"On road" handling differences with locker in the rear? (1 Viewer)

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cruiser_guy

Out of Africa / North Africa
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I am SERIOUSLY considering an Aussie Locker in the rear of my BJ60 (I've got an OEM LSD that will go in the front). I've had the truck for 15+ years and am totally familiar with how the truck handles with open diffs (I've personally put on over 300,000kM on the truck and driven it across the continent from west [Vancouver, B.C.] to east [New York City] and back and north [Canada] to south [Guatemala/Honduras] and back). What kind of on road (highway) handling changes can I expect with a locker? Keep in mind that most of the highway driving that I do is on curvy mountain type roads similar to Western Colorado, the Sierra Nevadas or British Columbia.
 
do a search on "locker" or "aussie locker" and you'll find hundereds of posts, with a lot of opinions...
 
locker?

cruiser-guy
i have been driving my 55 for the past month with a welded rear diff and the only time i notice it is at low speeds in tight corners. in parking lots and at intersections the truck shakes a bit as the inside tire chirps, but now that i'm getting used to it this happens less. too soon to tell about tire wear, but i think i'm getting slightly better milage. perhaps because i spend more time with the front hubs unlocked? hope this helps, carl@salida
 
I have been driving my Lockright all over the place in my 60. Its quiet on road, and clicks in the parking lots pretty good. It does get noisy if I dont turn smoothly but that is easily corrected by idling through a turn or giving positive accelertation through the turn. If I shift gears pretty aggresively the back end does a little wiggle and it does understear through curves.
 
I just put one in and I get the wiggle also. I'm glad i'm not the only one, I thought my ride was really :censor: up. I also have problems doing a really sharpe turn like a U-turn. I get a lot of clanging and such that shakes the vehicle even if I coast with the clutch pressed in and say 5mph. It seems to better for me to stop and accelerate slow on sharpe turns.
 
Can you folks describe the "wiggle" a little more? I want to have a good idea of what I'm getting into.
 
cruiser_guy said:
Can you folks describe the "wiggle" a little more? I want to have a good idea of what I'm getting into.

Wiggle is ntoiceable but acceptable for highway. My best description of what happens is under power in a straight line the locker is fully engaged so you basically have a solid rear drive shaft. An open diff will absorb some vibration and cancel it out. Not so when the rear is locked. So basically you will be feeling the full affect of a solid rear drive shaft. If there is anything wrong with your suspension the affect will be multiplied.

Cornering in the mountains under power will lock the rear up and you might get a bit of chirping from rear tires as the inner skips to catch up to the rotation of the outer tire. If you are on gravel on these coners the rear might release a bi tso you will probably need to be careful and not lead foot the turns but use a feather touch instead.

The truck will be a bit trickier to drive on mountain roads with an auto locker in the rear. Especially considering twisty roads, loose gravel, and high :censor: factor consequence for mistakes.

Be careful until you full become familiar with the different handling characteristics of the vehicle.

If you were closer your'd be more than welcome to drive my locker'ed rig for a while to check it out.

Cheers,
Cahil
 
when you take off, you may feel a bit of "lift", and you need to slow down before cornering and lightly power all the way through, or push the clutch in/neutral through the corners. otherwise, unnoticed in mine.
 
cruiser_guy said:
I am SERIOUSLY considering an Aussie Locker in the rear of my BJ60 (I've got an OEM LSD that will go in the front). I've had the truck for 15+ years and am totally familiar with how the truck handles with open diffs (I've personally put on over 300,000kM on the truck and driven it across the continent from west [Vancouver, B.C.] to east [New York City] and back and north [Canada] to south [Guatemala/Honduras] and back). What kind of on road (highway) handling changes can I expect with a locker? Keep in mind that most of the highway driving that I do is on curvy mountain type roads similar to Western Colorado, the Sierra Nevadas or British Columbia.

You have just opened a can of worms with this post. Read mine I asked what kind to get and it turned out to be a cat fight about lockers, read it their is tons of opinions on their...
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=59405
 
batman said:
You have just opened a can of worms with this post. Read mine I asked what kind to get and it turned out to be a cat fight about lockers, read it their is tons of opinions on their...

Actually, I'm not looking for suggestions on which locker to get as I'm on a limited budget ($1000/month as a volunteer doesn't give alot of extra funds). The Aussie Locker is inexpensive and easy to install with a good reputation. I need to know how the trucks handling will change with the locker so I don't roll it or otherwise do something stupid that would not happen with open diffs.
 
Cruiser_guy,

If you are not going to have wheels off the ground scenario ...

I'd recommend the OEM LSD for the rear and and Aussie Locker for the front.
This would give you a locked front drive shaft when needed and when in 2 wheel drive the rear wouldn't b eso twitch for the curvy mountain roads.

Sorta best of both worlds.

Cheers,
Cahil

P.S. Gee, I missed the OEM LSD part in the previous post ...
 
WES1977 said:
I just put one in and I get the wiggle also. I'm glad i'm not the only one, I thought my ride was really :censor: up. I also have problems doing a really sharpe turn like a U-turn. I get a lot of clanging and such that shakes the vehicle even if I coast with the clutch pressed in and say 5mph. It seems to better for me to stop and accelerate slow on sharpe turns.


You also have to shift to N and have your foot on the clutch...
 
nuclearlemon said:
when you take off, you may feel a bit of "lift", and you need to slow down before cornering and lightly power all the way through, or push the clutch in/neutral through the corners. otherwise, unnoticed in mine.


I echo that :beer:
 
Unnoticeable if you are always floored ;)
 
cahilc said:
Cruiser_guy,

If you are not going to have wheels off the ground scenario ...

I'd recommend the OEM LSD for the rear and and Aussie Locker for the front.
This would give you a locked front drive shaft when needed and when in 2 wheel drive the rear wouldn't b eso twitch for the curvy mountain roads.

Sorta best of both worlds.

Cheers,
Cahil

P.S. Gee, I missed the OEM LSD part in the previous post ...

Good call but the OEM LSD is for a full floater ONLY! I hope to have a full floater though in a few months from Honduran military surplus though. The twitchy rear has me a little concerned here in Guatemala where anything can - and does - happen! I'll hold out for the full floater before doing anything then.

Is there any problems with a locked front when there is no power steering? I'm not really interested in power steering anyways.
 
eekk no power steering and a locked front....i would gather that locking a front and having ram assist go hand in hand....

I have a hell of a time trying to turn the wheel while in rocks...i could not even imagine it with out power steering and being locked...
 
I don't do any rock crawling so that's not an issue. In everything except parking I have NO problems without power steering and when the power steering pump goes out I have even less problems :)
 
Mace said:
Unnoticeable if you are always floored ;)

I have to completely agree. When I use positive throttle pressure through everthing, no nada :D

I can do a U-Turn with no noise other then clicking in my Lockright. Dont get why everyone complains.

I just turned my wife loose with my 60 all day. She didnt compain at all and said it wasnt noisy but she had to get used to coasting or accelarting through the WHOLE turn, no half way and hit gas thing.
 
stinkyfj60 said:
... but she had to get used to coasting or accelarting through the WHOLE turn, no half way and hit gas thing.

So what happens if you do? This is the sort of info I'm looking for.
 

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