Wednesday, Feb 13, 2013 at 11:05
Hi
Ross & Chris,
Sorry I didn't get back sooner, grandchild baby sitting needed.
My vehicle is an early model Landcruiser and as per usual the rear LSD stopped being effective after about 40,000 k's. I am not sure if the Hilux like yours, which is much newer, has an improved version of their LSD or if they now rely on some form of traction control to assist. The problem with rear LSD type diffs that use spring loaded clutch plates is that even when you are just driving around town, the plates are wearing every time you turn a corner and the wheels are forced to turn at different speeds.
More years ago than I care to think about I worked for a company that fitted Detroit locker (more accurately unlockers) diffs to everything from 10 ton trucks to Landcruiser class vehicles. These diffs worked very
well although the early ones did make rather alarming noises as they went about their business particularly on bitumen or any hard surface. I believe the new generation of "soft lockers" work just as
well without the noises.
While these units worked
well at either end of the vehicle weight scale the lighter ones were a bit "twitchy" on wet or slippery roads.
For that reason I fitted a rear Air Locker to the Landcruiser some 15 or so years ago and since then have done many off road trips including the CSR and
Gibb River. So far the only problem I have had is that the smallish compressor died from being asked to inflate to many 4WD size tyres.
I wonder how many failures of Air Lockers can be attributed to drivers waiting until the vehicle looses traction before engaging the lockers and doing so while one wheel is spinning therefor imposing a shock load to the diff as it engages. I guess that is a good reason to fit an automatic locker rather than a manual in the case of inexperienced drivers.
Front or rear locker?? I guess it depends if you get into situations where you need maximum traction to front or rear wheels when you have just one axle fitted out. Going up a steep slippery slope I would rather have the rear locker unless you need to back up.
Sorry if I rambled on too much but hopefully this will be of some use to you.
Cheers
Pop
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781513