lockers, yo. (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Threads
101
Messages
2,679
Location
nashville, tn
sup y'all,

been gone all summer, now i have to get workin to spend all this money i earned. ha ha.

i'm startin to think about lockers, and i have no idea where to begin.

any ideas for my 40? it's my daily, but not too bad b/c i'm in college. i do frequently make 2-3 hr trips on the interstate.

looking for an install i can do myself, low $$$, and performance.

thanks,
jonathan
jmalphr@clemson.edu
 
You could consider a number of options but the one everyone is talking about is the new Aussie locker. Its supposedly based on the old Lockrite locker but uses stronger, redesigned parts.Its manufactured in Australia by a US company and shipped around the world. There is supply problems at the moment but I heard the 1st orders have been shipped and received but so far no one has reported back .They have attracted a lot of interest mainly because of the low price of $200 for each axle which is a fraction of the competitiors.I sent them an email last week and they said I should be able to order some to Australia in a few months. Some say they will not be suitable for heavy duty work .I plan to wait for 6-12months and see what the feedback says.Have a look at this link only in a scout .com
 
Put a lock-rite in it. You won't be sorry. The only times I know it's there is, obviously, offroad, and backing in a parking lot,...click, click, click. As for durability, I had a five year old lock-rite out of a friends at the same I was installing mine. We washed his and laid them side-by-side. You could barely tell them apart. Wear was negligable. If you don't use a lock-rite, use a good lock-rite copy.
 
so how much $$$ are we talkin?

also, i assume that both of these are full-time functioning diffs? not too sure about how they work.
i understand differentials, but not what each kind of locker does.


thanks,
jonathan
jmalphr@clemson.edu
 
crazy stuff.

powertrax, the co that makes lock-rite is based 15 minutes from clemson.
gonna swing by there in a couple days and see what's goin on.

any more opinions about lockers?

jonathan
jmalphr@clemson.edu
 
ARB
 
I'm with h-sauce.
I'm going front and rear ARB after tires and the SM420.
Run off a York compressor.
Probably the most pricey, but I like total control, and thats what ARB's offer. My 40 is also my DD and will be for awhile. If I can talk my mechanic into doing the install with me then installation price will be next to nothing.
 
I will probably go with the aussie depending on what the reviews of it are.

Im the same boat as cruisinGA. I have to convince my mechanic to help me do the work on my truck. Ive convinced him to help me with my lift soon so im siked. Savin lots and lots of money....
 
[quote author=tclndcrz link=board=1;threadid=3952;start=0#msg29010 date=1059330146]
I will probably go with the aussie depending on what the reviews of it are.

Im the same boat as cruisinGA. I have to convince my mechanic to help me do the work on my truck. Ive convinced him to help me with my lift soon so im siked. Savin lots and lots of money....
[/quote]
If you're doing a SUA lift you shouldn't need it...
Save his good grace for the locker install when you really will need it. :D
 
ive all ready warned him about the locker. Ive been needing it more and more parking when going surfing. All the good spots get taken so i usually park where nobody else can and its getting tougher and tougher in soft sand and steep hills. :eek:
 
i read some of the stuff abt the aussie locker.
any more news on it?

also, any prices on some more auto lockers?

jonathan
jmalphr@clemson.edu
 
Jonathon keep an eye on pirate 4x4 cruiser forum .I think some of those guys ordered early and will be the 1st to get them. According to management a spring component was found to be sub standard and it took time to find a replacement .
 
[quote author=roscoFJ73 link=board=1;threadid=3952;start=0#msg29094 date=1059381187]
According to management a spring component was found to be sub standard and it took time to find a replacement .
[/quote]
Thats confidence inspiring... ::)
 
Lockrites suck on the road plain and simple... save your money and go with an ARB. the lockrite i had for years in AZ where all the roads are straight and flat.. but here in the mtns of CO the unlocking and locking at highway speeds almost killed me

they do work well off road.. but when i took it out i noticed my splines on my axleshaft were worn out so i had to replace them .,.. bad luck or 6 years of driving with the lockrite

you decide.,.. but you get what you pay for
 
I had a lock rite in the back of my 40 and hated it. Great off road but sucked on road. Lots of torque twist, difficult to drive on the hwy. Only good thing was that it was cheap. Also had one in my 55. Was much better due to the long WB which helped with the twist. I put a new no slip in the rear of the 40 and almost do not know it is there. No slip is around $430 and worth it. ARB is great but very expensive.
 
dd113, what steering set-up do you run. If there is much play in steering and/or roll steer in front suspension it will accentuate a usually unnoticed "torque twist" as you call it. You should drive mine. I didn't like the lockrite for the same reason until I discovered that the problem was at the other end of the vehicle. If I got off and on the gas it would about change lanes. I went through my front end and steering, eliminating any and all slop. I installed crossover steering and added a steering stabilizer to my tie-rod. Now it goes down the hiway with one finger in the wheel and I can sit back in the seat and relax. Since this discovery, I've been recruited to help a few friends fix their rigs "bad manors". The point is, that a locker of any style, installed in the rear, can change the behavior of a given vehicle, but you can't always blame it on the locker. It's chassis dynamics. On the circle track if the front end pushes an adjustment to the rear trackbar usually fixes it.
 
hey y'all,

thanks for all the input. i'm goin to price a bunch of different lockers (i hope) and see what happens.

anybody have any keen insight on where one could find such numbers on the internet? i'll head up to a couple of 4x4 shops in charlotte and clemson in the next couple of days, but just an idea of prices on lock-rites or arbs would be cool.

thanks,
jonathan
jmalphr@clemson.edu
 
Hammerhead, I have a saginaw conversion on it and never felt any problems prior to the lock rite and no more after the no slip install. I agree with your ideas about the front end causing part of the problem but mine is good. It felt as if a giant hand would grab the truck and push it over a bit to one side when I let up too quick on the gas.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom