i am working on a budget trail rig. it is a 86 shortbed w/22r and 5sp. looking to do some simple stuff the first year since i am new to this. ive heard you can have the axle welded or would it be better to just put in a spool. like i said i am new at this so any info would be helpful. have access to welder and some good help. also looking for homemade bumper ideas front and rear.

 

I wouldn't weld your axle or go with a spool. I have Aussie lockers front and back and love how they perform. I have never had problems. They're also fairly inexpensive and easy to install.

 

whats a good place to buy these lockers

 

try 4wheelparts.com

 

aussielocker.com

 

thats what i am looking to buy for the rear

 

You won't be disappointed.

 

If it's a trail rig, then a spool will out-perform an auto locker all day every day..
An auto-locker UNLOCKS.
A spool is 100% traction to both wheels, 100% of the time.

 

Spools and selectable lockers will out-perform ratcheting lockers like the Aussie. Spools are the most durable and have the least chance of breaking because the simplicity of them, but the trade off is you can't unlock them which causes excessive tire wear and makes the on road driving experience suck. ARB or elocker is the best way to go no doubt about it, they're the best of both worlds. Fully locked or fully open, your choice on the fly.

 

weld it.

 

No.

Your understanding of an autolocker is flawed. Its best if you think about it like this: an autolocker is locked as the default position. It only unlocks unlocks to allow one tire to freewheel faster than the driven tire.

In an open diff, the average speed of the two tires on an axle is equal to the speed of the ring gear. This is to say that one tire can be completely stopped and the other tire will go twice the speed of the ring gear. The tire with traction in this case is the stopped tire.

With the locker, there is no such differentiation. The absolute slowest a tire can go is the same speed as the ring gear. It can ratchet faster (ie: going around a corner), but can't go any slower.

The ideal locker (period) would be a locker that acted like an autolocker offroad and an open diff on road at the flick of a switch. The advantage to the autolocker offroad is that you would be able to make tighter turns on high traction surfaces (dry rock) without having to gas it to slip the tires to turn sharp.

Probably the best offroad locker now is the Detroit "hard" or Softlocker. Its stronger than an autolocker (as it replaces the stock carrier which is theoretically the weak link with the Aussie) and still allows tight turns without scrubbing.

***
For those of you who keep saying spools and welded diffs are more durable than autolockers, put down your Jeep magazine and find me an instance where an Aussie Locker has broken. Once in a while it happens with Lock Rights, but I think they're a bit of a second-rate product. What can happen is that the locker splits the carrier due to the ramping action of the cross pin against the locker forcing the case apart. I don't think I've ever heard of this on a Toyota carrier, but I have heard of it happening to inferior carriers like the one in a Dana 35 where the casting isn't as strong.

A welded diff is much more likely to fail to my way of thinking. Chances are the inbred neighbour you get to weld your spider gears doesn't get the proper penetration and you'll simply break the welds. If you do pursue this redneck spool idea, you're probably best off welding a block of metal in between the spider gears so you end up with basically one big chunk of fused metal. Getting a professional welder would be another good idea, but I'm sure it would probably cost you nearly as much as buying a proper spool (or better yet a real locker).

 

i think i am going to go with the spool. cheap yet very effective. this truck will not see the road very often anyway. thanks for all the info

 

In a truck, that doesn't have that much weight over the rearend, an auto-locker like the aussie won't have the ability to ratchet nearly as well as say a 4runner. So, i would expect tire wear to be equal between a locker and a spool.

Also, this guy is making a TRAIL RIG. Not a DD/Trail rig.. He's going to want a simple, yet functional system, like the spool.

 

Most people I know don't trailer their trail rigs to the dirt, they drive on road to get there so tire wear will still be more excessive with a spool than an Aussie in most cases.

I rode in a '88 yota pickup just last week and it had an Aussie and I could hear it ratcheting around most corners in the road. A short bed pickup still has enough weight to make it ratchet.

Matt16,
I think Aussie makes a great quality product. I was saying spools will outperform an Aussie over the long run as in durability only, not on the actual trail - they both lock up and traction isn't better with one than the other so I hear what you're saying.

I do believe spools are inherently more durable only because they don't have a ratchet so there's just less to break. I have not however met anyone who has ever broke one personally so point taken. And I agree about welding the diff, it just isn't the best choice.

 

sell me that truck

 

hey fyre if i get sum aussies gonna help me install them lol

 

how could you tell if your axle already has some kind of locker without taking it apart. i just bought this truck and really dont know very much about it and either did the previous owner.

 

Peow130; you haven't ever driven a truck with a locker and have been misinformed with regards to their operation. I can unlock the locker with one hand spinning the tire. To test the locker after install, you get the tires spinning (axle on jacks, out of gear) then jerk one tire in the opposite direction. The locker easily unlocks. My truck can unlock on wet sheet ice.

Durst:
All the pre-1995 trucks had open diffs. Most trucks, unless the seller made a point of telling you about the locker, are open diff.

It should be pretty obvious if you've driven the truck, you'll notice something is definitely amiss if you think you're driving a normal (open diff) truck.

Pre 1995:
Jack up the axle in question with the truck in gear, and spin one tire. If the opposite tire spins in the opposite direction, its an open diff.

Post 1995:
Check for RR DIFF LOCK button on the dash. If not, do the above test.

 

The biggest advantage to a Spool, detroit, or ARB is the strength of the carrier. Far superior to the stock units.

To be honest, I've never seen much of a difference in lockers offroad. Autolockers, spools, and selectables all seem to do the job just fine.

I've driven all types on road too. Couldn't stand the auto lockers. Went with the ARB's, and haven't looked back.

 

im new to YT and wheeling. just done a lot of stock wheeling. im thinkin aout getting a spool for the rear. my 4runner is my DD too. are spools really that horrible on the road. and whats the problems with it on road?