Quick question for the folks running front lockers with IFS rigs.....

How many cv's have you actually broken up front due to the locker? I have a buddy with a locked Taco and he just seems to break cv's left and right due to his locker.

 

I have not broken any.

This is mostly because I use it very sparingly. If I need to turn or back up, I unlock it to avoid excessive loads.

How many has your friend broke and under what circumstances?

Where did they break, the joint or the shaft?

Jeff and SteveO have only taken out a couple. One more rock could have saved one of Steve's.

 

I believe he has broken quite a few. I'm not really sure number wise though. I'm pretty sure he breaks the shaft most of the time. He isn't to worried b\c they come with a lifetime warranty.

 

I've only "taken out" one axle, which was a Newfield. It broke at the right outer axle stub shaft. It broke on a bounce, several seconds from the end of this video. I was obviously having a blast squeeling the tires and not afraid of pushing it to the point of breakage. I swapped to the spare axle right there.

I believe Steve Hunt (SteveO) has broken 2. One was at the right outer axle stub shaft when he had a small bounce on Double Whammy in Moab. He later broke it at the middle ORS shaft on the right side due to smooth massive torque with good traction and no bounce.

Fear4Runner in CA has broken a couple.

SteveO, Fear, and myself all have a front locker. The other 7 or so CV breakages that I've heard of through friends or the web were ALL on open-dif˟˟˟˟ 4Runners with the breakage due to spinning and bouncing. And almost all of those were the CV joint, not the axle shaft.

I'm VERY conservative about when to use the front locker. I only use it if I have to.

 

Jeff makes a good point. He, Steve and Fear have only broken a couple with the locker. It looks like more were broken without because of sudden traction and wheel spin.

The front ARB lets you decide when it is traction time.

Is your friend blowing them in mud, on rocks, full lock, backing up?

 

"Lemmie guess, lots of skinny pedal and no talent! Put a Marlin Ultimate crawler and rear locker in that thing and you won't have to spin the ˟˟˟˟˟ out of your tires. Spinning tires=broken parts. - Drew Persson"

 

i haven't broken any either but i too use it sparingly and never when i'm trying to turn or back-up i love my front arb

 

That's what I do. Use it spareingly. I have used it turning but then again, I really like to go slow.