Eaton True Trac Differential
With the new transmission finally able to throw some horsepower to the rear tires it was apparent that the factory open rear differential was not going to cut it. One wheel burnouts and constantly spinning a tire when you'd lay into the throttle got old quick, as the wasted potential of this truck on the street was a real downer. Something needed to be done to ensure we could transfer power to both tires, helping plant the power to the power and get this truck running down the road and drag strip like it should.
And while a locking differential offers good forward momentum and traction, it leaves something to be desired on a daily driver, as a fully locked differentially will constantly be scrubbing the inside tire around corners and tight turns, not something we're fond of. Especially on a daily driver truck such as this, we needed something a little more street friendly, something like the factory limited slip differential could offer.
While we looked at the OEM style limited slip, we wanted something that could handle some horsepower and torque without worry of slipping clutches when we wanted to get a little aggressive on the throttle.
The Eaton True Trac differential seemed to be just what we looking for with its internal gear sets and limited slip qualities, we'd be able to daily drive all we wanted without scrubbing tires and still have the solid lockup under heavy acceleration. Sending equal amounts of power to each tire really relieved our traction issues and now the truck can accelerate without issue.
Installing the True Trac differential was all that tough, but we would recommend having a quality shop make the swap for you, as there are some specialty tools and some pretty precise measurements needed to ensure it is set-up correctly. Swapping your factory ring gear over to the new differential and adjusting your back lash and gear travel to the correct specs is very important to the durability of your rear-end. We also installed a PML Differential Cover on our truck while we had everything disassembled for an extra little fluid capacity and their stylish looks, it also matches the transmission pan we installed to a tee.
So there it is, the completion of our 7.3L Power Stroke build-up, hopefully these past couple articles have shown you just how big the aftermarket really is for these older Ford diesels. While they may not make horsepower as easily as the newer trucks on the road, it can still be done, it just takes the proper combination of parts, couple weekends in the garage, and some tools. We turned an old $3,500 work truck in to a pretty impressive little street truck, something with some power under the hood with the style to go with it.