Traction-lock Rebuild Questions

90mustangGT · Aug 31, 2004

I need to rebuild the factory traction-lock unit. I've never done this before and I am wondering if I will need any specail tools. What is the difficulty level? I've heard of packing extra clutch packs to increase it's stiffness. Does the Ford Traction-lock Rebuild Kit come with the extra packs? Is there a better aftermarket kit out there?

OL' WHITEY · Sep 1, 2004

I found a link for you. http://svo73mm.cjb.net Go to my stang section. In misc., go to BroncoII air dam link. It takes you to an old brazaeu racing site. Go to tech section. There's a write-up in there on rebuilding your trac-loc to lock up quicker. I haven't tried it, but I'd like to. It doesn't sound like you need anything special to do it. You may need some sort of grinder to take a little material off your c-clips once you are buttoning things up. If you try it, let me know if it works.

90mustangGT · Sep 1, 2004

'preciatit

Thanks for showing me the way through that maze, that's what I was looking for, thanks!!!

90mustangGT · Sep 1, 2004

Just got back from Mustangs Unlimited with a Traction-lock rebuild kit and 3qts of Redline 70W90 Sythetic Gear Lube which is what is in it now. The rebuild kit came with some Ford additive friction modifier. My question is should I use the additive? Redline says it isn't always nessasary unless there is chatter, and I don't want it to interfear with the Redline fluid, plus it smells like a dead skunk in the sun on the side of the road in 90* heat.

bgjohnson · Sep 1, 2004

the bottle should say it right on there. I know that royal purple doesn't need the additive. if it doesn't say it shouldn't hurt it to put it in, but I'd definately read the label and see what it says.

OL' WHITEY · Sep 2, 2004

Hey 90. Glad I could help. I wanted to send you directly to the Brazeau site, but it has been updated and the info. is no longer there. The guy who runs it used to autocross a fox. He has since started racing a BMW, and that's all he has info. on. I am doing a five lug conversion soon and will be into the rear end to change axles. I was thinking about doing my trac-loc rebuild at that time. Please email me and tell me how your rebuild goes. I'm very interested!! I'm especially interested in seeing if you go the "quicker lock up" route and have to grind down the c-clips. Keep in touch!! Oh, by the way, I have no idea about whether or not to use the friction mod with redline. I always just use the valvoline synthetic blend and the friction mod. It makes the whole garage smell fresh like rain on a cool spring morning!!!

bc474 · Sep 2, 2004

I used the exact same Redline Synthetic when I rebuilt mine. I used the friction modifier to. No problems, been about 2 years. The actual rebuild is a piece or cake. No special tools at all. Only thing remotely hard was getting that dang spring back in with the new clutch.

O, and dont do it 5 minutes after you drive it. That sucker gets a lot hotter than you would think.

90mustangGT · Sep 2, 2004

Redline says you can use it, but is not nessasary. I'll just go ahead and use it because it won't hurt anything and only could help.

I'm going to do this at work so I will have more resorces for grinding and all. I am even thinking of going with 4.10's or higher, but lack the funds.

Mavrick · Sep 2, 2004

You are supposed to SOAK the clutches in the frictino modifier for a few hours before installtion.. then use that same friction modifier in the diff.

90mustangGT · Sep 2, 2004

I read that part about soaking the clutches, makes sense.

I also looked in www.50tech.com at their articals on the subject. They said to just reuse one of the clutches on each side, but did not mention anything about grinding the C-clips or something.

Mavrick · Sep 3, 2004

That just makes your clutches tighter together.. another trick is to jam an S spring from an F150 8.8 rear end into your rebuild, it applies more force on the spider gears, which transfer force to the clutches, which = two wheel peel

When we built mine, my old clutches were so toast that i could barely tell them apart from the shims, they had 0 friction material left on them! We used a couple extra shims to tighten it all up.

90mustangGT · Sep 10, 2004

Installed the kit today. I did the rebuild like said in 50Tech and Ol'Whitey's suggestions. Taking it all apart was pretty easy but reinstalling was more difficult due to more clutches and everything being much tighter. Most of the clutches were toast, but there were two of them in good shape, which were in the middle. They had some wear but not alot, so I put them back in the middle along with the new clutches and discs. I didn't soak the new clutches that long, only about an hour. They were saturated.

Took it for a drive. Went to a movie theater parking lot near where I work and peeled out. I couldn't be more happy, two exact skidmarks. They started and ended in the exact same place, and stayed consitantly evenly dark and faded evenly, IOW, I looked like exact copies of each other. Just like I wanted. You can feel the difference in the drive also.

I just want give thanks for all of your input to everyone who replied to this thread. I am glad I didn't go with a full spool now.

Legendary · Sep 10, 2004

Did you take any pics of your install? Did you have to grind? I know mines need it soon.

Scorcher2005 · Sep 10, 2004

so how many clutches did you use, 4? (2 old, 2 new?) and did you use the F-150 spring? How long did it take you? And whats the part number and place of ordering the kit from?

PNY PWR · Sep 10, 2004

Just got my rebuild kit from 50resto today. Still waiting on the 3.73's from JD's. What's all this about using some of the old clutches? Don't you just replace the old with the new? Do you just use the same shim that's in it now? What's with the clutch measuring tool in the instructions from Ford? Is the not needed?

Got N2O · Sep 10, 2004

I just redid mine. It was a little tight packing it all in with the new clutches, but nothing too hard. My FMS instruction sheet said 15 minutes for soaking the clutches in the friction modifier. I've also heard to drive some curves in both directions to break it in (around the block this way, then back around). Why the hell would you grind the c-clips? Sounds like a recipie for disaster? Are you talking about making the clips thinner to reinstall them easier? That souldn't be necessary unless maybe you are using repair bearings on your rear axles? (You can't push the axles in as far with the repair bearings installed)

OL' WHITEY · Sep 14, 2004

hey 90, I'm glad your install was a success! I'm doing mine Thursday night. I'm glad I could assist. PNYPWR and Scorcher, chek out the links in the earlier posts for answers to your questions. BTW, I'm going to try to install the F-150 S-spring. I'll let you all know how it goes.

PNY PWR · Sep 14, 2004

Thanks Whitey, that cleared it up.

As a side note, this rebuild kit stinks like cat pee.

Papageof · Sep 15, 2004

I just read that article on 5.0tech and they didn't pull the trac-lok out. Can it really be done like that? Geese if i new that i would have done it months ago

PNY PWR · Sep 15, 2004

Yeah, you just pull the cover, cross pin, axles, s springs, and spider gears. From there you can remove the clutch packs.

Traction-lock Rebuild Questions

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