I picked up a centersection w/ spool for real cheap. Is using this on the street a bad idea? A friend is giving me quite a bit of shit for using it. Thanks for any input.
Me thinks your friend's "shit" is really good advice. No one uses spools on the street for good reason. They can get you killed or seriously dead.
When you're going around a corner the inside wheel has to turn slower than the outside wheel. If the wheels are "locked" with a spool, that can't happen so, something has to give. If you have skinny tires with no traction (like on a dirt road), you might not have too much of a problem. If you have big/sticky tires on pavement you have two problems. 1. the rear axle will be stressed to the point of breaking and 2. the car will want to go straight ahead when you turn the steering wheel which could get you killed.
Plus .. rips the shit out of the rear tires; and is a GOOD way to break axles! (that's unless you NEVER, TURN ANY CORNERS! )
Any of you ever actually run a spool on the street? You can do it jsut fine, considering you know what you're doing. No wide tires, no tight, fast turns. Above facts of axle stress are true. I have run my 9" in the 67 Camaro with 9" wide slicks and a mark williams spool and 33 spline axles without trouble for 4 years. Sure you get a little chirp out of the tires occasionally, but you jsut have to be aware of what you're doing. What ARE you doing?
I run one too... take it easy in the corners, hard to push if it ever breaks down... otherwise no problem here...
you have a MARK WILLIAMS SPOOL and 33 SPLINE AXLES. thats why it dont break but the stock stuff that most people run will most definatly go kaput. a friend of mine mentioned a "poor mans posi". he siad if you added an extra spacer or two to your spiders that it will be enough pressure to hold posi but not enouch to lock both tires around a corner. never tried it but its an idea.
I've never tried the diff shim thing before, but it sounds plausible. On another note... what car manufactuer made a spool, stock? I mean how else would you run a spool anyway, other than a minispool (i've never run one though). Stock axles would prob work okay, but I needed specific length.
If you have the money by a possie . But I ran a mini spool in my A for 4 years with out any problems And I drive the shit out of my car. I have driven it to paso and Bakersfield from Sacramento. With cheater slicks also and open exaust. If thats what you got run it. Just be smart don't get on it around a corner or if it's wet. All those guys saying don't have never run one,it's because some one told them you not to. Not because they have. Scott
I've had a handfull of cars with either spools of welded spiders and dug em' all. (liked em better than a detroit locker I had) the only drawback is trying to push the fuckin car if sumthin else breaks !!!!! Unless it is straight fer-get-about it. Nuthin dumber than callin' yer friends to help you reposition your car in the garage cuz you can't push it?????? FLIP
Well I heard a story of someone losing a wheel off the car through using a spool on the street. They are actually illegal to use here in New Zealand for that reason. Best to get a posi or a Detroit locker or even one of those air operated locker deals they have in Austraila...at least you will be able to turn corners ....fully locked diffs are for drag cars only.
Here's my take: I've run several clutch and cone type posis on the street, and I've destroyed them too. They are EXPENSIVE and make a BIG mess when they let go! I even broke a stock axle while launching my 13 second '78 Malibu with an Auburn posi unit (and GM's have C clips, so when your axle breaks, it wants to leave the housing!!!). So I decided a "locker" was the way to go. WRONG!!! Just like the people above me are saying about spools, you need to pay attention, and be aware that you have a spool, the same is true with a locker. Well, with the locker, it only unlocks about 1/2 of the time when turning corners, the other 1/2 it just chirps the inside tire (and stresses the axles just like a spool). This can/will get you into troble in a hurry, because you're never sure how your differential's going to act. If you expect it to unlock and it doesn't, you could be in for trouble... If you expect it to stay locked and it unlocks, that could get you into trouble too! So, when I built my Chevy II, I opted for a spool; and I love it. It is lighter, stronger, cheaper, and has less/no parts to wear out than a posi, and it just plain works better! I'm running a 9" with a Strange center, Richmond gears, and Moser 35 spline axles, with 30x13.5 M/T ET Streets, and I don't foresee any problems with this setup, and I drive the hell out of it! While I would NEVER reccommend running a spool with stock axles, I'll put a spool in any rears I build in the future!
Light car,narrow tires,might get away with it.The heavier the car,wider the tires,more agressive the driving,the worse the results.Stock axles snap pretty easily!
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