At What Point Does Being "Locked" Matter? (1 Viewer)

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Nay: I really hope I make it to CO someday and that you are available for some trails and some beer. Or that you make a trip south with the same motives.

It's all in good fun :beer:
 
Newbies don't need lockers, but newbies who wheel don't stay newbies. Here is how it works.

If you need 4x4 to get up your driveway, or not get stuck in your backyard, or not to hit your lawn pretties when it snows, then you don't need lockers, except maybe to get away from the cops when you go wheeling at construction sites or power line easements, but momentum usually carries the day in those situations anyway.

Now if you are joining up with a group of wheelers, here is how it goes:

1) You attend a "scenic" run where there is maybe an obstacle or two that let's the stockers/newbies check out some capability and maybe there is something optional for the more built rigs to play on;

2) A couple of these runs gets you hooked, and you are getting big tire/lift envy, because your badass stocker looks like a grocery cart compared to the built rigs;

3) You start budgeting and realize you have nowhere near enough money for your mods. You begin testing the financial waters with :princess:, and it doesn't look good;

4) You get invited to a moderate run, where newbies inevitably dent or tear off some useless piece of plastic. At this point you will either back off completely, or get :princess: onboard to start the mods. Because mods are less expensive than repairs, and :princess: gets this logic. Even though she has been shopping for lawn gnomes for years, having a beater in your driveway is not acceptable;

5) You finally do a small lift and one tire size up, and you join the group for a trail that is known for "make it as hard as you want". This is not suitable for stockers, even if you could technically drag one through, but is perfect for a mild build with optional obstacles that will challenge very built rigs;

6) You can't believe your rig is getting through this difficult trail, you've never seen anything like this, but you notice the experienced guys are walking through and intentionally taking the hardest lines;

7) Your confidence builds and you decide to try a harder line. A winch and straps are ultimately used, and you end up with your first permanent trail reminder on a body panel. Now you are really hooked, because you are either going to spend your trail days on the bypasses eating lunch or you are going to have to step up your build. Or :princess: has shut you down and it's back to painting metal sculptures of dinosaurs for decoration (better not hit those when it snows, they will break windows);

8) You add more lift, and go up another tire size. Now you can "do it without lockers", although you are realizing you really need lower gears;

9) You run a trail that is "locker suited", and you get stuck again and again in the rock gardens. The locked guys cruise right through, and then take the hard lines where you have to watch from the sidelines nursing your wounds;

10) You get a rear locker. You sit at the same bypasses as the unlocked guys after a few embarrassing attempts at rock ramming and decide you need a heavy bull bar to rob you of even more clearance and capability;

11) You break something really expensive trying to compensate with momentum. :princess: does not wheel with you anymore;

12) You gear as low as you can and get lockers, which is only another $3K+ after you have learned your lesson.


Or, you can buy a locked 80 from the start. :princess: will be happy because you are not mashing her lawn ornaments driving to get up your driveway and not scaring her ramming into **** under momentum on the trail and sliding backwards, and you will be happy because you can take your set over the obstacles instead of around the bypasses.

Showing the locked guys how it's done without lockers is a perfectly fine objective, just like skiing at 11,000 ft in jeans and sneakers is a perfectly fine objective as long as you enjoy needless suffering. It doesn't make you a better driver, it simply teaches you that you need lockers. I've become an infinitely better driver with dual lockers on a less modified rig than I had before, because I have the control to do things I simply could never do before.

What I learned after spending $25K on my last rig was that my first mod should have been ARB's, and all the other fine tuning to avoid that meant I spent 10 times more.

No brainer to get the factory dual selectable lockers on the vehicle that was designed with the factory dual selectable lockers.

Oh, and

:flipoff2:
That should go to FAQ :cheers:
:lol:
It is so true ....
 
Good answer. My truck is street driven only everyday, never needed to use my lockers. But I at least have them, and the way I look at it is they're better for the resale value of the truck.

Exactly. You can often get them for free (unknowing sellers), they help resale as some won't buy an 80 without them. There is no downside in having them.

I do mostly "expedition" style travel and am not a rock crawler. I have used my lockers a grand total of once. I was glad to have them when I needed them. I had a long, somewhat rocky ascent up a steep wooded trail (in "pole hill" near Estes Park). No drop offs but it was steep enough that my wife was terrified. I got about 80% of the way to the top and came to a spot where the wheels would only spin. With the rear locker on it made it through like nothing. I would not have liked to have had to back down that hill.
 
With the FF, isn't it something like the splines will twist and the broken shaft will get stuck in the locking collar or something and THEN it's a PITA. My SF wont break :grinpimp:

In the 80, there really isn't anything but a click to let you know it's there on-road. It's so long and heavy with a good bit of that fat over the rear end that the locker never seems to bind up like it did on my friend's Mini.

I'm not thrilled about using an auto locker in the front, but it's a locker....and I don't want to put too much money into my factory axles.

gotcha... I wish you lived closer, I would love to go for a ride in your 80 with the Aussie in the back. And you better hope your SF doesn't break... It's not fun chasing a tire that is passing you! :eek:

As for the splines when breaking the axle, that could happen with any axle shaft, locked or not.
 
The locking collar extends into the housing when locked, if the axle break at the splines and twists...you can't get it out.

Yea, I think our rigs favor one another in looks, use, and purpose....would be fun to compare setups.
 
Do you mind waiting? From a purely fiscal standpoint, I just can't see buying an unlocked 80 when locked 80s still exist. If you can wait, why not wait?
 
Definitely buy a truck with lockers. Just tell yourself you are not buying one without the lockers, and then wait until you find the nicest one. You will eventually find a good one for a good price. As far as experience, there is no substitute for driving yourself, getting yourself stuck, and then having to dig yourself out or call people who you know only through mutual friends and feeling like a chump when you ask them if they can come pull you out. But, you will only wish you had the lockers in the near future after you start wheelin' a little.
 
I wasn't wheeling to heavy last Sunday and still needed the lockers to get myself off a sand berm I got stuck on. It stuffed the front left and rear right tires and the other two just spun. I locked up the rear and drove right off. Much easier than the other options IMO.
 
It stuffed the front left and rear right tires and the other two just spun.

kinda like this? :D

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-B-
 
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(this topic has been beaten to death. Search? But since i surely asked that same question before i bought mine :), here goes with some practical experience, fwiw...: )

it is perhaps a misconception to think that lockers are only useful for extreme trails. They may yet save the day on a perfectly flat road with mud or ice.

Having said, that, depending on what you plan to do with the truck, they may be more or less important and/or critical.

Personally, i would not buy one without lockers as long as i can still find a good condition truck with them. But if it really boils down to a turd with lockers or one in great shape mechanically without them, i'd take the latter. Having the lockers but not being sure you'll make it to the trail head cuz of the cooling or electrical system is silly imho.


Sooo, get the lockers *as long as* the truck attached to them is sound.


But remember: Being stuck, reaching down, turning a knob and driving out with a/c, leather seats and mozart: Priceless...! :d

what he said!
 
My 1993 has lockers, and I wouldn't go back or do it over for anything.

Why?

'Cause my main wheeling buddy is my 3 yr old son. I run the same trails, obsticles, everything else that everyone does.. but I do it a lot slower. I'm a boring wheeler to watch because I never hit anything at speed. If I don't make it on the first 'go' I lock it up and crawl over/out of the obsticle. Meanwhile- the 3yr old continues his nap.

I don't offroad to beat my rig up. I do, sometimes, end up places where I use all of my armor- but the only reason I'm out there is to enjoy the outdoors and see things I wouldn't see anywhere else. If I was hitting obsticles with speed/ momentum it wouldn't be fun for my co-pilot, and if he's not having fun, I'm not having fun.
 

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