And here's a review of the (above) Auburn ECTED - Limited Slip Locking Differential by 4WheelOffroad.com
Auburn's Electronically Controlled Traction Enhancing Differential (ECTED) - Limited Slip Locking Differential
Limited Slip to Locker With the Push of a Button
From the February, 2009 issue of 4Wheel & Off-Road - By Jerrod Jones - Photography by Jerrod Jones
We kept trying to look on the bright side as our ring-and-pinion clanged and banged while we limped our '94 Suburban home at about 2 mph; we now had a candidate to try out Auburn's Electronically Controlled Traction Enhancing Differential, or ECTED for short. Currently the ECTED is available for the GM 10- and 12-bolts, the Ford 8.8-inch, Dana 30 and 35s, and the AMC 20 found in Jeeps and H1s. Its limited application availability had kept us from testing it in the past, but now Auburn is ramping up production of more applications, and we were able to get our hands on one for a 10-bolt before our 10-bolt axle even came apart (hmmm...perhaps this contributed to its premature demise?). Whatever the reason, this rig made itself a perfect candidate for this limited slip/selectable locker with our Suburban outfitted with 31-inch BFG tires. The Suburban is kept at a dwelling with a steep dirt driveway that has its share of ruts and holes and high spots, and when snow gets laid on the path, the 'Burb sits at the top of the drive near the highway. To try and come down the drive when it has a thick winter covering would have been crazy...until now. This truck will also never see severe trail duty and is primarily transportation for us, but it definitely has to get us to our stories and their locations, past where most stock 4WDs would be stuck or turned around. It just wasn't a possibility to leave this 4x4 with an open differential after such an opportunity presented itself. With the help of Renegade Metal Works in Athol, Idaho, we towed the Suburban to the shop and installed the Auburn inside the gutted 10-bolt rearend.
To date, our Auburn has performed flawlessly. Like we said, we don't get too many miles on this rig, but we put 1,000 miles on it in about four days, with another 300 miles done a few weeks later, and we've been very pleased with the results of our ECTED install. Even unlocked in limited-slip mode, we can almost crawl out of the snow-covered dirt drive that many times required our frontend to be hooked to a towstrap. Would we throw one under a truck with 44-inch Swampers? Probably not, since there isn't a large enough (axlewise) version yet. But we'd definitely recommend it with any tire size that is reasonable with a 10- or 12-bolt differential (read: 35s or smaller!).
How It Works:
The ECTED (Electronically Controlled Traction Enhancing Differential) is a selectable locker filled with clutch packs that let it perform as a limited-slip differential when no power is being sent to the diff. Once the interior switch is thrown, power (no more than 10 amps) is drawn in and the electromagnet turns on. The coil is magnetized which pulls the pilot cone in, in turn forcing the bearing balls to ride up the side gear. This side gear moves laterally, placing pressure on the center block that places pressure on the other side gear. All this compresses the clutch pack and locks the two side gears together, resulting in a full spool instead of a differential.
We originally thought we had just lost a tooth or two on the ring gear, but it turns out that almost half the pinion gear's teeth were gone. That resulted in eating the ring gear and also destroying the open differential with the shrapnel grinding up inside. Unfortunately this axle exhibited none of these following traits, but if you've got a GM 10-bolt that you're starting to hear a clunk from, or it sometimes feels like your U-joints are worn when they're really brand new, then you better make sure you have AAA or some other towing service handy.
Since the ECTED's locked mode is activated by an electromagnet, there are no shift forks or pins that have to line up before it engages. You can turn it on or off at any speed. Auburn expects that the clutches in the limited-slip portion of the differential will last much longer than in a normal limited-slip differential in our truck. That's because most clutch wear and damage is done in short moments during loss of traction. Since the ECTED is also a selectable locker, the chances are good that it will be engaged into full spool mode during expected moments of traction loss, therefore preserving the clutches.
Since the gears started the destruction of the guts of this 10-bolt, we ordered a Yukon gearset and install kit from Randy's Ring & Pinion. You can use the VIN to get all the factory specs (including the gear ratio) from a dealership. Ours was a 3.73 gearset that we had shipped straight to Renegade Metal Works instead of carrying it onto the plane from L.A. since we already had the ECTED in our bag. Also, for future reference and as a note to ourselves: Airport security will not be happy if you do not tell them ahead of time that you have a giant round hunk of metal with wires coming out of it inside your suitcase.
Issues? Warranty?
We had one issue with this installation: When we went to install the carrier bearings on the differential, they would not go on. We tried heating them on a potbelly stove to relax them a little bit so they'd be easier to slip on, but to no avail. We quickly figured out the problem with a call to Randy's Ring & Pinion: When the folks at Chevy went from a 28-spline to a 30-spline axle on their 10-bolt differential in 1989, they received complaints of the differentials breaking around the axle input because of less material (due to a larger axleshaft).
Aftermarket differential companies took note of this and started putting more material around the bearing journal on the differential. Therefore, a bearing and race with bigger inner diameters are needed for many aftermarket differentials, Auburns being one of them. Good for strength, but bad for a mag guy and a shop named Renegade who were trying to get this install done at midnight, when all the parts stores were closed. Remember to get the right inner diameter when ordering these pieces (Timken numbers, Bearing: LM102949, Race: LM102911).Should you eventually wear out the clutches on your ECTED, you can send it back to Auburn as part of its D-REX program. The D-REX (Direct Replacement EXchange program) lets you send in any Auburn limited-slip product (including the ECTED) less than 4 years old in exchange for a replacement unit for a minimal cost. From the prices we saw, you'd be paying less than half of the normal cost of a replacement.
Source:
http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techar...ed_traction_enhancing_differential/index.html
