what is your preferred locker?

[customcamper72]

what brand of locker does everyone prefer? I am going to be ordering a locker for my 14 bolt FF soon, and i am trying to decide which one to buy,
is there much difference between them, lockright , detroitlocker, or the richmond gear brand ? any other brands i may not have heard of? thanks in advance.

[DieselEater]

In my opinion only!!!!!!! Buy a mini-spool for the rear 14-bolt ff. It won't chirp on corners any more than a Detroit, and costs less than $200.00. AND ITS STRONGER!!!!!!!!! The front axle is a different situation all-together. As long as you remember that you can always unlock the hubs when you're not wheeling, then I say go with a spool in the front also!!!! Even the guy on TRUCKS on the SPIKE channel said a limited slip wasn't good enough for real Wheelin' on project Crazy Horse!!!

Just my thoughts,

A.......

[snj8198]

Choosing between the two depends on your vehicle and your intended usage. Is this a short or long wheel base vehicle? I've experienced both mini-spools and Detroits in FF14B's in both short and long box configurations. In high traction situations like pavement, hard pack, and rock, shorter wheelbases seem to exhibit more understeer characterists than longer wheel bases. Both give ultimate traction off road but the minispool will shave your tires in no time on the pavement. If you like driving your 4x4 during the week for kicks or going to the dump, maybe helping your buds move stuff I would opt for the Detroit, just ease of the loud peddle on corners. True the mini-spools are under $200 and the Detroit is up to $425 now but if you drive on road at all you will want the Detroit, especially if you drive your truck during Wisconsin's winters. I've experienced this with both. With the spool you can't turn in a short wheel base even when locked in 4 wheel and long wheel bases are not much better. With the detroit you will also need to drive in 4 or you'll slide the rear sideways because of lost lateral traction. I lost a bed side against a bank teller machine in Hayward WI because I was on snow pack running a detroit and the front was not locked in. But if you are only off road save the money and spool it. By the way check out Detroit, they now have a new Detroit Soft Locker for this application that lessons the noise and ratcheting commonly experienced with the original. Have fun.

[DirtyLarry]

Well, I am pretty fond of my Detroit Locker but given how much I drive the truck that it was installed in, I could have installed a spool in the 14FF for less money and been just as happy. This mountain goat sees less than 1000 miles a year and now goes like hell off road. As mentioned….the front axle is a different story..

Went from open axles with 3:73 gears rolling on SuperSwamper TSL Q78X16 to 4:56 cogs with a Detroit Locker in the rear and Detroit TrueTrac in the D44 front (yeah, I want a D60 too). It IS scary where the truck will go now. On the next tire purchase I may step up to SS TSL 36/12.50X16 after I get rear shackle flip and the front 6” lift done but I kinda like the tall skinny Q78’s to cut through our mountain snow.

I have never been a fan of the Midwestern redneck mudrunner type 10 and 12” wide wheels with fat tires though. Not for real mountain off-roading anyway....REAL mountains...not the PA, NY or any of that Eastern hill stuff. Your rig needs to be as skinny as possible to fit on these mule and Jeep trails to cut through the snow...not float around on top of the slop only to slide your ass off a 10,000ft mountian!

I could not have driven through this big arse ravine before being locked and probably wouldn't try it again now that I have a new SnugTop topper on the truck.

[special-K]

Spools are best,if you run straight and flat.Go with the Detroit Locker.Once you learn it,it`s driver friendly.I don`t know about the soft version.IMO,too soon to leap.I`d have to see other`s results first.The Detroit is tryed and true.

[martinkh]

There are so many options because there are so many uses. Spools have their purpose. But if you will EVER drive to work at dark-thirty in the morning, with black ice on the road, or if you drive in city traffic (lots of turns), or like to breeze along winding roads, or pull a trailer, a spool is a poor option that you will regret.

If you will be doing technical rock crawling, but also some street use (it isn't your only DD) you will need lockers front and rear. If it is a dedicated rock crawler, then spool the rear.

If this thing MUST have great street manners, or you will be towing, and you want the extra traction, put an eaton limited slip in. If it is safe enough on ice for GM to use them stock, then it is good enough for you. Put a locker in the front for off-road use only. With this combo, you are good for towing and serious off-roading. It will not be an ultimate rock buggy without both ends locked/spooled, but if you were a rock crawler, you would already know what you want.

I had a '77 with a welded front (lincoln locker) and open rear. Even with bald tires, I went places!! Now I have a gov-loc rear (it will be replaced with an Eaton eventually) and an open front, soon to get a Powertrax no-slip locker. I live in real mountains, with washed out logging/mining roads, off-camber snowbanks, deep ruts and the occasional mudbath where the trails cross creeks or where the snow/water accumulates on clay. With that setup, I will do as well as anyone, and if I want to drive 300 miles to get to the trails, I won't have crappy highway behavior to deal with.

[snj8198]

Not to steal this thread but have any of you spooled the front on your daily driver and just left a hub unlocked for 4 wheel driving until you needed it offroad? I've heard tech-talk to this yet no real world eperience. What are the driving characteristics like with only one hub locked for winter/highway driving? There shouldn't be but, are there any different steering quirks to watch out for when unlocked? I'm offroading similar to your terrain MARTINKH yet I drive this truck everyday around town and at highway speeds during the winter. I'm just tring to side step the selectable locker costs if I can. Otherwise I'll have to cough up enough $$$ for ARB's for my FF14B and D6.

[1969 GMC]

Originally Posted by snj8198

Not to steal this thread but have any of you spooled the front on your daily driver and just left a hub unlocked for 4 wheel driving until you needed it offroad? I've heard tech-talk to this yet no real world eperience. What are the driving characteristics like with only one hub locked for winter/highway driving? There shouldn't be but, are there any different steering quirks to watch out for when unlocked? I'm offroading similar to your terrain MARTINKH yet I drive this truck everyday around town and at highway speeds during the winter. I'm just tring to side step the selectable locker costs if I can. Otherwise I'll have to cough up enough $$$ for ARB's for my FF14B and D6.

I have personally seen someone weld up their front diff like you said. They had it in 4-lo on a trail, and unlocked one front wheel to negotiate a tight turn. Popped the u-joint and fragged the stub shaft on that side (yoke ears twisted off). I know alot of people do this though, but this is just what I've seen happen.

What I am in the process of doing is swapping a D60 under my GMC that is from a late 70's Dodge that originally had a NP203, so the axle has drive flanges. It's getting a powertrax lock-rite. I plan on just shifting in and out of 4x4 as needed, because I really don't want to be playing the musical hubs game on the trail. I figure with the horrible gas mileage it has gotten, it wont get any better with big tires, and to me any parasitic drag from having the flanges on there wont matter too much.

[1969K10]

AWESOME post guys! this is a lot of what I'm trying to decide myself. I really want the open type situation in the rear for daily driving. the front will probably be a detroit at this point, might as well be pulling with both front tires if I got the front locked in...
I'd like more info on the Eaton if anyone has some. - THX I was headed toward a detroit for the rear, but I'm going to hope for the Eaton info...

[Zoomad75]

I've wheeled with DirtyLarry before and after he installed his detroit and tru-trac. It's an amazing change. I've got a pretty good comparison too, because my tire size/gearing/open diffs is exactly what larry had before he upgraded.

That day he did the big crack in the pic above, we played follow the leader. Now I new my K5 with open diffs wasn't going to crawl through that crack so I tried to go every where else he did. Now I was able to, but driving style could not have been more different. Climbing up a loose shale hillclimb with a nice little lip poking out half way up, Larry was able to calmly idle his way up the hill. He hit the lip and walked over it and crawled to the top. My first attempt had me at the lip and couldn't get over it so thats where the size 13 firmly planted on the floor came in. I hit that lip like a bull and the front end popped up so all I could see was sky. Larry told me the front end was more than a foot off the ground. Once the front came down the rear hit the lip and I charged over it and crawled the rest of the way to the top. I made it, but it was a wild ride that I almost slipped off the edge to the side when my front end went skyward.

A detroit out back is what I'll get when I find a 14b to put in. Street manners with a detroit is not that bad if you keep from appling power in sharp corners. For me, I wouldn't weld the front spiders, spool or install a locker with a 1/2 ton axle. With 35's or greater your going to bust an axle shaft being locked up. Shifting in and out of 4wd or unlocking hubs might be an option for some. But for some of us with high mountain shelf trails that are barely wide enough for our fat full size rigs getting out isn't an option. One side the door opens into the face of the hill and the other to a 1000ft or more drop. The trails are steep enough that shifting out of 4wd and loosing traction just to be able to turn is a big trade off.

It all depends on the terrain you plan to run. Ideally, running a selectible locker (air/electric/cable) would be the best of both worlds but those with budgets have to be realistic and plan for the intended terrain with what you can afford.

[martinkh]

That is the other point, I have been told by several serious crawlers that 1/2 ton axles, even d44 3/4 ton axles are at risk with 35's and lockers, IF you punch it at the wrong time.

Zoom, how do you think an eaton limited slip or gov-loc would have done in the rear?

[Zoomad75]

For me, I'll be saving up for a tru-trac up front and a detroit out back. The tru-trac has no clutches to wear out like the cone or clutch type posi. The thing is the tru-trac won't keep the axles locked up and possibly save the damage that a full locker would.

Sometimes having a slip-point in the drivetrain isn't a bad thing. If you got a 1/2 axle running big tires can keep the undersized parts alive by not being locked up.

I would have broke an axle shaft by now if I locked up my 1/2 ton axles.

Keep this in mind on the 3/4 ton D44 or 3/4 ton 10 bolt. The only thing that differs between the 1/2 ton versions of the same axles is the 8 lug hubs/rotors/wheel bearings. The axle shafts are the same and the ring and pinion are the same. You have no large increase in strength going from a 1/2 ton D44 or 10 bolt to the 3/4 ton versions..

[special-K]

In reply to the locker front and one hub disengaged...it`s never good to engage the front axle(4HI/4LO)with the hubs disengaged(Free).They were designed to be locked and free-wheeling is for just that...hubs Free/2HI.
If you run a locker/spool in front and get in trouble steering,disengage front axle to turn.

[martinkh]

The true trac has a tire size limit, if you look at the installation instructions for them (online), they say no larger than 32 or 33 inches, I forgot. OTW it sounds great. Keep in mind that if one tire is completely off the ground, it will disengage.

[snj8198]

There's a lot of guys voiding that warrenty!

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by customcamper72

what brand of locker does everyone prefer? I am going to be ordering a locker for my 14 bolt FF soon, and i am trying to decide which one to buy,
is there much difference between them, lockright , detroitlocker, or the richmond gear brand ? any other brands i may not have heard of? thanks in advance.

This thread is a good testament of all the variations and opinions out there, so IMO it comes down to the 'usage' and YOUR 'expectations' of the vehicle.

If cost was not an option (I wish ) you could just run selectable diff's front and rear and call it good. KA-CHING!

I like my current Detroit in the rear, spool in the front set up but I went for the cheap solution in the Dana HP.
Although after doing the 4340 axles/one ton front shaft and stronger u-joint upgrades to go along with it, it wasn't so cheap in the end.

Tough to beat the Detroit's.

[johnnywagon]

I've been running an "inexpensive" (comparativly) Lock-Rite in my 14 bolt. Never had a problem on or off-road. I dont exactly baby my rig either. My new front Dana 60 is gonna get one too.

[snj8198]

JWAGON I read you got a new D60 front. Sling it in place yet? Your D44 lasted well, was it locked? I would like an inexpensive locker for my D60 front, but this is my daily driver so I need something hiway friendly for getting to the trails and winter driving. I've never ran a truetrac in the front like others here. How are their characteristics on ice and at high way speeds? Otherwise I'll have to save my pennies for an ARB or OX.

[johnnywagon]

The D60 is not in yet. I've heard that the lower cost Lock-rites are fairly tough in the D60. I've heard the opposite about how they hold up in a D44. The D60 nedds a LOT of work. Last night I fabbed up new shock mounts.

[customcamper72]

I want to run some type of locker , be it a detroit or lockrite , i ran my old truck with a lincoln locked rearend , it was fine in the mud , but it wasn't great on road , the truck i have now is my daily driver for 5-6 months out of the year , so it has to have some kind of differential in the rear. i might try the lock rite unit.

[snj8198]

Where abouts in Wisconsin?

[customcamper72]

Janesville, 30 miles south of madison.

[martinkh]

Keep in mind, if you lock both ends, you are putting A HUGE amount of stress on everything. Use limited slip in one end if you are not going to be doing serious rock crawling, by serious I mean you are constantly running with guys with no fenders, spools and lockers, welded cages and 37" tires. Personally, I would try to keep the rear street-friendly, and make the front the tough side. After all, you will be driving it in 2wd on the street to get where you are going, and nice manners there really help.

[snj8198]

oh sure CC72, Janesville is on I90. I'm originally from Hayward.