I am looking to get gears and lockers this summer.

These questions are for people who have experience with the equipment.

I have decided that ordering complete 3rds is the way to go, and I know that a lock-rite is going to go in the rear. How does a lock-rite handle when up front? Does it make things a lot more difficult when in 4wd? I ask because if it does get tiring trying to handle the 4R with the lock-rite I will save a little longer and get the ARB.

Also, with reference to gears, I have started on the Stage 1 build of my 4runner. I have a 3'' lift in the mail and 33x1250x15 Mud Terrains and 15x8 wheels being delivered at my store next week. Stage 2 consist of 5'' lift and 35's so I want to be prepared.

Will 5.29's be too much for the 33s? It is not a DD, but I want to be able to enjoy the truck when I do chose to drive it. It is an automatic, and I will eventually be doing the t-case adapter (found here__ http://www.inchwormgear.com/store/pr...2df04add9177c0 ) and 4.7 t-case gears, but I think the lockers and diff gears will serve me better in the beginning. Finally, the question - Should I just go for 5.29's now or get the 3rds with 4.88's and upgrade later?

Thanks in advance for all the advice,
Brandon

 

Regarding 5.29 vs 4.88 I asked this very question and most agree that 4.88 with 33" tires is fine unless you are going to upgrade to 35" tires in the near future, especialy if you are going to go with a crawler box. I wish I could comment on performance however I am still waiting on my diffs to come in from Marlin Crawler, ordered them 3 weeks ago. I went with 4.88 and ARB front and rear. I would also suggest that you take a look at the Marlin Crawler site if you havent already they seem to make dam good stuff and have crawler boxes as well.

 

I am a frequent visitor of MarlinCrawler.com, Allprooffroad.com and trail-gear.com as well as inchwormgear.com.

Marlin is where I am looking at getting the 3rds from.

Thanks,
Brandon

 

5.29's. You'll wind out a little bit with the 33's, but if you are going to 35's, it doesn't make sense to go with the 4.88's.

You'll really only notice the difference at hwy speeds, 65-70 mph roughly, you'll be a little high on RPM's, but it is fine. Otherwise, it will be easier to go up hill, and you'll like them offroad.

 

i asked this same question on a local forum and havent gotten a response yet. i am also looking to get complete 3rds from marlin i was thinking a lockright in front and detroit in back and 5:29's since im already running 34"s and am going to 35"s. whats the advantage to detroit over lockright or vice versa?

 

Does anyone have ANY insight on the locker portion of my questions?

 

I run 5.29 and 33x9.50 tires. I see you are in Colorado, too. I think you'll like this combo, although it does make a difference with your top speed. I have a 5 speed and a 22R-E in my truck, at 75 I'll be at 3700 RPM. Personally, I really, really like the 5.29 gears and I intentionally went this route, I never intended on going to 35" tires. I don't feel all that comfortable above 70 MPH in my truck anyway, so that wasn't even an issue. But I can climb Floyd Hill in 4th gear now, as long as traffic doesn't make me slow down. I can use 5th gear and not have to worry about slight rises in the road. I can actual accelerate up the hill, just takes a while. I couldn't do that with 4.10 and 30" tires. How long before you go to 35" tires? You might even find you like 5.29/33 when you feel the power you have climbing the hills and the low gears offroad. With a V6 it might be less of an issue, but I think our 20/22R engines works well with 5.29 gears on 33" tires. I get decent mileage (around 20, 21MPG), the power is good. The engine seems happy with it. This was with my tired old engine, which is getting rebuilt currently. When I get finished and get it back on the road I should be an XtraCab hot rod!

As far as lockers. I have Air Lockers in both. Again, being in Colorado and driving snow packed roads in the winter, I could not imagine not having selectable lockers. But particularly in the front, I would say you probably shouldn't use an auto locker, you and your power steering pump will hate it in the rocks. I'd go with a limited slip or save for a selectable.

 

I found a guy who has good prices and quite a selection for lockers and gears, as well as complete 3rds.

JT's Differentials

I plan on going this route as you can get a complete 3rd, gears and locker all in a turn key mode.

Example: Rebuilt 3rd member, Toyota 8" 4 cyl Dropout, 5.29 Ratio w/ Detroit Locker, New Timken Bearings, Pinion Seal, Pinion Nut, New Pinion Yoke, Solid Spacer in place of crush sleeve, Professionally assembled with 1 year warranty. $925 w/o shipping.

That's not a bad price!

John

 

Well, its been disscussed at length here, and in many, many threads. I'll boil it down to this:

Some, myself included, advocate an ARB, period. I personally have nothing but GREAT experiences with them, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

Most seem to concur that an autolocker, such as the lockright, are fine in the rear. They also seem to agree that snow driving with one in the front would be a pain. A few have done it, and said that as long as they took it easy in corners, they were okay in the snow.

My concern would be if the locker decides to lock as you are applying power in a turn. I have tested what this would be like in an empty, open snowy parking lot with my front ARB. When i locked the front locker, i could turn at very slow speed. As soon as i got to 20 or so, it got kind of scary. I felt like i was not in control, because my ouside tire was slipping like crazy since it was going too slow for the turn. Every once and a while both tires would loose traction due to them trying to spin the same speed, and the truck would not turn at all, and just keep going straight.

Now, as far as i know, the auto locker should ratchet as long as you are not applying power, whereas my ARB remains locked constantly. So, in theory, you would be okay, as long as you didn't apply any power in turns. However, with the autolocker, i'm just guessing based upon how they work in trucks i've driven that have them in the rear. I have not driven an auto locker in the front in snow. My ARB testing simply illustrates the behavior of a spooled front in the snow.

Anyway, good luck. If you would like to come up to Boulder to test out what steering with a spooled front is like, you are more than welcome to hit me up.

My recomendation, as always, is to save for the ARB.

 

I'm running 33's and 5.29's. I like that combo for CO and will miss the extra gearing when I bump up to 36's.

I have an aussie in the front and only have one week of wheeling with it under my belt. It performed perfectly in Moab. I haven't driven in snow with it so I can't comment. It's not my DD so I'm not real worried about the snow driving.

 

AxleIke,
Do you think that a limited slip out back and an ARB is a good combo for truck?

 

Limited slips are worthless IMO if you actually 4 wheel the truck.

 

Bingo.

This is my current set up. I have a limited slip in the rear, ARB in the front. I like my limited slip for one purpose only: driving on road, in snowy conditions in 2wd. The truck is very well planted, and takes quite a bit to kick out (meaning i have to really be trying to get the rear to lose traction for it actually to lose traction) However, it handles the same as any open open truck in 4wd, so it's pretty worthless.

Offroad, it does nothing but frustrate me. It works great when i don't really need it, and doesn't work at all when i do really need it. I hate it, and am putting in an ARB as soon as i can let the truck sit for a few days.

However, if you have limited funds, you can consider this option. It won't be ideal, but it should be levels above open, and have much superior road manners to a truck with auto lockers. If you want to wait a month or two, i'd be happy to let you have mine for next to nothing. It has about 10k on it.

 

Well, it sounds like I am going to be waiting another month or so to put together enough money to just buy the ARB's f/r and the air compressor.

 

Excellent choice! Very happy for you, you will not be dissapointed!

 

That is not a bad price, however I am skeptical of mail order R&Ps, thats not to say this JT's place doesnt have a well experienced guy doing the work. However, there are two VERY good places in the PHX area to get Toy 3rds built and they will be done right, and if you encounter an issue down the road...you have a place to go.

Both Zuk @ gearinstalls.com or 4wheel Supply in PHX are the places I would contact to have the 3rds built.

 

Nice choice but for the money, I went with aussies F/R and put the rest into a dual ultimate. I'll suffer driving it in the wintertime for that other 3/4 of the year I can use dual ultimate on the trail

 

I may do the lock-rite rear and ARB in the front. I haven't decided completely yet. I may do Lock-Rite is f/r still too.

The dual cases is a little more difficult for me, you see I have the Auto tranny so I have to get a $550 adapter to the first t-case, I have to GET a top shifter t-case and a front shifter t-case and gears. It'll be a $1500 deal when all is said and done. I can get by without the doubler for now.

 

oh yeah and the doubler adapter.

 

When I rebuilt my rear end I put in chromoly rears all new brakes and hardware and a Detroit Truetrac. It's a gear Limited Slip and they're mainly designed for front-end use. However it's fine in the rear and is invisible and un-noticeable as far as onroad use.

Offroad sure it's not a full auto locker but it's e-ons better than a open dif.

I love it. I'll be putting a full detroit in with 5.29's around when funds permit and moving the detroit truetrac to a front straight axle where it really belongs but overall if you're looking for an improvement offroad but really want a on road stock feel, Detroits Truetrac is PERFECT.

Like any LSD when they lose full traction (ie in tire in the air) then they perform like an open dif but if you got the flex and can keep the tires on the ground it performs as well as a full auto locker.

I wouldnt use a full auto upfront, infact I wouldnt use ARB because having a locked in front is a nightmare to drive, period. IMO. Unless the rig was rock only or for the mud bogs i'd stick with something that will give you great performance but not kill your arms... Truetrac.

I also only paid $300 for it new.