I never regreted spending the cash for an ARB in the front. When locked up and in tight situations, the Cruiser is almost impossible to steer(front keeps pushing straight while wheels are turned) but with a quick flip of a switch the problem goes away. To me installing an ARB is like having power windows in your car. You love them until they break.
Front Locker Questions
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ARB=better road manners than a Detroit
Spend good money once with the ARB and take a few mins to remove the shift gate to have access to 2wd Low. You'll wear out your tires a bit faster turning with the Detroit, but if you are only off roading....you might can get by with the Detroit. The ARB allows for better road manners...
Spend good money once with the ARB and take a few mins to remove the shift gate to have access to 2wd Low. You'll wear out your tires a bit faster turning with the Detroit, but if you are only off roading....you might can get by with the Detroit. The ARB allows for better road manners...
It really depends on where you wheel/what you wheel in.
If mud or snow are part of your driving habits, I would not consider a Detroit locker in the front.
Lunchbox... maybe... Trutrac/lsd... maybe... ARB... definitely.
As suggested previously, your best bet is to try to find some wheel time in rigs with each.
If mud or snow are part of your driving habits, I would not consider a Detroit locker in the front.
Lunchbox... maybe... Trutrac/lsd... maybe... ARB... definitely.
As suggested previously, your best bet is to try to find some wheel time in rigs with each.
Well, I have ARB lockers F/R but I am rich, really good looking and well hung, so I really cannot speak to your particular problem
Ed
Some of the above statements are LIES...................but I do have ARBs F/R
Ed
Some of the above statements are LIES...................but I do have ARBs F/R
...back when I was rich (still good looking and well hung), I had a 60 with ARB's front and rear.
Now that my disposable income has been divided by two young'uns, I have a 40 with open front and rear.
I briefly considered lunch-boxing it, but after ARB, its just too hard to go any other way.
We have a lot of slick, clay mud around here, and its best to leave the front open for steering control (effort isn't a problem), but when you need to lock, you need to lock.
ARB's save 3/4 of the winch pulls without compromising steering control.
...has anybody mentioned not breaking birfs yet?
Now that my disposable income has been divided by two young'uns, I have a 40 with open front and rear.
I briefly considered lunch-boxing it, but after ARB, its just too hard to go any other way.
We have a lot of slick, clay mud around here, and its best to leave the front open for steering control (effort isn't a problem), but when you need to lock, you need to lock.
ARB's save 3/4 of the winch pulls without compromising steering control.
...has anybody mentioned not breaking birfs yet?
Some of the above statements are LIES...................but I do have ARBs F/R
So, which ones Ed?
Thanks for all of the posts. It gives me something to think about.
About the xfer gate: If u remove the gate, what would keep it from moving over to the left if bumped by a mate or a cooler?. Would it just go into 2h, would it cause some mechanical breakage if moved when under power?
don't know what yourtrying to say here.
if you mean your in 4low and it gets bumped to the side? it'll go into neutral (if the gears aren't bound up at all to stop it shifting), exatly the same as with the gate on (assuming you guys have the same shift pattern as us in AUS, as below)
2H
4H - N - 4L
with or without the gate, you have the risk of it being bumped to the left into N.
removing the gate gives you
2H - N - 2L
4H - N - 4L.
the only new position you could bump it to would be 4l - 2l, and it's the same as knocking it out of 4wd when in high range. no breakage, unless you needed front drive to stop you sliding down a hill uncontrollably.
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not sure what you mean here... do you mean your more likely to break a birf with an airlocker? or less? or what?
there are very few situations where you'll break a birf with an auto that you wouldn't have broken with an air. quite frankly they break when your bound up and give it some mumbo, especially with some steering lock on.
personally i choose not to do that with the auto in the front, OR i drop front drive. in the situation where i needed one wheel to drive up the ledge, i'd have the front locked with an ARB anyway.
on high traction slickrock, an auto will at least stop some binding by letting the faster travelling wheel to ratched. if you don't unlock your ARB, that windup can cause Birf failure.
personally, i've smashed more CV's open diffed than locked. not saying that i won't break them locked, but when i do, Longs will go in. wouldn't matter WHAT locker choice i made...
in ice and snow the detroit, lock-rite and all auto lockers suck, especially on a sidehill
Well, I have ARB lockers F/R but I am rich, really good looking and well hung, so I really cannot speak to your particular problem
Ed
you also hardly ever wheel
Aussie/Lockrite = $300
Works great off road with power steering. Little more stress on axles because you can't unlock. Buy some Longfields and forget about it. Locker($300) plus axles($700) = $1000
ARB and all the crap needed to run it = $1000
Then buy longfields when you break a stock birf. Locker($1000) + Longfields($700) = $1700
If money is no object, go ARB.
Works great off road with power steering. Little more stress on axles because you can't unlock. Buy some Longfields and forget about it. Locker($300) plus axles($700) = $1000
ARB and all the crap needed to run it = $1000
Then buy longfields when you break a stock birf. Locker($1000) + Longfields($700) = $1700
If money is no object, go ARB.
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
In my experience 90% of the time when ARB's are In-OP it is due to a faulty installation or poor maintenance.
They do require that you inspect the air lines from time to time. And the electrical connections need a regular inspection as well.
I've had two In-OPs with mine. Once because the asshat who did the install made some totally crap electrical connections and once because the air line got brittle after ten years and broke at the Diff fitting. I have since re-worked most of the connections and replaced all the air lines.
To me the extra inspections/maint. are worth the benifits of a selectable locker.
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Cheers
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
So how do you make a locker work in this situation; Long off camper up hill on packed snow with a nice thick layer of ice?
Before I saw the light I tried this with both ARB's engaged. The guys with open diffs did better than I did. Later a friend who was there realized my mistake, with both wheels spinning on both axles I just slid sideways down slope. If I had left the diffs open one wheel would have anchored the rig while the other tried to find traction.
In the majority of situations, I did as well. But the only snow wheeling I get is on mountainside roads and in one situation, I was coming down hill and with very little traction, the locker simply wouldn't ratchet. It stayed locked, and even though I had the wheels turned to make the corner, it just plowed straight ahead. I was able to stop (barely), and chose to make the rest of the toboggan descent in 2wd. It could have been avoided if I had known to do that beforehand, but it scared the bejeezus out of me and convinced me that I really want the front to be selectable.
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Maybe in the deep snow and ice of Las Vegas, but not up here in the Arctic of the lower 48. The tru-trac in the front my heep is down right scary on icy hard pack. I heard the original poster use the term "mate", so maybe he's in Oz where it doesn't matter as much, but if you were going to do any amount of driving on icy roads, ARB or open. Just given 'ya a hard time Mace. I was at the World of Outlaws race in Las Vegas year before last and it was colder than crap and snowing on us.
