Ok, so until I get my frame fixed/strengthened, I won't be doing much offroad with my 89 K1500 Chevy. But in WV, we get snow. I have no budget, becasue I am still paying on my wife's car. What works good for snow? I have stock-type wheels and tires, no lift. I am not looking for serious offroad capability. I seek something to get by on for a year or two. Thanks.  

I don't understand your acronym "LSD."

I have plain snow tires on my parent's Caravan and they work very nicely in snow. Before it was easily stuck in snow over 6" deep, now I'm able to bust through snow up to 15" deep, and the front end only has about 7" ground clearance. On most snowy days, it acts like the road is rain-slicked instead of snow covered.

For cars, I hear Subaru's are nice. (all-wheel drive)

A couple of scenarios;

If your truck already has factory posi, getting a good LSD will be a little more expensive as none of the drop-in lockers (ones that use the stock carrier and only replace the spider gears) will fit.

If you have an open diff, you can get a drop in locker such as a lock-right or a power-trax. Downside is that lockers can cause unpredictable handling and severe oversteer (read ass-over-teakettle) on slippery surfaces.

With an open diff (aka one wheel peel), the spinning tire seeks traction, while the not spinning tire retains the lateral stability of the vehicle. When both rear wheels spin, all lateral traction is lost, and the vehicle will fishtail. This is more prevalent with a real locker as versus an LSD.

LSD's will allow tires on the same axle to turn at different speeds, which makes them better suited to on-road slippery surfaces than a locker.

As far as LSD options, there are tonnes. Eaton makes a really tight posi for the k-trucks, and the detroit true-trac is a "torque biasing differential" which functions mre like a posi than a locker, but is spring and clutchless, making it strong and long lived with better than posi traction.

Any LSD option for your truck will likely require carrier replacement, as the posi unit will be integral with the carrier. This means you would have to remove your ring gear from the old carrier and transfer it to the new carrier, and set up the gears as if you made a ratio change. This can be time consuming, but is quite do-able at home with the right tools and a little know-how.

Having driven a regular detroit locker (not the new true-trac) in winter for a year, I would reccomend an LSD over a full blown locker if you are going to put on alot of snowy/icy highway miles.

Good luck. 

I agree w/ guy, putting a locker in a truck that will see lots of snow is asking for trouble. The Detroit Tru-Track is the best LSD but is also fairly pricey.  

You were talking about differentials?

If you want something to keep you from getting stuck and your on a budget, tire chains would be much cheaper. (of course you can't drive fast with them on)

If you don't have the proper tools to install a ring and pinion it can be very pricey to get a limited slip diff in.

Like I said before, I like snow tires. However a few all-terrains have a mountain snowflake symbol, indicating they passed a rigorous severe winter driving test. These would probably be almost as good as snow tires in winter, but they can be used year-round. BFG All-Terrains and Pro-Comp's all-terrains have this mountain snowflake.

If you are goinf to re-gurgitate information I have already posted, at least give me credit.

LSD, stands for Limited Slip Differential.

Guyonmob, if you were refering to me, read the post before you go off, *i agree w/ guy...*, I was just giving my opinon which happened to be the same as yours and instead of retyping all the info, I just said I agree w/ you and then said what I thought would be best!  

I was referring to aircraftmechanic, as the post he made regarding tires is identical to one I made in another forum. Could be co-incidence though, in retro-spect it was an inappropriate off the cuff comment. No offense intended aircraftmechanic.

I agree 100% with what you said Blackchevy. Before you "go-off" read the header of the post to see who it is adressed to. 8)

Blood-pressures seem high today! (mine included!)....8)

Who reads those headers anyway, haha, I wasn't mad, but maybe further clarifation would be nice, or maybe I just need glasses!  

Headers are what you replace rusty exhaust manifolds with?

8)

I'm a little confused. Some of what I know I've read off the internet in rooms like this, but I've been at so many different sites and seen so many posts I have a hard time remembering where I've learned stuff from. I had no intention of plagerism.

The only info I claim to be mine is my own experiences with snow tires on my parents Caravan.

Sorry for the confusion...

No apology neccessary. I was in the wrong, which is why I retracted my original statment in my previous post.