How essential is a LSD?

They make a world of difference...

Unless you get a locker or LSD fitted which would defeat the purpose of saving $ at the auctions.

ARB will be bringing out a front air locker for most Mitsu 4WDs this year. There may be a rear locker already available.

LSDs are worthwhile, and look for one from a wrecker to save costs.

The Challenger really needs some traction aids as it's not got the best wheel travel on the market, especially the leaf versions.

hth

--
Robert
http://www.gpsvehiclenavigation.com/

Rear locker is available from ARB.

I Don't have one YET....Looking forward to Kalbarri in July..

Cookie. Personally I reckon if you are only going to get one locker and assuming one is made, put it in the front diff. If you have to put one in the rear, get the ARB Air Locker. I have a Detroit Soft Locker in the rear of my 80 series and it has turned the car into a pig to drive on the bitumen. It's brilliant off road, but if I had my money over again I'd get the air locker. I've been told the Challenger is based on Triton running gear. If this is true, it opens up more avenues for sourcing a second hand LSD. I had a genuine LSD in my L300 and it worked great. Good luck.

Without a decent LSD you really only have a 2 wd in sand and mud and up steep rocky slopes - why bother having a 4wd without at least some form of traction control.

Even old LSDs often work well and 'again' once some 'right' and good quality oil is used.

Always pulling people out of sand in Great sandy region without LSDs (or common sense ie too high tyre pressures)

When helping a friend find a 4wd lately we went into a caryard asked to look at any 4bys he had with LSD - the salesman asked 'what do you want a LSD for?' Needless to say he was only selling 4bys for urban use - we left and found the perfect Nissan Patrol at the next place which he bought.
Now there is a LSD
lol
kes

There is probably only one factory fitted LSD that is any good off-road, and that is the one fitted in the Nissan Patrol's. And even these have a finite life span. LSD's were designed for cars travelling along hard surfaces where the chances of a lot of wheel slip are small. In this climate, they function well within their design parameters. However, once in a 4x4, where the chance of a lot of wheel spin and for lengthy periods, are common, they wear very quickly and cannot handle lots of wheel spin that is usually the case when negotiating muddy/loose conditions. They rely on a friction plate material which has to grip across on to another plate. Obviously, if excessive spin is induced it wears this lining down, the clamping or friction pressure begins to lessen allowing further slip, etc,etc,etc. By all means, pay the extra dollars for the LSD, and if your driving is occassional 4x4, or is road biased or sand/dirt biased, then you will gain some life benefit from it. But if your driving is lots of mud and hills and heavy going, you would be wiser to invest that cash toward a positive locking differential and that is another story!

Cookie, one of the reasons the Pathfinder is a much better off-roader than most give it credit for, is its billiant rear LSD (same as the Patrol). I don't about the Mitsu LSD, but if its a good (tight) one, having it will make the vehicle MUCH better for off-road work.Talk is cheap ...
Rohan (Sydney)

Hi Cookie'
I own a challenger with diff lock and have considered a diff locker for the front, ut Ive just read the current forum question and responses on mud driving. Chains get a good report. So I might go for chains instead. A four chain setup might be serious traction in the wet!

Sorry Cookie I have led you astray. When I said we had diff locker on the rear I meant to say LSD. Freudian slip I suppose. At least the owner's manual says we have LSD, so I assume we do.
Last weekend we drove tracks in the Mid North of S.A. and it was pretty wet. We have tyres at the moment which are two thirds worn down and which only started life as highway tyres anyway. I was really surprised at how well the Challenger handled the conditions which varied from slippery clay roads to bush tracks with deep muddy holes out of which the little truck pulled us with ease. It seems to me that with good tyres it would probably do any thing we asked of it without any additional help from lockers or any thing else. I have thought that carrying a set of chains might allow us to get out of any thing we might encounter.

We have leaf springs in the rear as it is a 1988 model. The originals were replaced by the previous owner because they sagged apparently. He used Old Man Emu replacements which suit us fine because we tow a camper trailer even if it means we get rear tyre squeal at times when unladen and accelerating round a corner.

Basically we wanted a little comfort or the long treck over bitumen to get to the interesting stuff and some reasonable 4wd performance in the rough. Looks more and more that that's what we are getting. We have driven in the Coorong in sand and it handled that with ease it tows the camper superbly and after last weekend we know it handles mud. Rock hopping may be the next test and I guess with the good clearance it might just handle that O K.
One of the things we wanted to have was low ratio 4wd and manual. Some of the more comfortable 'soft roaders ' fail to spply same and it really is essential. Again the Challenger has handled every thing we have thrown at it in this dept. even though its low ratio is ratio is not as low as some similar vehicles.

It seems that the more we use the vehicle the happier with it we are, considering that every 4wd has its limitations.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Camper

Cookie

Yes we do off road quite a bit and yes our Challenger has LSD. Still no comparason to diff lock though but does make some difference apposed to no LSD.
Are you sure you don't have LSD in the one your looking at.I was under the impression that all Challengers from 01 on had LSD(I could be wrong).Ours is 2000 and I know in that model the LS which is distinguished by the 2 tone paint came out with LSD.
The ARB air locker is just short of 2 K's installed.
Aside from the LSD issue we found the challenger to be quite rugged & willing to go where any 4wd dares to go.Only issue is ground clearance.We have now wound torsion bars at front for extra 20mm and had rear leaf springs reset. When a tyre change is due will go for 32x11.5x15.

Let me know how you get on.

CheersLooking forward to Kalbarri in July..

Are you in Perth?
If so when you get your Challenger drop me aline jsfencing@iprimus.com.au and we can go test both cars togethe.

The option to hang out for LSD is probably way to go.
I have seen reviews and heard the coil spring rear is better but a lot of reviews say that due to the full ladder type chassis it still is not ultimate comfort.
However I can vouch for the fact that they certainly can be very aggresive and capable off road.I certainly am pleased with mine.I guess at the end of the day it comes down to what are you looking for in a 4wd.For me it was basicly a seven seater wagon small enough for city travel and also get off the beaten track and have some.Looking forward to Kalbarri in July..