auto or air diff lockers

[batten]

hi guys, theoretically if you were to put diff lockers in the front and rear of your fourby would you go for a auto locker or air locker you opperate.
cheeres scott

[Wahoo]

ARB air lockers, had them on my ute for 5yrs without a hickup

[BenDover]

air forsure, as you can turn them off and on when turning and not needed.

[Lucky_Phill]

IMO....... electrics and 4 x 4'ing do not mix.

I have manual hubs and would go for air lockers, should I feel the need.

Cheers.Phill
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[bungie]

I have Auto lockers in the rear of my 02 hilux, Detriot. And would go there again, but in the front use airlockers, auto in the front give steering problems when you least need it.

[Bones07]

arb airlockers all the way. you can not beat them. always had them and always loved them.

[GBC]

depends on your budget.

I had a $550 auto locker in the front of my last hilux for 200 000 kms without an issue.

The biggest improvement for the least money you could do to any 4wd imho.

Also depends on what 4wding you're doing.

Touring and a bit of play - autos are fine.

Black tracks in parks, front digs and comps - definitely switchable are better.

[caloundra]

I have only had an auto locker and loved it, I never had a problem with it.
it was in the front of my 4Runner. the good thing is you never have to worry about turning it on or off, when your half way up the track and you start to loose traction it does it all for you. It does affect you steering on tight turns a little bit , but a little on and off the gas peddle and your fine, not that big a problem.
If your hardcore doing it every weekend then maybe outlay for air lockers
but for the price (I got mine of ebay, landed from the US for around $320 when the dollar was good) are an cheaper alternative.

each to their own I guess, but I would put another auto locker in if I got a new 4BY

daniel

[banshee]

I had Lockrites front and back for over 200k without a single hickup in my old Hilux,the person I sold it to hadn't had an isue either for the three years he owned it,as stated before bang for buck the auto lockers are hard to beat.

[batten]

although air lockers seem to be the way to go im not sure i would go arb after reading this on another forum.doesnt sound like a lot of fun unless u enjoy spending thousands for nothing

Hello all,
I just had an ARB Airlocker fail by shearing all its bolts, which then floated around the rear diff, until they got caught in the pinion bearings, and CRUNCH! Seems the crown wheel and pinion minced some of the 8mm bolt heads but some survived and busted the bearings. ARB reckon this occurance is "unusual". They reckon it was my fault and that it is unlikely their product failed. This was their opinion until I told them about year and a half ago, the same thing happened in the front diff, but ruined the crown wheel and pinion and basically everything inside the diff including the locker. 3000 dollars later there is a reco front diff and new locker in the front.
But that still leaves the rear to fix. I had the locker overhauled by mcnamara diffs in melbourne, as ARB do not repair their own product. Seems they prefer to sell you new ones instead. Anyway, having spoken to mcnamara diffs who also manufacture their own air lockers, I am convinced that ARB's product is not the best on the market. Fancy breaking two lockers in one 80 series diesel landcruiser.
So you pay 4000 to get the lockers and fitting etc, then they fail on you and cause 5000 dollars more damage... What a joke.! not happy!
Incidently, my locker wasnt the only one at the diff shop... seems fairly common. Opposite to what ARB tells you. So basically, I am writing to find out what you guys reckon? Anyone had any failures?
This diff crunch occured the following day after coming back from the Outback and being in the simpson and 7-8000 kays later. Only used the lockers two or three bogholes in the Sunset Desert in Victoria, and the following morning after taking off down the street, a sound like an anglegrinder...

They are not used often. Just in slop for a few hundred meters type stuff. USually when you think you might have a bit of trouble if you were unlocked.
Its just a nat asp diesel manual. Vehicle was not overloaded. Only me and girlfriend with food and tents and two spares, recovery equipment. Nothing really heavy.

[GBC]

I'd tend to agree with arb. 80's will almost always blow the cv 's before the diff/lock. This is the same for auto and air lockers.

I know bendover had issues with an auto locker suffering similar a failure and causing catastrophic damage to the diff, but I think you'll find he was using it as the maker intended - ie flogging the guts out of it and he is the exception rather than the rule.

This bloke was driving along the highway. And to have both front and rear fail in the same car where the only constant is that both were installed by the same bloke leads me to believe they were installed incorrectly.

Most failures occur from inserting the air feed line too far into the diff, or the air feed (little brass thing) snapping and ending up in the diff. I've even seen them installed backwards (older style) - the locker will still work but its asking for trouble.

I'd say there were brass shards in the diff oil causing damage at highway speeds - that's a very rough guess, and a bitter pill for old mate.

There just isn't enough air locker failures to warrant worrying about ARB's product. Have you actually picked one up and looked at it? They are a well engineered device used in miliatary and competition stuff daily.

If you're buying a locker auto or air - and aren't comfortable setting backlash and preloads (preloads shouldn't need touching though), get a pro to install it for you and you won't have any issues.

C.J.

[BenDover]

Yep, Auto locker are crap. When you compare them to airlockers. It kept sheering off my floating axle bolts and dowls and spitting my axle out (allways on the short side). I used 6 dowls, the highest tensile bolts i could find and welded it in. I smashed all the spider gears in a full detroit (suppossed to be unbreakable pffft).

Then got talked into trying a detroit ezy locker (same design as the lockrite etc..) because they wherent as harsh and was told the backlash was what was causing my bolts to sheer.

Lasted 1 week. The dowls and springs kept falling out and getting munched in my diff. I has a standing order for them. After rebuilding it myself for the 4th time and getting a professional to reset it again. I noticed that it was starting to chutter the teeth. So instead of distroying it, i gave it away on here. Ive seen about 6 ezy locker/lockrites break in fronts on pretty ezy runs. As soon as it starts to bounce at a peek CRACK... Bye bye locker.

Air lockers are ducks nuts!!! 3 I have known that have broken because they wherent set up propperly. So get arb themselves to fit them. If they have any play when the diff centre has been tapped it will fail. And 1 I know was squished but fitted anyway.

Apart from that PERRRRFECT AND STRONG...

[Reel Hard]

Air lockers are easy to use, reliable and easy to obtain. Neat switch on the dash and lock them in and out when needed.
Costly, can leak air in the diff and spit oil out, require a secondary system to power them up.
Bearings, compression spacers pinion lock nut and ring bolts should be replaced when installed. (recomend)
Good quality LSD in the rear will suffice the average 4 wheel driver with a little training on how to get the best of it.
I use a spool in the front with locking hubs if stuck. Cable locker in the rear.
Cable lockers are simple but have an industrial look to the operating mechanism.
Locker for the front is always the first step, this will be more then enough for the average wheeler.
Cheers

[skipalong]

nothing but air for me had a detroit in the front was good but being able to turn off even better now

cheers justin

[kind_cir]

Your on a slippery side slope with a deep rut to one side, your auto locker senses wheel spin and locks. Now both wheels are slpinning and you slip off the high side into that deep rut and now your stuck.

Same situation and you got air lockers, you see the side slope and the rut, but leave the locker off and creep past the danger spot, with one wheel spinning and the other not , keeping you on high ground. You then lock the diff to get you over the next obstical and make it to the top.

I got air lockers and would not change for the above reason. People not in the know say go front locker first. When you go up big hills the back does all the work. I only use the front locker 20% of the time, and the rear 100% when needed.