Lockers - Front or Back?

carosemena

New Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Location
Charlotte, NC
Hey guys. I've been tossing around the issue of putting lockers in the front and back. I don't have the cash to put up the air lockers right now. When I do, I'd like to have new gears installed since whoever installing it will be in that area and I figured I'd get the most bang for my buck. I don't have a lot of cash, so i know I'll probably get one of those limited slip or Lock Right lockers. Should I install them in the front or the back first? What are the adv and disadv?

Thanks for your comments in advance.
 
Back

Lock Right in the back first.
 
i agree back first. i don't know what you are interested in doing, but the back may give you enough traction to do what you want to do. And then you don't have to worry about breaking front axles although i have seen a few break in the front when they were open but it is very unlikely.
 
well, for right now, I plan on doing some easy to medium difficulty trails. i'd like to move to the next level soon, but this is my only vehicle and i really don't want to lose any driveability on the road. i just was told to put some in the front first but really i don't know which one would help more..
 
im going to have to be the first to say front

what are you driving? if it is a newer jeep, i feel a lot more comfortable driving on a locked dana 30 front than a dana 35 rear

if not, that of course doesnt apply

if this is your daily driver, i would especially recommend the front first, for the driving manners, a rear one will have a tendency to bind up and unload on the highway, not such a great experience with lockrights

i have a lockright in my front 30 and couldnt be happier that i chose to do it first, it is 100% un-noticable on the street, the only time i know it is there is in very tight parking lot turns, and then i mostly hear it, just barely feel it

also, the performance is great offroad, i cant think of one situation that ive been in that having only a rear locker and an open front would worked better than what ive got


adam
 
I would say to buy a winch first but if you are going with gears than you should get the lockers while in there.
RQ
 
I'd give some thought to awspence's post. I put a lockrite in a rear D35 years ago and broke it the first trail ride, granted it was Guardrail at Tellico :) Seen several other similar incidents also. Considering how awspence does on the trails I'd consider his advice. LOTS of times I see rigs with the front end over the obsticle, locker in the rear and both rears turning but not getting up. With both fronts turning and pulling instead of pushing from the rear it might make a difference. Either way, a locker is going to help your traction no matter which end you put it in :)
 
question outside the box. can you run a lunchboxer locker in a tj dana 30 or any other front axle that doesnt have lockout hubs?
 
I've got a TJ with the rear open, front with a LockRite. I chose the front because I usually want the front end to pull me up onto something. It's pretty much unnoticeable but...... I've never drove it in the snow. If you plan on driving on snow covered roads - an automatic locker in the front can be tricky. They can have a tendency to go straight if there isn't enough traction to unlock them. If you're on the gas in the middle of turn with traction, I would imagine it could get a little hairy.


I run mine without locking hubs, the only thing I notice is the clicking sound on tight radius turns (parking lots). The LockRite manual did say that it will wear out pinion seals quicker than normal.

If you do little to no snow driving, I'd put one in the front. JMO
 
I did in my first rig and had no regrets 1st winch- 2nd front LR- 3rd Rear LR
 
Haha I did it all at once:flipoff2:
Thanks god for good deals
I have a mini-spool in my F D44... any problems with this?
 
I say front first, for may of the reasons already here...

also, do you lift a front tire or rear tire more often? assuming, like most people, you lift the front first...lock it first...

Greg
 
i was talking to some guy at 4wheel parts and he told me that i would have some problems with the "disconnect" since I have a 94 YJ and that part on the axles are pretty weak. how much will it take to break this disconnect part on the axle?
 
i would go rear first due to the fact that when you're climbing your weight transefers to the rear of the truck. with that said though i did my front first because i shattered the carrier and it was time to up grade.:driver:
 
carosemena said:
i was talking to some guy at 4wheel parts and he told me that i would have some problems with the "disconnect" since I have a 94 YJ and that part on the axles are pretty weak. how much will it take to break this disconnect part on the axle?
Click to expand...

The splined part of the axle shaft at the disconnect is actually larger than the rest of the shaft. As long as you have proper engagement of the disconnect ring, ie both axle shaft parts engaged equally, I would think you would be OK there as far as breakage goes. While I've seen lots of problems with engagement, I've not seen breakage there, not to say it dosen't happen :) I ran a Lockrite in a front D30 for several years, 35" tires, beat it hard enough to break a couple of shaft and a couple of ujoints but never had a problem with the disconnect breaking. I did at one point install a Posi Loc to ensure positve engagement. Alternatively you could engage it permanantly but that wouldn't be recommended on a daily driver.
 
I have a 90 YJ with the vaccuum disconnect. I went with an Aussie for the front and no regrets. I did lose a ujoint cap which ended up breaking the yoke ears on Slickrock. Backing down to replace the shaft I tore up the outer axle seal. If you are worried about the disconnect you could track down some TJ one piece shafts, pick up a TJ passenger side axle seal (~$15 I think) and make a block off plate and do it all while you are installing the locker. Just an idea. Might be more than what you are looking to do but I am going to do the one piece shafts since I have to repair my front anyways.

Ok, I realize I went off on sort of a tangent there so to summarize....I vote lock the front.
 
Ok, I see that I need to look into possibly creating something that would alleviate problems with the engagement of the disconnect. What is the % that I will have problems with engagement of the locker?
 
If your locker is working properly you will have 0% problem with it engaging :) The problem you might encounter is with the disconnect and the fact that it is vaccum operated. Any leak in the vac line to the disconnect or malfunction with the disconnect mechanism itself will cause the ring that slides over to connect the two pieces of axle together to not fully slide over or not slide over at all. If you get partial engagement of the disconnect ring you might srtip splines in the ring or on the shaft under high torque loads. If the ring dosen't slide over at all then you are not driving the passenger side, thus no pressure applied to it. It's REAL easy to pull the cover on the disconnect and see exactly how it operates. There will be a small amount of gear oil leak out so be prepared to catch it with a rag. RTV the cover back on when finished. You can get a cable that you manually push/pull to move the disconnect ring called a Posi Loc, costs around $150, or you can rework the disconnect ring and snap ring setup to have the disconnect ring connect both axle pieces at all times.
 
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