If I were to run lock rights front and rear, what kind of driving characteristics would I experience on and off road? From what I have read this is not an ideal combo. First of all my truck is not a DD, I really only drive it to go wheeling. But I do drive in the snow occasionally (heading up to Tahoe to go boarding/skiing.) This is what I am most worried about, as from what I have heard my tires will be constantly spinning. Does anyone have experience with lock rights in the snow and off road?

The reason I'm asking is that I got a good deal on a front diff with 4.88's and a lock right. I'm having trouble finding a V6 rear third with 4.88's to match it. I just came across a rear diff with 4.88's and a lock right that might be for sale soon.

My truck is a 5speed V6 88 4Runner with 33x10.5 BFG muds.

***I installed 4.88's and lock-rights...up date on post 69 (page 3)***

 

With manual hubs, you might be all right... but a front locker will be difficult to handle on road in the snow. With auto hubs, I think you'd be worse off. You'd have no choice but to have all 4 locked when in 4WD.

Manual hubs, you could probably cheat and lock only one front hub in the snow. That way, you'd have at least 3 wheel drive without the odd pull or straight lining effect that a front locker will give you. Not optimum, but at least an option.

Ultimately, a selectable front would be ideal... but spendy. A rear locker will still take some getting used to in the snow, but will probably help more than hurt once you get used to how it behaves.

I have a Aussie in the front, with manual hubs. Similar setup to a Lock Right. I don't have snow to deal with, and having all 4 locked off road is amazing. Only time I have had problems is on Moab slickrock, where the locked front end becomes very difficult to turn.

 

I was thinking of the same thing. What about snow? What I'am wondering is just put a locker in the front since I can lock only one hub so I can have control. The rear locker in the snow sounds like I will have some trouble.

James

 

I really don't think you'd like having only a front locker in the snow. Doing the one hub "on" trick wouldn't gain much, as the rear would still be fully open and so would the front at that point.

With the front locked, the vehicle will really tend to lock on line, not really react well to steering. Might get you out of traction troubles, but any speeds over 20 MPH would probably start to feel really sketchy.

Locking the back might give you some odd directional changes, especially on long corners or ice. But you will learn how to apply throttle is such a way to minimize this behavior, and still have very normal steering feel.

 

The 1 hub locked thing should be considered "emergency use only" - it makes the truck pull HARD to the side that is unlocked...

 

I have a lock right in the front of my '91. No it wasn't my first choice but it is what I had on hand when I did my SAS. But all in all it hasn't been a problem in the snow. The only negative is tight turns on the trail can sometimes be a chore.

I had a lock right in the rear of my old '88 Xtracab with a manual tranny and got used to it but wasn't real fond of it for use on a DD. I wondered what the difference would be with an auto tranny but wasn't willing to experiment which is why I have an ARB.

 

Thanks for the responses so far. I have manual hubs too, so that?s a good thing. I really don?t think I?ll be doing much snow driving, maybe just a few times a year. And I could take my other car, but the utility of the 4Runner is so convenient. Since the 4Runner is basically turning into a 4wheeling vehicle only and I?m on a tight budget, I?m leaning towards buying the rear lock right third. I think that advantages outweigh the disadvantages since I?ll be doing very little street driving.

Another question?How much of a difference would it make if I put a Detroit in either diff rather than the lock right?

 

Any full time locker is going to have similiar negatives/ positives.

I should have been more clear when I stated you could run with only one locked hub. It was meant to be more of an option than a good idea for full time use. I think there is probably no way around a full time front locker not causing some handling issues.

I think if speeds aren't too high, lockers front and rear would be fairly predictable and possibly helpful depending on the depth of snow and driving conditions.

 

a locker of any sort in the front of a non solid axle truck is a bad idea IMO. You can easily bust CV halfshafts with the open differential and oversized tires ..a locker will just make all that much easier.

I'm not sure if they make Limited Slip Dif's for our 7.5" IFS thirds but if they do I'd highly reccomend considering an LSD over any auto locker. Not to mention any auto locker or spool up front makes steering a total pain in the arse.

Lots of people put Detroit Truetracs in their SAS'd rigs (up front). You can still steer.

 

If you install the locker in the rear--practice driving it a snow covered parking lot if you can. I had a rear locker in my '84 when stationed in Anchorage, it took a little while getting used to driving on the ice/packed snow. Just takes a little while getting used to the driving characteristics.

Locked up front can cause some binding, one reason that I will use a twin stick so I can take it in and out of 4x4 on the trail...

 

Just remember that with the rear locked, when driving on any low traction surface, such as ice, snow, wet road, mud, etc., that if the road is offcambered at all, the rear will try to crab to the low side of the road.
Something to keep in mind.




Fred

 

My buddy just put lock rites front and rear in his Jeep and it drives fine...a little quirky but once you get used to it and the clicking, not a big deal. For the money they work fine but they are not meant for much over a 31" tire.

 

I love the comment that lockers make it easier to break stuff. You break stuff because you are wheeling harder. If anything, you have less full throttle assaults and comments like "who needs lockers when you have the skinny pedal."

LSD's give you have the benefit and all the drawbacks. It won't hook up all the time and it will be a turd to steer.

Any auto locker in front will pull in 4wd and make it hard to steer. ARB or open if you use 4wd on the road.

 

I did not know that. What happens when you run a bigger tire? Breakage?

 

A lot of people run LockRites out here (in the big rocks) with 35's and seldom break them.
They do wear out, but seldom break, at least in the crowd that we run with.







Fred

 

My lock right was in the rear of my DD from '98 to '01. Half of that time was with 31's and the other half was with 33's. It has been in the front of my '91 since '01 and most of that time has been with 35's. Has been used much lately but was working good enough to (help) break a Marfield last time I was at Tellico.

Bang for the buck you can't beat them once you get used to them.

I also had a lock right in the front of my '88 Xtracab IFS with 4.88's and 33's and never broke a CV. Probably would've sooner or later but sold the truck.

 

Wrong.

A front locker will help PREVENT more damage than it "causes". If you have open diffs, the ONLY option is more throttle so you carry enough momentum to get over the area where the wheel is off the ground. With IFS, it is likely you will have front wheels off the ground. With an open diff (or a LSD), when a wheel comes off the ground, it spins at 2x the indicated speed. Then it comes slamming down, placing a HUGE shockload on the components as it returns to "normal" speed. This is far more damaging and far less avoidable than the instance where a locker would hurt you - tire wedged with high traction.

x2 for what Flygtenstein said about limited slips. They don't work when you REALLY need them (wheel off ground) and have most all of the drawbacks (lack of lateral control in slick, offcamber situations)

 

I would pay the extra money for Powertrax No Slips instead of Lock Rights. No Slips separate while differentiating instead of rubbing together when ratcheting while differentiating like the Lock Right and it's clones (EZ Locker, Aussie).

This, along with extra springs that help dampen backlash, makes the No Slip about 80% smoother and 99% quieter than the Lock Right and it's clones.

Also, as a result, the No Slip won't wear like the Lock Right does, since it separates while differentiating instead of rubbing while ratcheting while differentiating. I had a Lock Right that wore out after about 37,000 miles in the Ford 8.8" rear of a '94 Mazda Navajo (same as a same year 2 door Ford Explorer). I replaced it with a No Slip, which I had for about 80,000 miles. The No Slip now sees duty in the rear of an F150. It still works just fine.

Despite what Flygtenstein says, limited slips don't literally have "all the drawbacks" of a locker. I've had 2 rear limited slips in 2 different vehicles ('78 Ford Bronco and '06 Jeep Wrangler, and have driven at least 1 other), and neither had "all" the drawbacks of a locker. They didn't have the handling quirks of an automatic locker like I had, or the tire wear and tire chirping/directional change opposition of a selectable locker while locked (which I have in my '06 Tacoma).

And by the way, with the front No Slip automatic locker, I very rarely found it "hard to steer". I rarely had trouble with directional control, and steering effort was no worse than I expectected.

 

What Flygtenstein said applied to fronts and it is true. It only locks up some of the time, is always hard to steer and will limit control on offcambers.

 

No problems with lunch boxes here. Had one in the rear of a fullsize Chevy with 31's that I towed with for 60k miles, pulled it before selling the truck and the unit looked fine. Run them front and rear in my Toyota with 36" Iroks and a 4.7:1 t-case, no breakage in over 2 years of regular wheeling.

Do you need 4wd to drive in the snow? If not, the front locker will be a non-issue. I hardly ever use 4wd in the white stuff.