How Do I Know If My Jeep Has Trac Lok? (Explained)
Anytime one of your rear wheels gets stuck on a slippery surface, several operations usually happen under the vehicle.
First, the Trac-Lok often provides more torque to the tire with the most traction to pull out the stuck wheel.
However, not all automobiles have a Trac-Lok; this article will tell you how to identify if your Jeep has this mechanism.
To know if you have a Trac-Lok differential, first ensure the vehicle transmission is on neutral. Then, jack up the axle or try suspending the back wheels in the air and spin one of the tires. If the opposite wheel turns in the same direction as the rotating tire, you have a Trac-loc.
What Is a Jeep Trac-Lok?
The anti-spin differential, often called a Trac-Lok, comes designed to maintain torque between the rear wheels of your Jeep.
Furthermore, this device is traction-sensitive to slippery or rough conditions of your back tires. In other words, this device can detect the wheel that has more grip on the road.
Immediately after this, the Trac-Lok channels enough spinning power to the rear wheel with high traction or good grip. You may look into Vari-Lok.
When this happens, it allows the trapped tire to easily move off the ice, mud, or any slippery surface.
Importantly, there are many differentials and driving systems that have almost similar functions to your Trac-Lok limited-slip differential.
Notwithstanding, I’ll talk about them in a bit to put up a clearer picture of a Trac-Lok differential. Then, you’ll see the relationship between them and your limited rear slip differential or Trac-Lok.
Making a turn wouldn’t have been possible if two wheels were locked on an axle or not allowed to turn separately.
Either the left or the right side of the rear wheels would have to slide out of the vehicle. However, this situation won’t be good for the automobile setup of the car.
So, the manufacturers had to discover a way of connecting both rear wheels to the engine without sliding during turns.
Nevertheless, the device which makes this possible is a part of the rear axle, the differential.
It’s called a differential since it can move the back wheels at different speeds.
#1. The Open or Standard Differential
A standard differential allows the wheels at the back to rotate at different speeds while going in the same direction.
For instance, if you’re making a turn, perhaps taking a right corner or turning to the right.
In truth, the left rear wheel will cover more distance than the right rear wheel. That means the outside or left rear wheel needs to turn faster than the inside or right wheel.
If it’s not programmed this way, one of the wheels would have to slip or slide.
The drawback of the open differential is that it gives torque to the wrong wheel. To illustrate, if your Jeep is stuck on a slippery surface, power will go to the low traction tire.
But channeling more torque to the least resistance wheel won’t be able to get you out!
Unfortunately, that’s what an open differential does between the two wheels. To make matters worse, at times, the wheel with the good grip gets little or no power, and that’s bad.
However, this is where the limited-slip differential comes in; it does the opposite!
#2. Limited Slip Differential or Trac-Lok
The open or standard differential, as we have seen, is capable of turning wheels independently and at different RPMs.
But, the standard differential can’t detect the wheel that has a better grip on the road.
Observing this, manufacturers introduced the Trac-Lok differential to your vehicle. For example, let’s say you’re in a situation where one of your wheels is on a surface with good traction.
Then, the other tire is on a slippery track; here’s what happens if your Jeep has a Trac-Lok differential.
This anti-spin differential will send the majority of the power to the wheel with a better surface grip. So the vehicle would be able to move to overcome the problem.
#3. The Brake-lock Differential
The BLD or Brake-lock differential gives great traction when rock climbing through severe off-road terrain.
The BLD automatically controls side-to-side wheel speed across the driven axle. Also, the system does not care how fast the tires are turning.
It just maintains the movement of each wheel to improve traction, and it works on both front and rear axles. On the other hand, the Trac-Lok works majorly on the back wheel.
The limited-slip differential automatically proportions the usable tire with more torque if traction differs between the two rear wheels.
Additionally, the slip rear differential is always active and works independently of the brake-lock differential.
As a result, the Trac-Lok offers a smoother transition of power on slippery tracks, like ice, sand, or snow-covered roads; however, if the Trac-Lok can’t handle a situation, the Brake-lock differential kicks in to solve the problem.
#4. The Four-wheel Drive System
Vehicles with a four-wheel-drive option get a similar function to what a Trac-Lok differential does.
So, don’t worry if your Jeep is stuck with one wheel on ice and the other on hard pavement.
Even though the automobile is an open differential, the 4WD would eliminate the issue.
In a four-wheel drive, the system engages the vehicle’s four tires. Doing this delivers a 50/ 50 split of torque to the front and rear axles.
That enables all the wheels of your car to rotate simultaneously and makes it even possible to climb hills.
So, the 4WD can equally pull out the Jeep from slippery or loose surfaces like ice and snow-covered roads.
But, the difference between the Trac-Lok from 4WD is that the limited differential is always active.
Nonetheless, you’ll have to shift your vehicle to a 4WD system before activating.
How Do I Identify My Trac Loc Differential?
You can identify your Trac-Lok differential by viewing the codes on the metal differential tag.
This metal tag or code tab is attached to one of the bolts on the differential cover.
So, if you see an L within the digits on the code tab, you have a Trac-Lok.
For instance, 4L-10 indicates a limited-slip or a Trac-Lok inside the differential housing. However, there’s another way to identify the Trac-Lok differential if you don’t find a code tab.
Simply, you would have to open the differential housing to ensure a limited-slip differential in your vehicle.
Keep in mind that the differential housing has several components, including the Trac-Lok. So now, find a suitable spanner to unscrew the bolts on the differential cover.
Also, you can equally get a torque wrench to ease the fastening and loosening job.
After taking out the differential case or cover, you’ll see the Trac-Lok differential beside the ring gear.
When you’re done, fasten the bolts according to their torque specifications, following the torque instructions that came with your differential cover.
Summary
It’s not a big deal to identify whether your Jeep has a Trac-look or not. You just need to jack up the rear wheel axle to suspend the tires in the air and spin a wheel.
Finally, if the opposite rear tire is going the same direction as the one you rotated, you have a Trac-Lok!
