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Longest trip since I bought 'er

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tougeagle:
I'm in Lamar, Colorado right now, 5 hours south of Greeley. I've been very worried about the drivetrain for a while, especially since I now have it narrowed to a spider gear problem in the rear diff. As such, I was pretty paranoid... the night before I drove down I went through the whole car, checked all fluids, finally FINALLY got my power steering pump lined up right (after 5 hours of cussing and banging) and gassed up.

So far she's done great, had no problems coming down other than breaking the p/s belt 110 miles from here... Though, the belt had been far too worn on one side and it was only a matter of time. However, there's an O'reillys literally right across the street from my room, and they had the belt I needed in stock. Getting at or more than 23 mpg with an average speed range of 70-90. Best seems to be at 80-85. Only two thigns about her worry me right now: the oil and the rear diff. It's about due for a change, it's been several months and 4k miles, but I spend the big bucks on the good stuff so I don't have to worry as much about going over. The rear end definitely binds up badly with the steering wheel at less than half lock in either direction and it's almost immovable, acting like a fully welded diff....

The longest drive I had taken Caroline on previous to this was Boulder and back, far less distance. The view of the mountains is three hours away, I feel like I'm in a small town in Kansas, and many of the towns I drove through were just like that. It's peaceful though, very peaceful :)

I'm down here because the trades agency I work for, Blueprint, sent me here. The contractor is paying for the hotel rooms, we are paid 40 dollars per day per diem, on top of regular income, and there is overtime every week. Roadtrip in the Eagle to make some bux, can't pass that up :D

So I'm at a crossroads as to what to do with the rear end. I've got a few options laid out though...
1. Buy a crush nut to complete the rebuild kit I already have, and rebuild it (how much longer will it last with bad spider gears???)
2. Replace the spidergears with a Powertrax automatic locker for 255 bucks shipped, and avoid rebuilding if possible (removal of carrier and pinion is not required for installation). If rebuild is necessary, then:
3. Replace the spider gears and carrier with a clutch posi (rebuild required)

I will not swap the rear end out for a jeep unit, I like my current gearing and jeep never made that ratio in a mostly compatible axle.

Pictures of lots and lots of ridiculously flat land coming soon!

IowaEagle:
I hope she holds together.  Are you running 2.35's?  Looking forward to the pictures.

Mechanic:
If i recall toug is running some funky gear ratio.

If I was you, I would cut to the chase and jump right to option 3. And i wouldn't worry about it for a little bit yet either. rear diffs are tough and as long as you avoid a lot of low speed cornering on pavement it should last quite a while.

vangremlin:
Sounds like a great road trip.  I'm glad to hear the Eagle is enjoying the trip as well!

Draekon:
I wouldn't worry about the diff too much if you take it easy on it.  Year ago I had a firebird that was making a clunking sound from the rear diff for a couple months, but it still drove alright.  It wasn't until I was driving it through some snow that I finally blew up the diff.  I guess it didn't like the difference in speed between the tires :P.  I got the car towed home, took the diff cover off, and chunks of gears spilled out.  The spider gear shaft was split in half.

Moral of the story, if you keep the wheels spinning at mostly the same speed, the diff should hold together.

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