Houston, we have a problem.....
#21
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I'm not sure that a locker would help at all. My guess is that those tracks were more or less the same friction and he was sitting there spinning all four. Like Elton said, I've seen a locker make the situation much worse!
Last edited by GV27; 01-07-2008 at 03:12 PM.
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Better tires, chains, and lowering your pressure is your best bet. Locker is not worth squat when you have pretty even traction (snow/ice) among all 4 tires on a slick surface. Anyone that's tried a locker in snowpack/ice without chains can attest. Very dangerous and gets more dangerous as the road gets slicker.
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As for the momentum, and "give er hell", I was doing plenty of both, and did not give up untill I had made several attempts. Including backing down to a level spot, and giving er hell , and it helped, but with limited success. I didn't stop for anything, untill I was spinning my tires helplessly for a little bit.
#28
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Any sort of locker will have you walking up that hill with ease...
You can get a Lockright or Aussie shipped for about $250 and install it yourself in an afternoon. You won't believe the difference it makes. I can litterally go places in 2wd now that before took 4lo and a lot of pedal. In 4wd the truck is nothing short of amazing.
An ARB or Elocker would be your best option of course, followed by a full Detroit or Trutrac, and last but not least, a lunchbox locker. Those options decline in price in that order too. Go figure.
You can get a Lockright or Aussie shipped for about $250 and install it yourself in an afternoon. You won't believe the difference it makes. I can litterally go places in 2wd now that before took 4lo and a lot of pedal. In 4wd the truck is nothing short of amazing.
An ARB or Elocker would be your best option of course, followed by a full Detroit or Trutrac, and last but not least, a lunchbox locker. Those options decline in price in that order too. Go figure.
Having to turn around and head home early because you don't have the traction to make it up a hill sounds like not fun to me...
The argument of tires vs traction is a tough one. Ideally you need both, but if I had to choose one I'd choose a selectable locker in your case. My truck climbed great when I put the locker in but still had my Bridgestone dueler at's on. Of course it got better a week later when I put the iroks on, but still it wasn't half bad with the At's...
Of course, being a Florida boy I haven't driven in any snow, but it can't be that much worse than some of the gumbo mud we have around here...
The argument of tires vs traction is a tough one. Ideally you need both, but if I had to choose one I'd choose a selectable locker in your case. My truck climbed great when I put the locker in but still had my Bridgestone dueler at's on. Of course it got better a week later when I put the iroks on, but still it wasn't half bad with the At's...
Of course, being a Florida boy I haven't driven in any snow, but it can't be that much worse than some of the gumbo mud we have around here...
As for the rest of you(the above quoted) The verdict seems to be that a locker will help me in a snowy hill situation. Adding more agressive tires/ and or chains would help also. I hope I got this right from what you guys are saying. Correct me if I'm wrong so far.
My next question for you guys is how will the locker affect me coming DOWN the hill?????
#31
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You could get a locker, but I'm not sure that'd help so much. I have no lockers, and I'm goin' quite much of anything I want to go. (Of course, I have 38" or 44" tires to ride on...)
BUT, what the problem might lie in, is that all the cars' weight is applied on the rear axle when goin' uphill. So, a rear locker would do something, also, getting your family standing on your hood would help, haha. (I've actually done that once, put it in 1st low and stood on the steel bars in front to climb uphill)
Or, if you have the skills to fabricate yourself, you could move the rear axle 14cm backwards. On 31" it's not really worth it, but it gives you a little hint on what's goin on, so movin' the stuff in the rear, more in front of the rear axle, and try to get all the weight applied on front wheels.
F-150 has longer wheelbase, and is rather light in the rear, but heavy in front... As well is the wrangler, pretty heavy in front.
We know this problem VERY well in Iceland (that's why my rear axle is already moved 14cm, and is goin' 27cm (almost 10") backwards later this month)
Also, on 31" tires it's usually quite okay to lower the PSI of the tires to say, 12psi, maybe as low as 8psi. It adds the traction in snow alot.
I hope you got a little bit better idea of this stuff, otherwise I've just been writin' useless nonesense, haha.
BUT, what the problem might lie in, is that all the cars' weight is applied on the rear axle when goin' uphill. So, a rear locker would do something, also, getting your family standing on your hood would help, haha. (I've actually done that once, put it in 1st low and stood on the steel bars in front to climb uphill)
Or, if you have the skills to fabricate yourself, you could move the rear axle 14cm backwards. On 31" it's not really worth it, but it gives you a little hint on what's goin on, so movin' the stuff in the rear, more in front of the rear axle, and try to get all the weight applied on front wheels.
F-150 has longer wheelbase, and is rather light in the rear, but heavy in front... As well is the wrangler, pretty heavy in front.
We know this problem VERY well in Iceland (that's why my rear axle is already moved 14cm, and is goin' 27cm (almost 10") backwards later this month)
Also, on 31" tires it's usually quite okay to lower the PSI of the tires to say, 12psi, maybe as low as 8psi. It adds the traction in snow alot.
I hope you got a little bit better idea of this stuff, otherwise I've just been writin' useless nonesense, haha.
#32
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You need to purchase an E-Locker from either a dealer or from someone parting out their 4Runner/Tacoma, then modify your current axle housing to accomidate for it. The Elocker comes equipped in certain 4runners and Tacoma's and is a selectable locker, along the lines of an ARB air locker.
#33
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Yea, there is a writeup on here somewhere for elocker swap. You need to cut out a small section of the pumpkin on the axle housing to accomodate for the larger size of the locker motor, then drill some additional holes and use a different gasket. E-locker is a really awesome tool though, its better then an ARB because you have no compressor or air lines to worry about, and if worst comes to worst you can actually engage or disengage it manually by hand at the differential.
#34
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I can see the icelanders point--but some of the other--not so much. Considering you had all that weight in the truck you should have had great traction. So, you were spinning your wheels trying to make it up the hill?
Yes
If that is the case and you had all that weight in there i would figure you need better tires. Fresh snow=more of a mud like tire, Ice=Blizzak type tires (ice tires/winter).
I used to live in the Cali mountians--Steep Hills and ice from all the drivers when it snows. Tow trucks without cars on the back slid all over the place. With a car on the back they did just fine even without the chains.
Snow on the other hand--we drove wide self cleaning tires and low pressures. Are you bottoming out on the snow?
Yes
If that is the case and you had all that weight in there i would figure you need better tires. Fresh snow=more of a mud like tire, Ice=Blizzak type tires (ice tires/winter).
I used to live in the Cali mountians--Steep Hills and ice from all the drivers when it snows. Tow trucks without cars on the back slid all over the place. With a car on the back they did just fine even without the chains.
Snow on the other hand--we drove wide self cleaning tires and low pressures. Are you bottoming out on the snow?
Agreed.....
How so?
Ulfr from Iceland is right on the money.....low tire pressure is key in deep snow. Single digit pressures will result in the best traction. If you could upgrade to a 33" tire(better footprint) and air it down to 5~7 psi then nobody would be able to follow you
I've been in snow roughly 3~5 feet deep....1995.....My Sami with 32x11.50 tires and 1.5 psi managed to stay on top of it for many miles.....otherwise, I might not be typing this today.(I was on the backside of the LaSalles Mountains near Moab, Utah and they had a snow storm that closed down the mountain....except to me. )
ZUK
ZUK
I've been in snow roughly 3~5 feet deep....1995.....My Sami with 32x11.50 tires and 1.5 psi managed to stay on top of it for many miles.....otherwise, I might not be typing this today.(I was on the backside of the LaSalles Mountains near Moab, Utah and they had a snow storm that closed down the mountain....except to me. )
ZUK
ZUK
Better tires, chains, and lowering your pressure is your best bet. Locker is not worth squat when you have pretty even traction (snow/ice) among all 4 tires on a slick surface. Anyone that's tried a locker in snowpack/ice without chains can attest. Very dangerous and gets more dangerous as the road gets slicker.
As for the rest of you(the above quoted), the verdict here seems to be that I need some better tires, and I should air down for more traction in the snow. If this is not correct, please correct me. Some of you seem to think that a locker will actually be counter productive, and may endanger myself, or other's well being in snowy, or icy conditions. How does this happen???
I also need to know what kind of tires I should be looking at. Price is one of the largest issues, and there is simply no way that I'm spending any where near $800 for new tires. I also need something that does good in mud, and doesn't wear out very fast, as I do a lot of Highway driving.
Thanks for your suggestions, and I'm still open to more ideas on how to make my 4runner do better in the snow.
#35
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hey my sis and bother in law live up in mendo(the gass always grow greener in mendo) but anyway, can you put an arb in a stock 2nd gen housing or is the elocker better? i am leaning towards an arb so i can have an on board compressor on my truck for airing down/up. ( they have the high output compressoir for both)
#36
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You need to purchase an E-Locker from either a dealer or from someone parting out their 4Runner/Tacoma, then modify your current axle housing to accomidate for it. The Elocker comes equipped in certain 4runners and Tacoma's and is a selectable locker, along the lines of an ARB air locker.
Yea, there is a writeup on here somewhere for elocker swap. You need to cut out a small section of the pumpkin on the axle housing to accomodate for the larger size of the locker motor, then drill some additional holes and use a different gasket. E-locker is a really awesome tool though, its better then an ARB because you have no compressor or air lines to worry about, and if worst comes to worst you can actually engage or disengage it manually by hand at the differential.
#37
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hey my sis and bother in law live up in mendo(the gass always grow greener in mendo) but anyway, can you put an arb in a stock 2nd gen housing or is the elocker better? i am leaning towards an arb so i can have an on board compressor on my truck for airing down/up. ( they have the high output compressoir for both)
#38
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If you want a really good compressor I highly suggest the pepboys tsunami masterflow for about 60 bucks. I have 2 of them and they are the best compressors for size and weight I ever seen.
For a comparision I work using a vehicle mounted 12v 5 gallon compressor that will run air tools off my van. It doesnt put out the volume the little one does. Only upside is it doesnt have a duty cycle realy, it can run continously, but for tires who needs more. I modded my masterflow to take a standard hose fitting and use a regular air hose on it.
For a comparision I work using a vehicle mounted 12v 5 gallon compressor that will run air tools off my van. It doesnt put out the volume the little one does. Only upside is it doesnt have a duty cycle realy, it can run continously, but for tires who needs more. I modded my masterflow to take a standard hose fitting and use a regular air hose on it.
#39
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yeah, that vulnerable air line stuff make me nervouse about spending like close to a grand on one too. and i dint know that you can manually dis/engage an e locker. that rocks
#40
I put one in my 92 truck and love it! I drive this truck to work every day so its nice having an open diff while its off so I dont chirp around corners and chew up tires. Then when I want traction, hit the button.