What Lockers for front and rear?

[Evan]

Like I said, I HIGHLY recommend an ARB. Spend the extra money to do it right the first time.

I have a manual transmission, and a Lockrite in the rear.

If I want to pull out onto a road with some acceleration, the rear locks when taking the corner. The tires chirp and skip. Very annoying.

Sometimes the rear locks without warning when going around a corner. The truck hops and lurches.

If I go around a corner in a parking lot and take my foot off the gas, applying engine brake, the rear locks. I've almost hit cars before, as suddenly the turning radius of my truck is changed.

Occasionally, I'll hear a loud BANG! from the back. Honestly sounds like someone shot a 12-gauge off in my cab. Good thing I don't have a heart condition.

An auto locker works well for those who are on an extreme budget or who's rigs only see trail. If you want a nice, confortable DD, get a selectable locker. Take it from someone who has learned the hard way. It would have been easy to swap an ARB in with my 5.13s. Now, I'd have to take everything apart and re-setup the gears, and I already have $300 into a Craprite locker, that's weaker than an ARB.

Now, a Detroit will probably behave better than a Lockrite, but the same principal applies: it locks under load. This causes most of the problems listed above. Things will be better with an auto tranny, as you don't apply load to the rear when you let off the gas.

 

[Totalled]

Now, I'd have to take everything apart and re-setup the gears, and I already have $300 into a Craprite locker, that's weaker than an ARB.

Should only have to recheck the back lash.. and that's easy.

 

[Evan]

Should only have to recheck the back lash.. and that's easy.

But if that's off, and I change the backlash, will my pinion depth be incorrect?

 

[MAKG]

But if that's off, and I change the backlash, will my pinion depth be incorrect?

Nope. Pinion depth is set by pinion shims, bearings, and castings at the pinion end. The centerline of the carrier doesn't move unless you change one of those.

The new carrier has the same cetnerline as the old because both were turned on a lathe. It might have a slightly different diameter (at the level of a few thousandths), but it's not off centerline.

Now, the flange position along the centerline can be much more different and it will still work, which is why backlash can change.

 

[Hahnsb2]

If I want to pull out onto a road with some acceleration, the rear locks when taking the corner. The tires chirp and skip. Very annoying.

Yeah that's normal, but it doesn't bother me, half the time my tires don't even chirp

Sometimes the rear locks without warning when going around a corner. The truck hops and lurches.

Never had that problem

If I go around a corner in a parking lot and take my foot off the gas, applying engine brake, the rear locks. I've almost hit cars before, as suddenly the turning radius of my truck is changed.

Never done that either

Occasionally, I'll hear a loud BANG! from the back. Honestly sounds like someone shot a 12-gauge off in my cab. Good thing I don't have a heart condition.

Normal from any auto locker occasionally, I will admit the first time mine did it I about shit my pants, it's done it probably 5 times in 1.5 years.

Not saying these aren't legit problems for you but they aren't for me or most other people running auto lockers.

And yea you can swap carriers without much trouble, just reset the backlash if needed and you're good to go.

 

[Evan]

Yeah that's normal, but it doesn't bother me, half the time my tires don't even chirp


Never had that problem

Never done that either


Normal from any auto locker occasionally, I will admit the first time mine did it I about shit my pants, it's done it probably 5 times in 1.5 years.

Not saying these aren't legit problems for you but they aren't for me or most other people running auto lockers.

And yea you can swap carriers without much trouble, just reset the backlash if needed and you're good to go.

Well, a lot of it comes down to preference I guess. Some people don't mind driving around with a welded rear. I like to have a nice on-road ride, one that I could have someone else drive without them being like, "WTF".

As far as your locker never engaging around a corner when you take your foot off the gas and apply engine brake, that is downright amazing. Because these lockers are supposed to lock under load....both forward and reverse. Every auto locker I've ever seen does this. It's why they work smoother in auto trannys.

 

[Dishtowel]

Some people don't mind driving around with a welded rear.

Consistent, reliable, straight-forward, anticipatable.

 

[Evan]

Consistent, reliable, straight-forward, anticipatable.

Hey....I used to be one of them! I agree with every adjective you listed.

When I had a welded rear, I was in college. I had no money. My truck saw mostly trail and little road. I had tires that I didn't care about.

 

[Hahnsb2]

Well, a lot of it comes down to preference I guess. Some people don't mind driving around with a welded rear. I like to have a nice on-road ride, one that I could have someone else drive without them being like, "WTF".

As far as your locker never engaging around a corner when you take your foot off the gas and apply engine brake, that is downright amazing. Because these lockers are supposed to lock under load....both forward and reverse. Every auto locker I've ever seen does this. It's why they work smoother in auto trannys.

I does engage when I take my foot of the gas around corners but it's never affected my turning radius, the only time I ever get any kind of lurching is "neutral" throttle around sharp corners causes rapid engagement and disengagement therefore I avoid doing so. My feeling is I don't like spinning one tire off-road or on the street, the ECTED seems like a logical choice since it's an LS when it's unlocked but it's not a true locker.

Also, you're a bit "over geared" with 5.13s which may exacerbate some of your problems, I've noticed the locker behavior is much less noticeable when I'm running my 34s and under geared compared to my 31s.

Also agreed about the welded rear, if mine was a trail truck that only saw street to the trail I'd probably weld it.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Hey Crawlin,

I have an explorer 8.8" diff commin out of my ranger in a few days. Trac-loc and 3.73s

Let me know if you're interested

 

[Evan]

Also, you're a bit "over geared" with 5.13s which may exacerbate some of your problems, I've noticed the locker behavior is much less noticeable when I'm running my 34s and under geared compared to my 31s.

I've noticed that as well. Lower gearing seems to make things more "sensitive".

There's no such thing as being overgeared! j/k

 

[rickcdewitt]

i have to agree with the selectables for the rear.i loved my lockright when it went in but i soon got tired of the way it acted.on gravel roads i've noticed the locked rear has less traction than an open diff around corners and some situations.i'll get something selectable when i can.

 

[AZ86B2]

I had lockrights in both ends of a 92 ex cab Ranger with manual trans and never had much trouble with it. Design allows one tire to spin faster than the ring gear, but neither one to spin slower. Only ever had 2 problems with that setup... 1 tire "scrubbing" where the outside tire didn't have enough traction in a parking lot to unlock the unit so it would drag a little to turn the same speed as the inside tire. 2 squirrely handling in 2wd on ice because if you break traction, both tires break loose and the back end will try to come around. First time that happened was a little Learning to deal with those two things was well worth 0% worry about traction off road.