due to mud, loose dirt, etc. Since I installed a Trutrac earlier this year I haven't played with the 4x4 buttons as much. In fact I think I could get away with it on a 2wd with LSD lol

In the streets works perfect IMO, if you smash the gas the truck jumps forward moving a bit side to side