No, The 0.02 won't make enough of a difference to matter but if you do any 4WD driving on dry pavement I like to keep them within .01 because I've run that combo a few times and know there aren't any problems with it. Most Bronco's come from the factory with 3.55 rears & 3.54 fronts. Also, most folks don't shift into 4x4 until they're on the trail or the roads get slippery so when it's actually engaged the wheels have the opportunity to slip if the drivetrain wants to bind. If you look around there *are* companies that offer 4.11's for the D44. As Fred mentioned Randy's carries them as do a few other vendors, for some reason not everybody carries them (to be honest I think the vendors who DO carry them have figured out that even though the very small differences don't matter the fact is that people want them and rather than constantly explaining it they decided to simply cut the gears and sell people what they want. That's probably got something to do with why 4.11's for the D44 are about $75 more than 4.10/4.09's
/emoticons/
[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> ) As a good general rule of thumb if the ratios are within 1% of each other they'll work just fine on the road with no side-effects (such as binding up or breaking U-joints) and off-road (where the tires can slip occasionally) there can be up to a 2% difference. If you do the math there's only about a 1/2% difference between 4.11's and 4.09's.
As far the the differentials go. The Detroit locker is a fine unit but it's a little harsh for daily driving. The Bronco is such a short wheelbase vehicle that the differential doesn't unlock as frequently as it will on something longer like a pickup. Practically speaking this means that you usually wind up dragging one of the tires thru every turn so you not only use up your tires faster but you set up a really funky wear pattern. When I ran a Locker I was burning thru a set of 36" Ground Hawgs every 18 months and that got to be expensive real quick. A Detroit TruTrac would probably be a better choice. It's a very strong limited slip but instead of the clutch packs that starnard limited slips use (clutch packs require the addition of a friction modified to the gear oil, it has to be added every couple of years and even keeping up on the maintenance doesn't prevent the clutch packs from wearing out every 10-12 yrs) it uses a set of helical gears. No reason you can't run one in both axles.
http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/ProductsServ...etrac/index.htm
