Lockers - why you want them and how/when to use them

[baldilocks]

Well, when forward motion ceases but continues from a dead stop after flicking the switch, you know are locked.
When you were spinning a wheel or two a moment ago and now you are spinning none or all four (my personal favorite), you know you are locked.
When the steering becomes heavy and disagreeable, you know you are locked.
When those meats start to chirp and slip while you are in a turn, you know you are locked.
When you make it over Rubicon in one day (no camping) during winter without destroying your rig or winching every five minutes, you absolutely, positively had to have been locked.
But mostly I rely on my 27 years of experience with and without lockers and that seat of the pants feel I get when my lockers are locked. Hope this helps.....

Yes

 

[TexasJack]

I wheeled from 1970 to 2006 without lockers and the last 10 years with lockers. I can feel when mine are on, especially when center locked or front locked. Same description as baldilocks above. All four spinning when 3x locked usually means you need a winch.

 

[LINUS]

I have owned Toyota elockers and I didn't care for the preplanning that has to be done in order to lock the rear up before you get to the "spot". Compared to my current and past ARB's, they are slow. My air lockers lock and unlock instantly and transparently.
Save your pennies and soon you can have selectable lockers that work at the flick of a switch.

Having owned both, I agree. There's no downside to ARB's - mine were installed prior to my buying, so I had to do some rework as it wasn't a pro install.

E-lockers are a huge help over open diffs, so it's easy to rank them like that - but most lockered 80's are now no stranger to at least some fire roads or mud pits & some hard miles, so case-by-case situation, there's still a few lockered ones that have yet to see more than a random gravel driveway.

Anyhow, buying the most sound powertrain is still priority #1, lockers are a "bolt on" compared to a powertrain that's clapped.

And for the Hi-Lift, aren't most guys on a swingout by now? My biggest worry is the baseplate (snowshoe thing us mud country people have) - Mine's on a bungee to the Hi-Lift too.

 

[Broski]

Yes the E lockers are a bit slow at times, [now that my are getting used they are much faster] but if you find a clean locked 80 $3500 it's like getting lockers for free.

 

[baldilocks]

Yes the E lockers are a bit slow at times, [now that my are getting used they are much faster] but if you find a clean locked 80 $3500 it's like getting lockers for free.

Even at $5000, it's a very cheap way to be locked, just don't snap an axle shaft off at the inboard end near the splines on the rear diff. You will be performing surgery on your housing in order to get the third out in order to remove the broke piece of axle shaft. This happened to a Mud member local to me last year. I had heard of this before but never actually heard any details on it. No thanks.

 

[artech]

I find that my lockers greatly reduce the drama of going trail riding. Less wheelspin, less throttle, less cursing, less digging, less .

I like that. However, Christo is also right in that they will get you in even deeper if you miscalculate. This can lead to increased wheelspin, throttle, cursing, digging, and . Not so much fun.

I guess it comes down to the fact that they are not magic and are simply another tool in the toolbox like winches or chainsaws. Awful nice to have, but not absolutely necessary and can be worked around if you have no other option.

Me, I appreciate mine and they have gotten me out of some tight spots. And to be honest, deeper into a couple as well before I really learned the truck well.

As always, YMMV.

 

[Broski]

Even at $5000, it's a very cheap way to be locked, just don't snap an axle shaft off at the inboard end near the splines on the rear diff. You will be performing surgery on your housing in order to get the third out in order to remove the broke piece of axle shaft. This happened to a Mud member local to me last year. I had heard of this before but never actually heard any details on it. No thanks.

Yes I have heard of this I have my fingers crossed and go easy on the skinny peddle

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Even at $5000, it's a very cheap way to be locked, just don't snap an axle shaft off at the inboard end near the splines on the rear diff. You will be performing surgery on your housing in order to get the third out in order to remove the broke piece of axle shaft. This happened to a Mud member local to me last year. I had heard of this before but never actually heard any details on it. No thanks.

Remove some splines = Never a problem

 

[inkpot]

Yes I have heard of this I have my fingers crossed and go easy on the skinny peddle

Think there was kind of a survey about the axle problem a while back. IIRC, this only happened to very few rigs and common denominator was often high speed wheel spin that suddenly met traction. I wheel with about a dozen 80s that are lifted, E locked, and mostly on 37's and none of us have had that problem, at least not yet. I wheel often and hard, and I don't worry about it. The last two Mondays I have towed about 2 tons behind me know a pretty technical trail and I was locked up on a bunch of climbs. Nothing broke.