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The ultimate locker post...

az-k5

az-k5

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Okay, I have to start this. Reply only if you have actually owned any of the above mentioned locking devices.

Welded or spool
Locker (detroit or lunchbox)
Selectable (E-locker, ARB, OX, and the like)h

With all of the hearsay about lockers, ARB, welded and how great/crappy each is I have decided to start the "Ultimate locker post." This is for those of you who have a factual opinion about a rig you owned and operated with a locking divice. I don't need this to turn into another "my buddy's bother used to know a guy that had a [whatever] and I never liked [that set up] anyway." I want some real tech here people. I want to see what kind of driving (DD, drive to trail, trailer queen/offroad only) and what kind of locker you used. I would also like to see if you would have traded it (including the monetary difference) for any other set up.

I'll start,

Mine is a DD hardcore rock rig. I have a detroit in the rear and a lockright up front. I had the rear welded and the front open for a year. Welded chirped tires and wore a new set of MTR's down in 8K miles. It was opon front and rear before that. I am more than pleased with the locker set up and would not trade it for anything. I would never run a weded on the street again but won't hesitate to run a locker in my next rig too (even a 4x4 tow rig).

PS leave the brand bashing (other than freak catostophic failure of said parts) and arguing to another thread. I really would like to have a heavy tech post going on from those that know. The poll is also set to be public so there is less desire to screw up this thread.

Thank you :grin:
 
I don't know how heavy tech this is but....

I have a detroit in the rear of my daily driver / weekend warrior K5, open in the front. I will never go back to an open rear. Honestly the best mod because it has helped me out exponentially on the trail, yet not affected daily driving. Daily driving with the detroit is a non-issue for me. It's comparable to learning how a clutch in a standard car works, once you figure it out, it becomes second nature. I rotate my tires often, and have not had any wierd wearing problems. And I would not spend money for a rear ARB, too much money for a feature i don't think you really need for the rear. It would be sweet to have an ARB up front though...but I haven't done that yet so i can't really comment
 
detoits front and rear. wouldn't trade em for anything. I like to keep things simple in my rig and I dont want air lines, compressors, switches etc etc etc that I don't need. Some guys like selectables, for me its all detroit. if i want to unlock the front, I go into 2wd. simple.

j
 
So far I like my welded 14bff, only have a few runs on it as such. Once in the snow, other time was trail w/ lots of rocks. I liked how it performed and didn't notice any real difference in turning radius (have heard a rear spool can increase turning radius). I only drive my truck to the trail so hopefully tire wear will not kill me. For someone like me who drives only to the trail I don't think a Detroit is worth the money, esp. since I had a gov-lok which would have required me to get additional parts. If I ever have to rebuild the axle, I think I would probably put a full spool in there.
 
Lockers.

Detroit in the 14 bolt, Lockright in the D60.

Lockright in the rear of my daily driver, a 2000 Ford Ranger with a 7.5" Ford.

Just drove home in 12" of snow with nearly bald tires on my Ranger, I wouldn't trade my auto lockers for anything, but a posi unit would be better in my DD that sees ZERO offroad driving.

'05 Ram I just ordered has the new L/S unit. Besides the fact that they don't make a Detroit for it yet, I'd rather have an L/S in something that the most offroad it's ever going to see is wet grass or slick boat ramps. Other than that, auto lockers rule the world and I've sold dozens of them to my customers with 100% satisfaction.
 
Currently I run Detroits front and rear. I started out by welding my D70, but I found that I couldn't keep axles in it. After the third broken D70 axle took out the spindle, I built a FF14 with a Detroit. To date I've only broken one axle in it....and I drove it home in 1 wheel drive. I ran my D60 front open for a long time before installing a Lockrite. Eventually, I broke the lockrite and upgraded to a full carrier replacement Detroit locker. After many broken axles in the front, the locker still works just fine.
 
az-k5 said:
... Reply only if you have actually owned any of the above mentioned locking devices. .... leave the brand bashing ...
Click to expand...

Good luck with those requirements ;)

OK, I'll bite. My truck is set up for desert two-tracks, forest service roads, and rock trails (capable to a 4 to 4.5 rating in Moab, don't know whether the same rating applies to AZ). No mud. Tires are (not quite) 35" MTRs. I've owned a rear ARB for some 7 years, front for 1 1/2 years (I recycled the ARB from the 10-bolt rear to the front when I got my rear D60). I drive the truck to (and hopefully back from..) the trail; I've made the 'pilgrimage' to Moab four times - that's close to 1000 miles one way from here. Truck could be used as DD. Essentially, although it sees a good amount of trail use (as measured in hours of operation), the truck is used mostly (as measured in miles driven) on dry pavement.

I like the fuction as a selectable spool (maybe that comes from having driven a Unimog in the service a looong time ago...) since it does not intrude at all into daily driving. Flipping the switch on the trail is just something you get used to; I've found the operation to be very predictable. I've also come to really enjoy having a front locker AND the fact that I can turn it off so I can actually steer (which is an issue on a high-traction surface with a 10-bolt w/o any steering improvements). The ARB also keeps the front 10-bolt alive; I guess there'll be a D60 front on my truck when the 10-bolt breaks, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

I've had one malfunction of the system in all this time: an electrical contact came loose at the fuse block, easy fix. The compressor needs a little silicone grease at the O-ring every now and then.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the ARB system for my vehicle - so much so that our new (to us) Toy has dual ARBs as well. I'm not trying to persuade anyone that ARBs are the best there is - I'm just really amused how much negative reaction the word ARB brings up on this board, most of it from people who have no experience with ARBs... :D
 
I can add too.

My rear 14FF is welded. The truck (up until the hybrid swap) was a DD. My 95% TSL 38s on the back are now less than 50% after a year. They wear very fast. Driveability- like was stated, get used to it and its fine.
Performance- off road, is awesome of course, no slip, no give, no breakages, just awesome.

My front is a D44 with a TruTrac L/S. You didnt mention them, so I dont know if it qualifies or not.
Driveability- awesome, no on-road issues at all.
Performance- off-road works very well if both front tires are planted on the ground. It will slip one tire if its in the air tho, which is a pain. Otherwise, they both drive and spin all the time, even on hard rocks or dirt, as long as they are both planted with some weight on them. In fact, Its busted two front axles in the last two yrs, one my fault, and one was a crappy u-joint issue.
I am contemplating putting a Detroit or Lockright up front, so if anyone who is replying to this has a hard locker in a D44, Id like to hear your thoughts on it too. As long as it fits into what Matt had in mind for the thread!
Matt, see you in a week! :)

Mike
 
My 69 K20 has the factory No-Spin which is a Detroit in the rear axle. Front axle is open. I am very impressed with it. (Especially since it is alive after 35 year) My truck doesn't see much off-road driving (course it isn't driveable at all now) but the Detroit just amazes the heck out of me. It will go places in 2wd that my 95 Yukon can't go in 4wd.

On the road it makes an occasional noise that is unsettling until you figure out that is what Detroits sound like. I have only had one incident where it got squirelly on a paved road. I was coming out of a business lot turning onto the street and the road was slightly wet. Before I knew it I was almost sideways in the road. I think you just have to be mindful of what is back there.

As soon as my 70 K5 is driveable it has a locker that will be installed in the rear axle.
 
You need to change the poll so you can pick 2 options. I have both a welded axle and a locker axle. I chose spool since it is the primary drive axle. (you already know this though)

Lockright in the front, welded 14bff out back. The welded is kind of annoying sometimes and wears out tires very fast. The pro to it is that it is strong, cheap, and is VERY predictable which is nice in situations of ice and snow. If I wasn't moving back to snow country I would get a Detroit for the 14bff.

The lockright in the front works well. It does what it is supposed to and is put threw its paces pretty well. My truck is a DD/moderate rockcrawler. I would never own an offroad truck again that didn't have 2 lockers in it. Anything else is a waste of time IMHO for a truck that does offroad duty.

My turning radius on the street is a little less then your detroit but it is still not terrible. It does everything I could hope for on the trail. Dual lockers will get me anywhere I want to go and get me to alot of places I don't want to go. My truck is not limited by the amount of traction available but it is limited by the amount of sheetmetal distruction I am willing to take to get to where the lockers, gears, and tires will take me.

Harley
 
I am a D/L fan to the end ! It is so simple and so damn durrable . Like said above - there are D/L's that are 30 plus years old and still doing fine . The smaal quirks are easily out weighed by the traction and long lasting design.


I have run a welded diff for years and if done right it was strong but I would not do it again on a dual purpose (off-road and pavement) truck . Leaf spring center pins wore out and broke - tires wore way to quickly and so on .



I do not like the Lock-Rights and all the ones of similar build because they re-use the single pin open carrier . After a while the carrier itself starts to wear . In my opinion a locking diff should have a four pinion cross shaft in it .

Just my thought's and experience's , Tom
 
i had a welded semi floater in the back of my truck, i loved it, then i blew the pinion bearing and got a full floater, put the full floater in(open), went wheeling, half way down the first trail i turned around and went to my buddy's house and welded it.
Mytruck did serve as a DD for a while with a welded rear, it was kinda annoying, id go around a turn and the tires chirped, wore out my tsl's pretty fast, and if you get a flat you have to put the same size tire back on or you will drive down the street with one tire peeling out the whole way (dont ask how i know that:D ). buti wouldnt go back to an open ever again.
Now that my truck only gets driven to the trails im gona put a detriot or a lock right in the d60 upfront.
 
OK, I'm in on this

I have run a welded dif. in the rear of a Bronco II (DD/all around trail rig) for 3years. Loved it on every thing but ice :blush: Ice was a B!@+H with the spool. Tire wear was worse, but no more so than with a locker.
I now run a mini spool in the front of my Burb and an open in the rear, and it's "THE BOMB!!!!" :D :D I have run a lot of diferent dif.s in my driver/trail rigs (I drive an av. of 35mi a day on the black top) and this set up is GREAT! If I'm on ice I just un-lock the DS hub and it drives like it's open.
Lockers are nice I gess. But a spool is just as good or better IMO, cheeper, and have no moving parts to break :D
 
Truck is in sig. Daily driver/weekend warrior. Love the lockright out back, when i get my 14bSF the lockright will be moved to the front and the 14b will get another lockright. I have zero issues driving in snow/ice because i dont drive like a moron. Its still going here, 9-11" in my back yard, and between yesterday and today i put a few hundred miles on her, never once used 4wd. I didnt need to. All the handling issues seem to me like they come from people who either dont own a locker, or they drive like an idiot and blame the locker for their inability to drive. I have zero issues.
 
Patch came to me with a Detroit in the rear and a Lockrite in the front. On the trail I like the Detroit. Off the trail I do not. Patch sees probably 100:1 pavement vs trail miles. I am considering putting the Detroit up front and some sort of selectable locker in the rear.

I recently drove the Sub (open/open) up a icy road and was amazed at how well it did. The only thing that stopped me was the idiots in the rentaHeep on street tires. The Sub may get a rear Detroit (14bff) after I find a body donor.
 
i voted just to be nice. i have a detroit in the mud truck. and the dd is factory gov bom. it works great and i love the selectable in a dd for tire life and street freindly use. but all out play full locker.
 
Detroit rear, lockrite in front. Never had an issue with driveability on road... I really didn't like the front locked with the push-pull steering, but once I fixed that, I can forget it's there. Truck is only ocassionally driven on road, moderate trail rig.
 
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I currently have an ARB in my Dana 44. It is the first locker I have ever owned and has been great to me. I love being able to turn it off when it is not needed. It has held up fine and I have never had any problems with it engaging. Just me forgetting to turn it on sometimes:grin:
 
Lmfao keep that **** to yourself bro.

I'm cheatin......
I am 2 weeks away from puttin a Selectable rear, detroit in the front. All I have to say is why run anything in the front that isn't completly locked up like welded spool or detroits. Manual hubs solve all the driveability issues.

i have been in tons of rigs with selectables and as far as i can see it's the best way to go but that's my 2 cents.

sorry for the non locked rig post man.
 
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