Hi guys, Im sure its been asked a million times but should I go with an LSD or Locker for my truck. Its my daily driver, and gets driven in the snow all winter. I've heard a lot of people say both are poor in the snow, however some of the deeper/heavy stuff we get is too much for the open diffs aside from highway/town driving. If I went LSD it would definitely be mechanical as i've heard the clutch type wear out easily.

As an aside, does anyone know if you can get a mechanical locker? One that locks up only when one wheel loses significant traction (I think gm uses these in their offroad packages)

Thanks, oh and its for the rear.

 

the mechanical locker you are asking about is called a detroit locker. you can get one for like $566 at fourwheelparts.com. I dont know why anyone would say an LSD or Locker are poor in the snow - you have traction to both wheels (100% with a locker) rather than one wheel (or 50% the amount of traction) - where is the logic in that? True, the truck might wanna have its ass swing out a little when it completely loses traction, but thats better than getting stuck, right? btw, do you have a 2wd or 4wd?

 

Thanks for the reply, I have 4wd. I have heard that sometimes the LSD's are unpredictable on the highway when its slick, might cause the rear end to kick out more, especially in light trucks.

 

Well granted it is a VERY different beast, ive been driving an m3 with LSD for 4 years - it has a lot more HP, more torque, and its lighter and ive never had any big problems with it. YES the ass end sometimes has a tendency to kick out, but ONLY under slippery conditions with lateral G's; like fast cornering and then OPS ice patch, etc, most every time I was also flooring it. AND under those conditions, if you let off the gas and stear in the direction you are looking (which should be FOWARD) the momentum of the vehical will right itself instantly. In snow it loved to get losey-goosy on me, but I have summer ULTRA performance tires that have zero siping for winter traction and no 4wd.

What Im ranting about here is even in a sports car that is completely not made for poor conditions, I never crashed it. I even made it up snowy hills in it. I think if you keep it in 4WD when in the snow with either LSD or a locker you will get a LOT further than anyone else. Im guessing 4wd is the key because you have the front pulling you more straight, rather than the rear looking fo the path of least resistance (ie sideways) Just dont suck at driving

I think the way to look at it is this: open diff is easy to drive, easy to get stuck. LSD and lockers are a little harder to drive, but also much harder to get stuck. So, it all depends on your driving abilities and confidence.

BTW Im having my detroit locker installed on my 4runner next week, so ill let you know if I regret it or not!

 

Thanks, im used to driving a fullsize with lockers so im not to worried about it kicking out, nothing quite like drifting around the backroads... I had just heard some negatives about the lightness of the rear end in a tacoma. I've been pretty fortunate not to get stuck as of yet, but there's been a couple close calls this summer. Let me know how the detroit locker works out.

 

I think if you are aware the back is light, you can quickly get used to its driving characteristics. Or you could always go the ARB selectable locker route. but as they say "mo money, mo problems" haha

 

LSD for on-road

Locker for offroad

The big thing is that an LSD is worthless when one tire has NO traction (in the air or on ice), but otherwise provides max traction with the best driveability.

 

Thanks for the reply. Are there more agressive lsd's which will perform more like a locker than average? I would really like the locker, but it does see a fair bit of street and highway time. i'd say its about 60% paved, 40% offroad use.

Has anyone heard of the different locker i mentioned earlier. I don't think it is a detroit locker. In my old man's truck it doesn't lock until traction is lost, then it engages, like an lsd, however... if one wheel is in the air and starts spinning after a second it will engage the other wheel locking it. I guess its an automatic locker? Any toyota applications or experiences with this?