So I have decided not to weld my spider gears. I'm gonna save up money for next winter or maybe even for the winter after that, depending on school bills, for front and rear selectable lockers. Since I'll do one at a time is it best to lock the front or rear? It makes sense to me to lock up the front first but I'm open to other ideas on why it would be better to lock up the rear first. So whats everybody's preferred choice of locker and why? I'm looking for facts here about why one would be better than the other not biased opinions based on what brand of company you picked or maybe even work for.

 

Nick, I am in the same boat as you, wanting lockers, and am interested in everyone's answers.

 

i am having ZUK install aussie lockers in my diff's. i wanted an ARB, but 800 bucks is a ton of money. i don't do any rock crawling or mud riding, mainly rocky loose inclines. as to the question of front or rear first. i was going to do rear, but know i am having both done.

 

I did the front first. It was okay, but I suggest a rear.

Reason being that When wheeling on trails, it is nice to put the locker on, and not have to switch it on and off a ton. With mine, the front had to come on more often, as i had nothing in the rear. This put a ton of strain on my steering and hastened its destruction. Now, I can lock the rear, leave the front unlocked except for very difficult sections.

Both will serve you well, but I really think the rear is a better option.

 

Agreed... I've heard arguments for both but I think the rear just makes more sense. I've got a Lockright in my rear and I love having it back there.

I can go further now in 2wd than I could before in 4wd. I go through crap with my hubs unlocked now that I would have been in 4wd before. It's great.

 

i dont know how a front locker would be but i have a rear lockright and i love it. but seeing as you are going selectable i think you should do the rear first, so you dont have to turn it off everytime you need to make any kind of turn

 

I have Detroits front and rear ($600 a piece for Detroits).. i love them and have never had any problems.. They actually replace the whole locking mechanism and casing.. which is good and bad.. If you break the axle you can loose the whole Detroit.. A whole new Detroit and $600.. i have a friend who has ARB's front and rear and they are great too ($800 a piece, plus a compressor and more electrical connections).. But, we were hitting some deep sand and he kicked on the ARB's too late.. Because of this he got stuck because the ARB's didn't kick in.. This happened because you need some driving space to get them to kick in.. But they are off when you drive them on the freeway and quiet.. I found my Detroits are always on and in this case they helped but there are also negatives to this.. As the Detroit lockers wear in, you get some clicking and popping every once in a while.. My rig is a daily driver and I've just excepted the side effects.. Their are other lockers out there that just replace the engaging mechanism which are less expensive but aren't as strong.. Lockrites, Aussies etc are a lot less expensive but you get what you pay for.. The plus for these lockers is that a broken locker means $300 or so to fix it.. I'm not an abusive driver and I take care of my stuff.. So the type of driving should dictate the type of locker you should buy.. Truthfully, opinions are like a$$holes and we all have them.. i like Detroits and have had them in my Bronco, Jeep and now my 4runner.. I'm satisfied and that's my $0.02.. Trust me, you'll love lockers of any type when you finally get them..

 

ARBS actually run 700 from PORC. 1550 is what it costs to get front and rear plus compressor.

 

Anyone ever just put in an LSD or Tru-Trac? Is there any difference between the two? To save money I may just do this for the rear. I mostly due a lot of trails with a good amount of mud and a snow not really any rocks around here.

 

I ran a true trac in the rear for a couple years. Great on road performance.

I did not like it offroad. It didn't do what I wanted. However, if you are on mostly mud and snow, and aren't lifting tires, you'll probably find it very useful.

 

just be warned from buying from porc. im convinced that their shipping department consists of 2 monkeys and a case of beer. their service is alright and the prices are good, but their shipping is ridiculous

 

The trutrac is well suited for driving on icy roads. The reason is that it is less likely to break the rear end (or front end) free causing a spin when driving on ice. A full locker on ice can be treacherous.

 

arb

 

I got tru-tracs front and rear and i think there great for what i do but it all depends on what you plan on doing. If you got the money which it doesnt sound like you do I'd go for ARB's just because there selectable, but Detroits are tried and true and reasonably priced. Do you live in clarkston? I see the Blue's are your playground, mine to

 

ARB

IMHO, the front makes a bigger difference in the performance of the rig because you are more likely to lift a front tire than a rear due to the limited travel of the IFS, but it has a lot more drawbacks too, and so I would have to agree with AxleIke to do the rear first.

 

Selectable locker in the front and detroit locker in the rear.
Go rear first as it makes the biggest difference. Locker in the rear is no different than posi when its slick.
Just no clutch plates, which is nice.
TC sez front 1st, well if you lift a front wheel first you ain't getting ANY traction w/ it.
Front locker w/ hubs engaged = unique steering on roads.
I've got ft and rr lockers and rarely have to use 4wd unless serious offroading.

 

Rear does not make the biggest difference. It is the same either way. The front has drawbacks as far as steering stress and difficulty.

TC was recommending a front ARB. NOT anything else. I can't really understand the rest of your sentence there. You do get traction with your front wheels. with a locker, you get traction to both front wheels, same as the rear.

I've had both a true trac (posi) and ARB in my rear. I have driven a detroit equipped truck in the snow as well. I can tell you that the ARB locked and the Detroit are WAAAAAYYYYYY different than a Posi on icy roads. The posi works really well, and gives me good traction, and prevents my rear from sliding out. The lockers kick the rear out every chance they get.

You can learn to drive the locker in the snow, but there is no comparison between posi and a full locker in the snow.

General sentence structure? Not trying to be rude, but it is very difficult to follow your post.

 

How about retrofitting a TRD E-locker? Pretty expensive, but they are available from Inchworm Gear for a decent price with good gear options. This is what I did on my 3rd gen and it is great. IFS and a locker in front usually equals broken CV axles unless you are on anything but slick snow or ice. By buddy has a Detroit EZ-Locker in the front of his '94 PU (Q78 Buckshots on stock rims) and has hell with the CV axles. Selectable locker in the back, lsd in front, but I don't know what gears and tires you're using. BTW, a Detroit in the rear is scary in the rain with even decent Swampers.

 

I like driving and camping up in the mountains in all seasons. stock I can make any trail around here or any trail I've tried at least assuming I take the right line, but when the snow gets here I get stuck quite easily. Hopefully my new 33 Bfg mt's will help a bit over my old highway tires, well I know they will but anyway. Just having an LSD or Tru-Trac, which is the same as I understand, in the rear would help leaps and bounds over the open diff. The trails I run aren't to extreme like I said before mostly dirt/mud/snow My problems are getting stuck in deep mud I should sometimes probably leave to bigger built rigs and deep snow when I really need traction. Although realistically I could just save more and get an ARB in the rear. But then again an LSD would provide better wet/icey road conditions traction. In the end I have a feeling money will decide this one.

Now I understand how locking the front can be hazardous as far as breaking the weak IFS components but would an LSD do the same? Doesn't seem like it would.

Thanks for all the input so far.

No, I live in College Place or Walla Walla where I go to school. I like the Lewiston/Clarkston area though, its real pretty to fly into. Flying is my other ridiculously priced hobby however it's also a career choice so unlike offroading hopefully it will turn a profit someday.

 

I used to run Bridgestone Dueler AT's on my truck with open diffs. I swear that a gnat could spit in the dirt and I'd get stuck in it.

When i rebuilt my truck and put the 36" Irok radials on it with 5.29 gears and a rear Lockright in it it's like I'm driving a completely different truck. Last time I went out I was not only the only truck in the group that made it through the mud without a big hassle, i also went backwards to the middle stopped and threw a buddy a boot and drove back out. Then I went through it backwards, forwards, and then went through the side where the mud was really thick and never even had a hint like I was going to get stuck.

The right tires coupled with the right traction aid makes all the difference in the world. You're going to love it...