Lockers?

[Green&Loud]

Ok, so I know there's tons of lockers out there, but what would be the best one for a vehicle that is used as a daily driver? Ive heard some automatic lockers can be rough on tires when driving on the street

[Stuka]

For a daily driver selectable will always be the best, but are very expensive. Also if it snows there, you don't want an automatic locker. A rear automatic is livable on the street and in snow. A front is ok if you never ever drivein snow, and have manual locking hubs for on the street.

[Green&Loud]

HA! Naturally! The best option for me is the most expensive! I should have known any suggestions on brands?

[AwesomeJ10]

Front or rear locker?

I've ran rigs with both and either/or

for a daily driver, in the rocks, with selectable lock-out hubs, a front locker works great. Not so great in snow on they hwy, but good for snow on the trail.

A front locker will get you up and over lots of stuff and not stress out the rear, semi-floating axle shafts.

[will e]

ARB. In the front.

[jsinajeep]

ARB front and ARB rear

[fulsizjeep]

Detroit True Track worm gear jobber doer...

[Green&Loud]

So seems to be Detroit or arb? I found a good deal on some Eaton electric lockers. Anybody have experience with these?

[Stuka]

The original Easton's sucked. The new ones are a lot better. Arguably better than an ARB. I love Detroits for the rear, but they do eat tires.

[pcoplin]

For a wheeler, I wouldn't use the E-Locker for the D44. For a driver or MILD trail rig they work great. They've been meaning to reingineer the D44 E-lcoker for about 5 years. It tested about 55% the strength of an ARB.

[Stuka]

For a wheeler, I wouldn't use the E-Locker for the D44. For a driver or MILD trail rig they work great. They've been meaning to reingineer the D44 E-lcoker for about 5 years. It tested about 55% the strength of an ARB.

The D44 one does still use a single cross shaft. So its not as strong as some others, but personally I have never seen anybody break it there.

[pcoplin]

The problem is that it's a 2 pinion design. A friend of mine used to work at Eaton and said to stay away from them. The 8.8 is even worse because it uses a pin as a locking mechanism, not a gear. He did say the D30 and D35 units are pretty good because they are 4 and 3 pinion designs.

The ramp angles of them allow them to unlock momentarily when you rock back and forth. He said it's very easy to blow one up with aggressive rocking.

[REDONE]

EDIT>>>I wrote this post under the assumption that you have a D44 in the rear, if you have a M20, you're options will be more limited.


I don't think you want a locker in a DD. I run a locker in my DD but it's a truck that looks like it'd have a locker. Let me put it this way, when my girlfriend and I go on a date, we either meet up there or I go to her place and we take her car. It clangs and bangs and howls the tires on left turns while barking them on right turns.

While I have to admit I'm filling in a lot of blanks in my head regarding your intentions and desired results because I don't know you that well, I do have a few recommendations:

Eaton/Detroit true trac: It's nowhere near as agressive as a locker or clutch type LS, and they can and do break when pushed too far, but they are awesome at what they do. Like Flint said they have a worm gear set up that allows differential wheel speed between left and right, but the faster one wheel turns relative to the other, the more torque it will bias to the slower wheel. Out of the box this is one of the best LSs on the market and if you don't have much experience driving with traction aids this one has practically NO learning curve. When you spin a tire, just goose it a little bit until the other tire turns too, it's that simple.

Auburn: This is one of the cheapest limited slips out there as well as one of the most agressive. It has two downsides though, on icy roads it might as well be a locker and it's not rebuildable. Even if you break the case apart none of the wear parts are machinable or available, so you have to replace the whole unit.

Dana Powr Lock: If you like to tinker, tune and experiment get a Power Lock. You can find them super cheap on ebay and craigslist if you wait and keep your eyes open. Parts are available and relatively affordable and they can be tuned and modified to get all kinds of different results. Also, they're tough as nails with 4 spider gears.

[pcoplin]

I've been really happy with the Detroit Soft Locker in the rear of my TJ. I used to DD it. It's for sure on/off in the corners, but it quit banging years ago and is very mild and predictable.

However, I got beyond tired of it when it rained. You just can't get on it around a corner or turning into traffic. It's very hard on the rest of the drivetrain.

I ran a Detroit lunchbox locker in the rear for about a month, THAT thing was terrible in the rear. The Lockright in the front it's invisible in 2WD, and is still in my D30 with a 360 and 35s.

I'll be putting a Detroit Tru-trak in the rear of the Wagoneer (M20). They do very well until you lift a tire, and really are noiseless.

[Stuka]

I've been really happy with the Detroit Soft Locker in the rear of my TJ. I used to DD it. It's for sure on/off in the corners, but it quit banging years ago and is very mild and predictable.

However, I got beyond tired of it when it rained. You just can't get on it around a corner or turning into traffic. It's very hard on the rest of the drivetrain.

I ran a Detroit lunchbox locker in the rear for about a month, THAT thing was terrible in the rear. The Lockright in the front it's invisible in 2WD, and is still in my D30 with a 360 and 35s.

I'll be putting a Detroit Tru-trak in the rear of the Wagoneer (M20). They do very well until you lift a tire, and really are noiseless.

The detroit in my J10 is invisible in most driving. I think thats due to its length and width. It was more noticeable in my '75 Cherokee. My Cherokee also banged a lot, the J10 very rarely does.

A trutrac is great for a daily driver though.

[Green&Loud]

You assumed correctly REDONE. I have Dana 44 front and rear. So a manual locker like arb would be fine for daily driving, but is expensive.... correct?

[Stuka]

You assumed correctly REDONE. I have Dana 44 front and rear. So a manual locker like arb would be fine for daily driving, but is expensive.... correct?

Yup. Selectable lockers always cost more.

What kind of offroading will you be doing?

[REDONE]

You assumed correctly REDONE. I have Dana 44 front and rear. So a manual locker like arb would be fine for daily driving, but is expensive.... correct?

That is exactly right, the ARB, OX and E-track are the bees knees for having the best of both worlds. I just have no first hand experience with the selectables because I've never been able to justify the cost. I have run just about every LS and auto locker in the aftermarket at one time or another so that's where I feel like my opinions hold value.

[jamesdart]

im running the Yukon zip locker and I think its great.

[Green&Loud]

I wont be doing any off roading for probably another year... I still have to get the stubborn thing running smooth! But I plan on using it as a camping vehicle, hauling my mountain bike and kayak around, firewood hauler, and then some trails every other weekend or so. Trails around here are either really muddy and slick or really rocky and slick. Just thought id get a plan going so ill know what to do when I get to that point in the build