Traction control vs. Locking differential

I don't have traction control on any of my vehicles and glad of it. I had a rented car with it on a visit to PA. during a snow storm. I always like to "get a run" for a snow covered hill but the T/C wouldn't let me accelerate. Luckily the hill wasn't too long and I got to the top before running out of momentum. It doesn't pertain to the subject here but I have lockers front & rear on my Jeep truck for off-road and like them...

Do you plan to "off-road" with this truck? In my experience, there is one place that I have ever driven (okay, maybe two) where the locking/limited slip differential allowed me to continue. The place that I am thinking of is down a two track where the road has washed out. Due to this being in a curve on a hill, at some point you have to cross over the wash out. With our 1/2 ton Burb that had locking differential, this was the one place that I knew it worked and kept us going. With my current van, I no longer even think about going that far down that road cause I fear I won't make it. Haven't been back there with anyone else in case I get hung up.

The second place is the Silver Lake Sand Dunes, but I had both my Burb and an Envoy XL on the dunes and the Envoy did fine even with the open diff.

Last year was the first winter we had our van and I was a little concerned about how it was going to do. I considered getting snow tires prior to the winter, but decided to hold off and see how it did. With about 200# of salt in the back and the traction control I didn't have any problems with the van. This was even with the highway type V-Steel Rib Bridgestones on it. Tirerack markets these as summer highway. I actually prefered driving the van in the snow and ice over my front wheel drive Cruze.

My previous experience with an open diff vehicle was my 94 Caprice Wagon. In the five west Michigan winters I drove that car not once did I ever get stuck or have a problem. I even went to work one morning where I was pushing snow with the front bumper. The Wagon actually did better than the 94 Caprice Sedan that I had after it with the locking diff.

Basically, my experience has been an open diff vehicle is fine as long as you have the proper weight for traction. Having good tires is the next most critical thing in my experience.

Traction control helps but I will take my Truetrac limited slip differentials anyday.

My 2011 F250 has both traction control and locking differential that came standard with the XLT package. Both effective but for different situations. Pulling the TT out of the wet muddy ground in the spring the locking differential did a great job. In snow and wet the traction control does the job. For rocking back and forth to get out of a snow drift it is best to shut off the traction control and just use the locking diff.

The locking differential does not send to the wheel with traction (that would be positraction). The differential locks and both wheels turn under power together.

Traction control is no substitute for limited slip, which mechanically diverts power across the differential.

Traction control slows a slipping wheel via braking and/or cutting engine output, but there are many situations where you don't want to do this.

I prefer limited-slip to lockers, because it's active all the time.
A locker is only good when you activate it, mainly in very slick conditions.

Get some sort traction aid other than the traction control. All the traction control does is limit the amount of torque to the wheels in order to prevent wheel spin, but if one wheel has little or no traction, all the torque management in the world can't get you out of that situation. With a locking differential, power will be sent to the wheel with traction to get you out of a situation.

As good - no. But effective in slippery weather, yes! In fact, it probably offers better control in snow and ice than a locker since it adjusts torque bias as needed. But under very severe scenarios where one wheel has zero traction, a locker will transfer power better.