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Detroit locker all around weather

brans87

brans87

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How does a Detroit locker work in all around weather? We get most nice weather but few ice storms and snow here in NC. I can not afford a ARB for my 14 bolt so looking at other options. YES in bad weather snow and ice I drive it in 4 wheel drive just to be safe even if road is barely covered to be safe and the other jackasses on the road!
 
ice/snow = likes to kick out faster in the rear . only thing I hated on mine.

I swapped back to a gov-loc and still have it to this day in another axle. I use to beat on it with 38x12.50 tsl swampers . no problems with 400sbc built in front of it.
 
blazinzuk said:
There are quirks for certain. You need to know how they act. Being really smooth is important.

If you drive it like an open diff it can cause issues. Drive it like a locker and it is no problem
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^dis

I personally prefer lockers, they are usually more predictable. Some may beg to differ, but that's my .02
 
Not sure I could put up with one in a dd. The only time it really bothers me on dry roads is when I suddenly let off the throttle, I get a good bang. If I ease off, no noise at all. I made one trip home from camp this winter and the first 10 miles were icy, no snow. I probably never went over 25. Ez on the peddle or the rear steps out quick. Didn't have it in 4wd.

If your vehicle is a dd, and you plan on keeping it for a while, I would invest in the ARB.

When I bought my axles the rear already had the Detroit. I added an gen4 elocker in the D60 front.

I do agree with the others that if you change how you drive, it's not a big deal.
 
And this is where this question always goes lol.

Some guys like me are fine with it.

Some are not.

I do like driving my open diff burb though. First winter in many moons I haven't daily driven a locker equiped rig in winter.

Course I drove a samurai that was tall on 33" mud tires with a rear locker for years. After that a blazer with a locker just seems really well behaved
 
g80 scares me as there know to break at least in 10 bolts and second where would you find a good unit used?

even if hubs locked and in 4 wheel high can't go over 25 with locker?
 
brans87 said:
g80 scares me as there know to break at least in 10 bolts and second where would you find a good unit used?

even if hubs locked and in 4 wheel high can't go over 25 with locker?
Click to expand...

G80 is alot bigger in even the 9.5.

I go way faster than 25 in 4wd with my hub's locked in with a locker. Well not way faster if I'm in 4wd the roads are usually pretty awful
 
detroit lockers... I can illustrate their issue. I had a 74 K5 Blazer on 44s. 12" lift, 3" body lift - I was a kid and it was a kid's truck. Driving down hwy 26 in Portland from the zoo on a wet day. The road goes down a 4 or 5% grade then makes two sweeping corners and goes down into a tunnel. Because of the corners, you can go from 60 mph to stop in a very short amount of time (the other side of the tunnel the hwy ends). I was coming around the second corner and saw the cars were dead-stopped. I panic stopped and anchored the brakes. Faster then I could blink I was skidding backwards down the hill. I stopped with my rear bumper 6" from the poor, stopped lady's rear bumper. Detroit lockers will never, ever let a tire spin slower then the driveshaft. If you lock the tires up, it can lock the rear end where the tires won't turn at all. Usually you still skid straight.... usually. Detroits won't break, but they do have a taste for weaker axles. I run lock-rites best part is if that above happens, the axle isn't locked where you have to back up to get it to start working again.

Now don't think I'm against Detroit lockers, but there are lots of other options out there including ones from detroit that lock yet aren't quite so violent. That said, big hp, big tires you're pretty much limited in your choices. You may want to look at true trac lockers - they tend to have all the traction but without the need to remove your seat cover from your vertical smile. Their downside is the tire can spin up to 3 times before it actually locks them together.
 
brans87 said:
g80 scares me as there know to break at least in 10 bolts and second where would you find a good unit used?

even if hubs locked and in 4 wheel high can't go over 25 with locker?
Click to expand...
g80 gov loc in 14ff is way stronger than the rest . almost a full world apart from all the boom broken storys.

what ratio do you need it for ?
 
4.88 going to look through your stash? Hopefully you might find a good unit for me.
 
The problem I had with a locker on snow and ice was around tight turns. If you get in and out of the throttle too rapidly, it will kick the rear end out. You have to be smooth with the throttle around tight turns, but no problem on the straight aways
 
superbuickguy said:
detroit lockers... I can illustrate their issue. I had a 74 K5 Blazer on 44s. 12" lift, 3" body lift - I was a kid and it was a kid's truck. Driving down hwy 26 in Portland from the zoo on a wet day. The road goes down a 4 or 5% grade then makes two sweeping corners and goes down into a tunnel. Because of the corners, you can go from 60 mph to stop in a very short amount of time (the other side of the tunnel the hwy ends). I was coming around the second corner and saw the cars were dead-stopped. I panic stopped and anchored the brakes. Faster then I could blink I was skidding backwards down the hill. I stopped with my rear bumper 6" from the poor, stopped lady's rear bumper. Detroit lockers will never, ever let a tire spin slower then the driveshaft. If you lock the tires up, it can lock the rear end where the tires won't turn at all. Usually you still skid straight.... usually. Detroits won't break, but they do have a taste for weaker axles. I run lock-rites best part is if that above happens, the axle isn't locked where you have to back up to get it to start working again.
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A detroit and a lockrite operate basically the same and neither one can lock a rear axle so you have to back up to free it up. They make it so no axle can move slower than the carrier. One axle can move faster, but only while coasting. Once power is applied(either fwd or reverse), the locker (if working properly) will force both wheels to turn at exactly the same speed until power is released.

The relationship between the carrier speed and the driveshaft speed are through the ring and pinion. A locker CAN NOT stop the ring and pinion from turning, unless it's broken and pieces are wedged in between the gears.
 
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Ive had a Detroit in a K5 blazer and Jeep CJ7 and they are great for wheeling, the new ones are suppose to be a lot quieter on the road

With my K5 now i will NOT be using a detroit in it because i am planning on going up to the snow. Actually snow is fine its the ice with the short wheelbase of a K5 it will spin around on you so fast with no warning, one second all is good the next your facing the wrong way. and that happened on a straight section of road ( it was an uphill grade ) going maybe 30mph
 
I'd highly recommend the Eaton Posi traction differential. It's great on snow, ice, rain, and mild off-road. Plus it's totally rebuild-able if it ever wears out. Here's a quick video that tells more about it.

 
If the most you deal with is snow on roads you really don't benefit from a locker. An open diff or a posi would probably be the best choice. A locker might be okay in the rear, but speaking from experience, you really don't want one on the front, as it can make the front end a bit squirrely. I haven't had too many issues with my rear gov lock.
 
brans87 said:
How does a Detroit locker work in all around weather? We get most nice weather but few ice storms and snow here in NC. I can not afford a ARB for my 14 bolt so looking at other options. YES in bad weather snow and ice I drive it in 4 wheel drive just to be safe even if road is barely covered to be safe and the other jackasses on the road!
Click to expand...

I asked almost this exact question a couple years ago. Opinions vary a lot. Here is mine:

After daily driving my Detroit-equipped K5 all this winter, I love it. I, too, was afraid of spinning out on ice. That hasn't been an issue. Yes, it drives funny, I can get the rear end to wiggle if I modulate the throttle. But I can also get it to track just fine if I drive steadily. Mine happens to be nearly silent, I hafta work at it to make it bang or clang. It chirps the tires if I'm sloppy (i.e., giving too much throttle while in a U-turn). But overall it is no detriment to driving, IMO. It's just something you'll get used to.

I drive my truck up to the speed limit (55MPH for most of our roads) in 2WD or 4WD. My hubs have stayed locked all winter. I do get a slight driveline humming if 4WD is engaged at highway speed (but not if it's just the hubs locked). My other rigs do not hum at highway speed like that. Either way, it's not the locker's fault.

Combined with an Eaton Posi in the front, this rig handles snow very well. Deep stuff is a lot of fun now. I have had this rig stuck twice this winter, both times in the ditch. Once I was driving through the ditch and stopped (:doah:), the second time I was driving on glare ice (slowly) and swung wide on a turn. Front axle broke loose, not the back one. I shouldn't have been running 4WD into that turn given the ice cover. :crazy: Both times, having the extra traction greatly reduced the amount of shoveling that I had to do.

A few times through the winter I have fired up my open-differential K10 and tried trekking through the same tracks. The K10 struggles through stuff that the K5 can walk through in 2WD. A little bit of that is tire quality, but most of it is not. I may never like open differentials again. ;)


Particularly for someone living in tropical North Carolina, you will be just fine with a Detroit or a Trutrac or an Eaton Posi or a G80 or most of the options out there (I'd avoid a spool or a Lincoln Locker).

Just my opinion, YMMV.
 
brans87 said:
YES in bad weather snow and ice I drive it in 4 wheel drive just to be safe even if road is barely covered to be safe and the other jackasses on the road!
Click to expand...

4WD doesn't necessarily make your drive more safe. It does help you accelerate, but it does not help you stop or turn. And with a solid T-case (like these trucks have), engaging 4WD means your axles are forced to turn the same speed. Any time you are in a turn, the axles must go different speeds. 4WD induces skidding in turns. Not a big deal, but it is a trade off.
 
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