Interesting video on a 4X4,worth watching from about the 4:30 mark on.

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Wild one

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HemiLonestar

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All the 1st gen LX cars had it, even the SRT's.....friggin worthless. They eventually got their act together with proper LSD but only on the SRT's; the 5.7 cars (except for the Mopar '11 and maybe some Challengers) were still stuck with it. Internet dudes will die on that hill claiming they have factory LSD in a 5.7 car lol.
 

HEMIMANN

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Heck, any of us great white northerners know this.

Even though it's not electronic, I really like the AAM TracRite Torsen all gear differential in my heavy duty. Hard to believe all those gears are cheaper than an electronic locker, but less things to go wrong without an electronic clutch.

It works great. I like it a lot better than limited slip clutches always dragging and throwing shavings into the gear oil, much less the all time friction reducing fuel economy.
 

Brandon-w

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I went from dodges factory locker to a trutrac when I snapped the spiders in half. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! Not all lockers are created equal and going from Factory to trutrac made a noticeable difference. And it instantly locks no jumping around and chattering. The brake lock system sucks, flooring it for a hill and start to slip it slows you way down and in the snow it usually means youre sinking or going down backwards!
 
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Wild one

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After going through 2 factory limited slips in less then 12,000 miles,i sucked it up and did a tru trac,that was back when it was expensive to put a tru trac in a ZF diff,as you had to go back to the earlier gears and buy 1 axle,but roughly 600+ drag strip passes later,it's still going strong.
The video's demostrate the shortcomings of the BLD system,as there's a couple guys on here that think it's as good as a limited slip,and clearly it leaves alot to be desired.It's better then nothing,but not by much,lo
 

HEMIMANN

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I went from dodges factory locker to a trutrac when I snapped the spiders in half. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! Not all lockers are created equal and going from Factory to trutrac made a noticeable difference. And it instantly locks no jumping around and chattering. The brake lock system sucks, flooring it for a hill and start to slip it slows you way down and in the snow it usually means youre sinking or going down backwards!

You snapped the spiders on AAM's TracRite?!
 

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I don't have trouble with the BLD function for the most part, it's just very context dependent. Since it's (only) reactive that means you have to first lose traction before it will begin to operate and when it does it's a little bit jerky if you're in a precarious position.

Years ago a Jeep drivetrain engineer Q&A revealed the insight that they aim to provide the widest envelope of capability to the largest percent of users, in other words they want to give your granny all the features in a way that works for her & not necessarily offer features that require a knowledgeable user to employ them properly.

It's been my experience with these vehicles, both my Ram and my pretend Jeep that the best approach is to drive a bit like I might if I didn't have decades of outdoorsmanship under my belt. Pretty often just committing to a line and maintaining a steady speed (not lifting my right foot or doing my own braking at the critical moment) will let the system work as designed and it can be pretty effective.

My pretend jeep has open diffs and BLD, and my 2015 ram has the OEM non-preload, clutch LSD in addition to BLD, obviously the chassis and suspension are different enough that the same spots on the same routes don't present the same challenge but when I get them into equivalent situations it's still very obvious when the LSD has become locked because as long as constant torque remains on it tends to remain tight and there's no further slip or intervention from the BLD. That's extremely useful when trying to ooze up a ledge without putting any shock loads into the axle shafts.

On the other hand my pretend jeep has no low range transfer case so the maximum torque it can deliver to the wheels is close to nothing and when BLD kicks in the loaded wheel gets half of nothing. That means most of the time when I have to climb a set of moguls the only option is to use speed and hope for the best because if I depend on BLD to stop the unloaded wheel I'm going nowhere and cooking the transmission.

I could imagine something like that being a problem in a heavily loaded Ram on 37's and real nasty terrain.

A clutch LSD with preload is a little bit proactive (and more rapidly reactive) but they wear out faster, a helical LSD is always proactive but can never approach a full lock, which matters without BLD from my experience. I've never driven a vehicle with both helical LSD and BLD, on paper it sounds like an excellent combo.

So far based on my use of the Ram truck I have not been disappointed by the BLD & no-preload factory LSD. I could imagine it being frustrating in any kind of racing or extreme terrain, or for any experienced outdoorsman who'd rather not unlearn the careful techniques they spent decades learning.
 
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Wild one

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I don't have trouble with the BLD function for the most part, it's just very context dependent. Since it's (only) reactive that means you have to first lose traction before it will begin to operate and when it does it's a little bit jerky if you're in a precarious position.

Years ago a Jeep drivetrain engineer Q&A revealed the insight that they aim to provide the widest envelope of capability to the largest percent of users, in other words they want to give your granny all the features in a way that works for her & not necessarily offer features that require a knowledgeable user to employ them properly.

It's been my experience with these vehicles, both my Ram and my pretend Jeep that the best approach is to drive a bit like I might if I didn't have decades of outdoorsmanship under my belt. Pretty often just committing to a line and maintaining a steady speed (not lifting my right foot or doing my own braking at the critical moment) will let the system work as designed and it can be pretty effective.

My pretend jeep has open diffs and BLD, and my 2015 ram has the OEM non-preload, clutch LSD in addition to BLD, obviously the chassis and suspension are different enough that the same spots on the same routes don't present the same challenge but when I get them into equivalent situations it's still very obvious when the LSD has become locked because as long as constant torque remains on it tends to remain tight and there's no further slip or intervention from the BLD. That's extremely useful when trying to ooze up a ledge without putting any shock loads into the axle shafts.

On the other hand my pretend jeep has no low range transfer case so the maximum torque it can deliver to the wheels is close to nothing and when BLD kicks in the loaded wheel gets half of nothing. That means most of the time when I have to climb a set of moguls the only option is to use speed and hope for the best because if I depend on BLD to stop the unloaded wheel I'm going nowhere and cooking the transmission.

I could imagine something like that being a problem in a heavily loaded Ram on 37's and real nasty terrain.

A clutch LSD with preload is a little bit proactive (and more rapidly reactive) but they wear out faster, a helical LSD is always proactive but can never approach a full lock, which matters without BLD from my experience. I've never driven a vehicle with both helical LSD and BLD, on paper it sounds like an excellent combo.

So far based on my use of the Ram truck I have not been disappointed by the BLD & no-preload factory LSD. I could imagine it being frustrating in any kind of racing or extreme terrain, or for any experienced outdoorsman who'd rather not unlearn the careful techniques they spent decades learning.
The downside is you have to apply the brakes to activate it,and if the front wheels aren't spinning which is a commom problem with the 1500's with the 44-44 t-case,now you're having to overcome brake drag on the front tires,as the front brakes are still being applied when the BLD is applying brake pressure to the rear diff.As demonstrated in the video's it leaves alot to be desired,especially in snow or mud,it might be semi okay rock crawling,but very few people actually go rock crawling with a 1500,but a whole lot of people will encounter snow or mud.Throw in the fact you have to be very good on brake pedal modulation to actually get it to work,and when you hit a panic situation in either snow or mud,and you need to activate it,very few people can properly activate it.
Like i said it's better then nothing,but not by much. It leaves alot to be desired for most people,as very few people can activate it properly,while a limited slip doesn't need to be activated,it's there when you need it
 

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BLD does not require the driver to touch the brake pedal. That's the point, experienced drivers who are accustomed to loading their LSD with their left foot need to unlearn that to use BLD to its best effect.
 
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Wild one

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BLD does not require the driver to touch the brake pedal. That's the point, experienced drivers who are accustomed to loading their LSD with their left foot need to unlearn that to use BLD to its best effect.
That doesn't actually work in the real world when you're in mud or snow and need to keep your wheel speed up,and you're not coming to a complete stop.Might be okay rock crawling where speeds are low,but when you're on a muddy or snowy road trying to maintain forward momentum of 30+ mph,and enough wheel speed to keep the tires clean,it's not really an acceptable option,i'd rather have an open diff that's not applying the brakes,and using all the engines torque against itself,by trying to slow wheel speeds down,lol
 

Brandon-w

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Damn you've been keeping secrets,i thought you were still single,lol
Yeah I was that didn't last Long. This one had been eyeing me for two years and told me I wasn't allowed to be single anymore. :p not sure if she's taking one for the team or doesn't know what she's getting into. Bahaha
 

kurek

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BLD and traction control are not the same thing as each other, when you turn off traction control BLD is still active.

I'm not sure I understand why this is an argument, we each have experience here. I've lived my whole life in the real world plus that's where I keep all my toys.

BLD doesn't affect throttle at all and really doesn't have down sides unless you hold it to the standard of a selectable locker which it's not. When you have open diffs and you train yourself to drive like your granny would then it's better than open diffs. When you have LSD it makes your LSD work better. When your LSD starts working BLD hands off and disappears. If you have a locker BLD disappears because the only thing it cares about is that both wheels on the same axle are going the same speed and that's satisfied as soon as a LSD or locker starts doing its job.
 
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