Member - Doug T (QLD) replied:

G'Day Mark
Looks like no one is going to reply yet , I'm not an Expert on lockers but have been playing around with them for quite a while now since i had a Rocky back in 97 i had a Detroit in the rear and normal front and i found at Landcruiser park that when one wheel on the front was doing all the work up that end on hills that it pulls the front to one side , So now i have a Troopie and i have Auto's front and rear and it is unbelievable the difference it makes, you don't have to charge like a bull BUT in a Landcruiser i am haveing problems with severe kick backs and did sheer all 6 Axle studs on one side of which there was a big discussion on the subject about 3 or 4 days ago if you want to look it up, SO what my plans are when i get to ARB in Rockhampton is to have an Air locker fitted to the rear and that should solve all my worries.

F4Phantom replied:

I dont think your question directly relates to cruisers only, any 4x4 with any diff lock will be much more capable, to me its like going from 2wd to 4wd and up another level. I installed my own mechanical auto locker which i like because even in 2wd it is always working. I find my car in 2wd is 80% as good as it was before the locker in 4x4. Lockers also allow you to get much more stuck than before. I saw the thread a while ago and they tested rear vs front lockers, the front locker won hands down, so if you only get one, and you want the most capability go the front. Besides all this I still opted for the rear, I suppose it kind of feels more natural to get the rear. Anyway, if you get any locker you will get massive grip and do stuff that just was not close to being possible previous.

BTW another reason for me getting the auto locker was it being around 4 times cheaper than the ARB.

BT in WA replied:

Gidday Mark,
I fitted ARB airlockers front and rear on my LC 100 to compensate for the dicky IFS. I've been very impressed with the performance and the cruiser has gone places I thought would have been an issue. It also gives me the option of going slowly over the road instead of rushing at it with speed which saves on the outback breakdowns.
Cheers
BT

Member - Troll 81 (QLD) replied:

Gday Mark

I have lockers front and rear, this is the first car I have had them in and if only I knew how good they are. I do allot of the same type of stuff that you do, steep hills and crazy ruts and one wheel in the air type stuff, the Hilux was never ever able to even get halve way up there. Since I got the Patrol I managed to conquer the hills that we just never got up in the lux....and you can have some fun with them in the mud.....lock the rears and the donuts are very good :)

Wayne (NSW) replied:

Mark,

Why did you get stuck?

This is a general view, as I didn't see what happened,but the reason that you got stuck is because you lost traction. On a rutted hill you would have had one front wheel in the air or very little weight on it and on the back also a wheel off the ground. What happens here is that all the power going to the front wheels goes to the wheel with least resistance, the one in the air, and all drive is lost. When the same thing happens to the back at the same time, two wheels spinning and no drive to the wheels on the ground. The vehicle is stuck.

Why did the Patrol make it?

It is a well known fact that the Patrols have a very good LSD in the back. This would have helped. The front locker would have been doing most or the driving, but would have made turning the vehicle very hard. He would have had to travel in a straight line. How the locker would have helped in this case is when the front wheel lifted off the ground instead of all the power going to that wheel the power went OR the wheel that was on the ground and it was this wheel that would have pulled the vehicle over the ruts. The back would have help if the two back wheels were on the ground and driving. If one back was not on the ground the LSD would have had to drive the other. Now a LSD is not like a locker as it will slip depending how much torque is applied. The more torque the better they work but that also means more power and more speed .Most times you use a locker to travel slow over a rut and if this was the case when the Patrol climbed the hill that the LSD was doing very little or any thing at all. All the power and torque was going to the front and if one wheel was off the ground and the locker engaged it would have all gone to the one wheel. That is a lot for one CV to handle. That is why it is better to engage the rear locker first and if it is that bad then the front locker.

Other things that can help climb a rutted hill.
Driving a line that will keep as many wheels on the ground at one time.
Tyre pressure, the lower the pressure the more traction.
Tyre pattern. a more open pattern will tend to give more traction.
Wheel travel, and this is probably the most important. If you don't have wheel travel than all the other options except for the lockers will not be as effective.

The 100Series that you have I will assume has a independent front end. If this is the case the front wheel will lift off the ground very easy. There is not much that can be done except to get a Patrol( I don't believe I said that).The better way is to make sure that the back has a lot of wheel travel and most of the drive when climbing. So if you think that you will push the cruise to the limit again, a locker in the back would be the go.

Wayne

Mad Dog (Australia) replied:

No doubt about it, lockers if used correctly will make your 4 wheel drive experience far more pleasurable and be kind to your vehicle but they can also be used to make your day a misery by driving you further into the poo.

Now that I've experienced them I never want to be without them.

OMN replied:

Thanks for all of the replies, just to answer a couple of points that were made.

The Patrol we were with didnt go that fast as it is also fitted with Rock Crawler gears so just drove up and over everything.

On this particualr track you had high banks on either side inches form the car, the track was cut into the hill, so you had minimal choice in any lines you could take to try another tack, it was straight up or not at all.

We could have used the winches or started road buildign but decided due to time limitations it would be a lot quicker to back to the clearing, only abotu 50 feet, turn aroudn and go back down and come up another path a few hundred metres up the road that by passed this part.

Took all of five minutes that way, rather than myabe an hour or three doign it the other way, if i hadnt had kids with me would of got the winch going probably.

As for wheel spin your right, at least one front would have been airborne and turnign quickly while the other sat and did nothign, the rear at least one was spinning and made a bit of a mess but with effectively only one wheel trying to drive it it was never getting up.

If i had had lockers, partiucalry at both ends my thought was i would have had threee wheels now driving as at least three were alwyas on the ground, even if one had more grip it would have been enough to keep forward momentuem and most likely get over the last 50 feet of the hill.

Lastly yes it is the awesome IFS front end with the excellent front end wheel articulation and cross weight bearing like a Patrol!

Anyone thanks all for the responses and i will see what i can do.

LAst question for anyone in a 100 series who has them in front and rear or rear only, does it change the daily driving characteristics of the car at all as i beleive they have to remove the rear LSD to install the lockers?

Any responses appreciated.

Mark

Wayne (NSW) replied:

Mark,

If it is a air locker from ARB or TJM it will not effect the normal driving habits of the vehicle because they don't lock until the button is turn on.
If it was a auto locker it would be on all the time and this can effect the way the vehicle drives. The auto locker is a completely different story.

Wayne

100TD replied:

correct weight mad dog ! far more pleasurable and comfortable ride not having to ball tear up a hill to get over it and does much less damage to the terrain having it crawl nicely up and over.i have a 100s td with front and rear lockers and swear they have been the best investment(apart from fridge for beer!)that i have made to help the ifs limitations?hope this helps your decision cheers Paul