When it comes to the rear axle on a vehicle it can be somewhere people do not have the knowledge on what is best. Everyone has in their head what they think they want, but what can you actually use may be something completely different.

The Eaton Detroit Truetrac is available for most rearends.

A electronic or air locker can be engaged with a flip of a switch, but what about something that does not need anything else. This is where Eaton‘s Detroit Truetrac differential comes into play.

The Truetrac operates as a standard or open differential under normal driving conditions, allowing one wheel to spin faster or slower as necessary. When a wheel encounters a loss of traction or the terrain changes, the gear separation forces take effect and transfer torque to the high-traction wheel.

Jeff Saxton, from Eaton, said, “The Truetrac in terms of design is one of the oldest in our product line. It is properly referred to as a helical-gear limited slip differential. It functions on what is called gear separation forces.”

Hopefully we did not loose you with the technical terms. Jeff explained what gear separation forces mean, “Gear separation forces are generated on the differential anytime there is load on the driveline. More specifically when there are differences in the axle shaft torque. We are mainly interested on the traction created by a tire. Changes can come from slick spot on the road or soft surfaces like sand off-road.”

“When gear separation force happens it creates bias in the differential. Bias is nothing more than a restriction to the free differentiation. On a street to strip application the Truetac helps both tires drive in unison when taking off from the line. In an off-road application the principal is the same and give both tires the most traction possibly allowing for better traction,” Jeff said.

The change is not noticeable to the driver. The Truetrac is something that weekend warriors can us in their vehicle and know that wether they hit the street, strip, or dirt on the weekend they can get to work on Monday. For more information and application guide be sure to check out Eaton’s website.