diff locks who is better??

With the Hilux I would be doing the front diff first,, Lokka is very good ,, http://www.4wdsystems.com.au/

I would stay away from any form of auto locker/unlocker...... cheap and they work BUT you can not turn them off and on as needed making some driving difficult and dangerous.

We had Eaton E-lockers in our Hilux and they worked great...... on wire coming out the diff.

Have heard too many bad reports with air lockers and air lockers are over complicate things...... you need wiring, relay and a switch to a compressor, you need wiring and a switch to the air solenoid, you need an air compressor, you need a solenoid, you need air line and then you have all the moving parts in the diff for it to engage.

With a E-locker you need a switch, some wiring, a relay and internally in the diff there is a magnetic coil and a dog clutch.

And you don't have to worry about seals and diff oil coming back to the compressor

I support getting a front locker first. Often it is the front that will pull you over that last bit not the rear.

Also I went with the Eaton eLocker. Great stuff and a lot simpler.

Nothing wrong with air lockers and they have a great reputation world wide with very solid mechanical components. Just the air system can have a few problems and leaks.

But often when getting into 4x4 you will want an aircompressor as well so lots of people get the air locker and also use the compressor to pump tyres. I have a separate air compressor.

Cheers

Serendipity

Don't be put off by all the negitave comments on the value of Auto Lockers.

I have had both ARB lockers front and rear, Detroit locker in the rear and now Auto Lokka in the front. The Auto locker in the front is better as you still have good steering abit a bit heavier feel. The manual lockers in the front are almost impossible to steer on flat ground when locked in and sometimes won't disengage when in a turn.

The bottom line for a lot of people looking for lockers is the price and the Auto lockers win hands down.

Most people are saying get the front locker first. All toyota owners know that the standard Toyota LSD is a piece of s@!$. If you put a locker in the front it is not going to pull you up a hill if your rear diff is not working as it should. I think its 60% of your drive goes to the back diff. 40% up front is not enough to pull you out of trouble. Get a Detroit TrueTrac gear type LSD in the rear. It uses gears instead of friction plates and a TrueTrac uses normal gear oil. Ive had these in two of my Hilux's and i never got stuck anywhere that i went. With auto lockers they lock and unlock as you go around corners, the Truetrac is just like any other LSD, working all the time and quiet.

In the rear of that model ute (I had an 03) I'd prefer a switchable locker either air or e locker. An auto locker is fine, but you'll have to adjust your driving style on the road, especially in the wet or you'll start understeering through roundabouts etc. You'll have to learn to go a bit easy on the throttle through corners.
Auto locker in the front is fine (I had a lokka), but as has been mentioned, if you have an sr5 get some hubs to stop the tailshaft pressurising the transfer case on the highway and blowing the front output seal. You won't be sorry either way.

I agree with what Michael and gbc have said. Fit an auto unlocker to the front if you must but have the rear selectable whether you have air or electric operation. Auto unlockers such as Detroit work fine and are no problems in 5 or more tonne trucks but are a bit too twitchy in the rear for a typical 4WD ute. Especially when the road is wet or a bit slippery. Never had experience with True Tracs or similar gear type LSD's but I was fitting Detroits for a living many years ago.

Cheers
Pop

To assess what is best you need to take more detail into account. I had a 2003 duel cab Hilux V6 Petrol/auto i found that a Detroit soft lock in the back was as close as you will get to a LSD rear for road driving, great if towing. Off road it was brilliant. I then fitter an Lockrite auto to the front. I drove the car for 6 years using it for extreme offroad compared to most. With the auto transmission you could easy off the power as you corner hence dropping off the toque to the wheels and making turning a breeze. I never once damaged a CV. Drove many a track on a club run and had 80 series cruisers popping CV.
I now have a live axel GU - Manual and have air lockers. If I was to buy a IFS car again it would be Auto-lockers again.