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Old Wed, July 1st, 2009, 10:46 AM
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Jackpine Jackpine is offline
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Limited slip means you get power to the wheel on an axle that is NOT slipping. With limited slip, on a 2-wheel drive vehicle, if say, you roll your left rear tire onto a patch of ice and it begins to spin, power will be delivered to the right rear wheel and that will push you off the slippery spot. If you don't have a limited slip differential, all the power simply goes to the slipping wheel and you just sit there.

The meaning is a bit more complicated if the vehicle is 4-wheel drive. You might have the ability to get power to the front if the rear is slipping or vice-versa. You also might have the ability to get power to ANY wheel that is not slipping instead of just the non-slipping axle. I honestly don't know which system we have on the f150.

So, looks like you don't want to take your truck into really slippery conditions (like an off-road mud wallow).

- Jack