Ok so this started out as a question then I thought, "Hey! Let's make a guide to lockers and sticky it or something."

My question for me is this:
I will eventually get a locker for the rear. The only offroading I do is mud and trails. I don't do rock crawling and frankly I don't NEED a locker. I know this. But I want one. I have L/S and it works great but I want a locker. You don't dissuade me from this so please don't try :)
It's a down-the-road kinda deal and nowhere near the top of my list but I'd like suggestions one what would be my best choice. Obviously Detroit Lockers are among the best of the best, if not the top enchilada but given the amount of offroading I do I don't think I need that. I want a good product that's light on the wallet but will function when I need it to for years to come. Suggestions?

Now my idea for the sticky. I think TRS has something like this and maybe I'll check with Jim and see if he minds me stealing it and using it here but how about our members give their ideas on what lockers are good/junk etc... then it can be a sticky in the FAQ section?

Just thinking out loud here...

Thanx!

 

I don't understand, you don't need a locker but you're going to tear out a perfectly good trac-loc to install one anyway AND you want one that's light on the wallet?? Sounds like keeping the trac-loc is the lightest on the wallet (for your needs) but if you really must install a locker (that you don't need) then a lockrite is going to be the cheapest and they're extremely durable. Next would be the no-slip which is made by the same company (Powertrax) but is quieter and unlocks more easily. For quite a bit more money, you could go with an ARB or the electronic one that N3ELZ has and in either case you just never turn it on since you don't need it.

I'm not trying to disuade you from this but I think that there are some things you need to consider about installing a locker when you stated that you don't need one. One of the big things to consider is tire wear. You will wear rear tires faster with the lockrite or no-slip, it's a part of life with a locker. You also need to consider how the locker will affect the on-road manners of the truck. If you're in an area that gets rain, you will need to re-learn how to drive when traction is reduced. You should also consider the chance of breaking parts. As we've seen in the past, you don't need to be rockcrawling to break an axle. It goes against one of your criteria (that it be easy on the wallet) but if you don't need the locker then you're probably not willing to sacrifice things like handling (on-road) and tire wear to have one so the best one for you would probably be the one N3ELZ put in his truck. It's expensive, but you will have a locker without the bad aspects of having a locker.

 

For someone who off-road a little more like me I was thinking about a locker in a down the road kind of thing. I know Johns is electric or current controlled, but what is an ARB and how does it turn on and off ?

 

An ARB is controlled by compressed air. There's a small compressor that is required to lock the differential. The main difference (other than air vs electricity) is that the ARB is open when unlocked (if I remember correctly) unlike the ECTED which is limited slip until locked.

 

I'm swapping in an Explorer 8.8 so hopefully that will take care of the breakage issue. I know it's different with a locker and I don't mind relearning. It rains a lot in the summer months. I did not know about the tire wear thing but I would still like one. As I said this is a down-the-road purchase. I mean waaaay down the road. I just thought I'd ask while I was thinking about it. My to-do list is friggin huge with locker in the bottom 1/4 of it.
I like the one Daddy Griggs got a lot. I can lock it when I need it locked and it functions like a L/S when not engaged right? That would indeed be perfect so maybe I'll just save up some and go that route since I have a TON of time.

Thanx!

 

Thats what I thought, do you know off hand what the price difference is ?

How have you been doing Tom ? I haven't seen you on lately.

 

ARB is about $700 for the locker and I don't know if the compressor is a separate purchase. The ECTED is about $580.

 

If you want good street handling an automatic locker is out, even the better ones. All of them have the problem of engaging if you get on the gas in a turn. I think a selectable locker is the way to go (and the way I did go) and one which is LS until locked is the icing on the cake.

 

ECTED is less money then the ARD and is better because its a LS until it locks thats a no brainer.

 

I like my detroit, but yeah it can be a pain on teh road. The only real times I ***** are when i am doing a slow turn and sometimes it will get in a bind adn sound like somethign is breaking, but that is suposedly normal.

But for the $250 I paid for it with new gears, I coudlnt pass it up and NO i dont regret it.

 

Front locker and your done. You don't have to worry about snow in FL. Front locker is invisable when in 2wd. Keeps the truck perfectly streetable and highly capable when off-road. Best of both worlds. But only locker ava. for the front is an automatic.

 

I've always heard (magazines, TV shows etc...) that a front locker isn't practical. Plus since I'm rebuilding a rear diff anyway I'd be more comfortable working on the rear than the front.

 

If you have full-time front hubs, the locker could potentially be a problem, I suppose. But I think Adrian is running his that way with no problems.

Of course, with boggers on his truck, he couldn't hear it anyway...

 

HAHAHAHA

 

You've seen my Lockright get me stuck at the River Ranch meets... That could be you! LOL, call me crazy but I kinda like driving with a locker on the street, it makes it feel more like a truck. In the rain you've gotta keep your foot off of the gas around turns, it'll spin you around on a dime if your not paying attention. I got my Lockright on Ebay for around $225 and installed it myself in about 3 hours, and I had never seen the inside of a differential before. I absolutely love it,lol...

 

powertrax makes and electric locker that goes l/s when not in use. ive been researching it and its called the electrac. it seems like a very nice locker but (i havent found a price for it yet) i think its more then the ected. this one is controlled by a switch. with the ected you can wire it into your throttle and abs and all that. i think mr. griggs has his through a switch only though(correct me if im wrong)

i want to go the locked route after im lifted a bit this summer. for mudding, a front locker just isnt practical. 4 lo with l/s rear has gotten me out of anything i wanted to be in.

one other thing, i backed into a hole up to mid tire and had a friend with me. i asked if my right rear was spinning and he said it wasnt. only one wheel was spinning with l/s. why?

 

Limited slip um..just limits the slipping. :) It's still possible to only spin one tire. That's why it's great for corners, one tire can spin and the other doesn't have to. A locker would stop that but a limited slip only tries to make the wheel spin together.

 

i know limited slip doesnt completely stop slippage of one tire. it was a low traction situation so i thought that would allow both to spin.

 

The ECTED is only wired to a switch, no wire goes anywhere else.

 

The Electrac is from the same people as the Detroit Locker -- I don't believe it's from PowerTrax.

I recall the applications for it were very limited at one point -- maybe that has changed and it's now available for more axles. That was a problem with the ECTED for awhile also.

 

i read somewhere that the ected can be wired into the truck so it can track throttle response, braking, and abs usage. this way it engages at heavy throttle and gets off when needed...ill find it. hold on a tic.

 

I have no idea how it would be wired to do that, since the only wire that goes to it is for the switch. I don't think I would want it engaging and disengaging by itself, then how would you control it with the switch.

 

Although it CAN, there is no LOGIC in it for that. What they are saying is, that if you are designing a traction control system, you can integrate the rear locker into the system for additional traction control strategies.

The locker itself is interesting because if you modulate the current, you get various degrees of clutch lockup -- that is, you can make it behave like a limited slip with different amounts of torque bias.

I thought about doing that, but the LS was already so tight, I just ended up using it as an on/off locker.

So, don't let that text in the presentation fool you: it was targeted at automotive designers and not the average user. The locker does not come with, nor does Auburn have available, anything to implement the locker in a traction control system.

 

^^^that helps explain it a bit mr. griggs. the description did say something about the amount of lockage(if you will) being directly proportional to the amount of throttle being applied. (feel like im in physics again).

 

What about the Eaton E-locker, everyone seems to forget about that. It is open when disengauged. No no clutch packs to wear out like in the ECTED. It is about $600.