Locker comparissons

[Trevor]

I stumbled upon this video and thought I'd share it here. It provides a good overview of the various locker types, along with a lot of bench examples of the lockers themselves, showing how they function.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x40WGUtdaLI

[binch]

Ashcroft do some good vids on how they work too.

Always good to find clear info on these things...especially when you don't  know any yourself (speaking from experience) ::)

[Trevor]

Agreed Bill. I kinda like stuff like this...gives a nice look at a subject matter, with enough detail to inform and educate but not so much as to overwhelm. The Ox locker was one that peaked my interest. I knew of them, but had never come across one. It's not an option for me anyway (well, not until I do a Dana 60 and 3-link conversion on the D2 at least ;->) but it was cool to see how they worked.

[Red90]

Nice video, but he explains the Torsen wrongly.  They do not lock ever.  They send more torque to the slower wheel up to a limit. And then he shows a Torsen T1, which is not the type used in a TrueTrac to confuse a bit more.

[binch]

Thanks for pointing that out John....I wouldn't know any different  otherwise ;-)

[headdamage]

I got a pair of Detroit Lockers on the way from Bearmach for myself and another member. With the 10% off BMP10 code they should come in for under $800 each including shipping and fees. They are listed incorrectly as Detroit air lockers limited slip and are the cheaper than the listed trutracs but I checked and they are the 24 spline Detroit no-spin rover type lockers, just some cock up with the advertising department. I figured we might as well take advantage and with the 10% off code the very reasonable shipping cost is covered.

Here is the add:
https://bearmach.com/diff-detroit-locker-24-spline-ba-207a

Shipping for the two lockers is only $106.05 CAN which seems very reasonable. Another company in the UK wanted to charge me 300 pounds to ship a 200tdi intercooler.

[Worthington]

That's quite a bit of dinero. Does the quality warrant the price?

[Red90]

I got a pair of Detroit Lockers on the way from Bearmach for myself and another member. With the 10% off BMP10 code they should come in for under $800 each including shipping and fees.

You can buy them via Britpart now, which may be lower cost.  Of course, they are usually not hard to find used for much less.

[Trevor]

That's quite a bit of dinero. Does the quality warrant the price?

You can get the Detroit's and Truetracs from Great Basin Rovers out of Salt Lake too. I had to replace mine a few years back and I believe it was around US$475  at that time. Where you would save money on that one is if you were going through that area and could pick it up yourself.

[headdamage]

I didn't find a better price anywhere I checked. Just landed in Calgary for $780 (including shipping, duty, and gst) pending final visa check. Also haven't seen a used one for sale in a long time around here.

[B-Red]

Very informative video about the various types. I ran Eatons true track on front and rear axles of my Defender and Disco 2 for last five years. They perform very well on the street and on the trails. I liked the minimum failure option with them vs air lockers.
The manual cable type was interesting. I may consider it if I convert any new vehicles ( hint hint lol)

[Macka]

I personally prefer the TJM Pro Air Operated Locker. The video below literally copies most of what was originally posted, however, it clearly demonstrates the "feature" of the e-locker and why this is not desirable, especially on a manual vehicle. It also very briefly touches on how the actuator for the TJM locker is superior to the ARB design. You will need to skip most of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYZo--7Xh4

https://www.tjm.com.au/diff-lockers/pro-locker-accessories/pro-locker-actuator-167plact02.html

Shane

[Red90]

I'm coming up on 14 years and 100000 km on the Detroit locker in my 90. I've seen zero downsides to it and can't find any reason to want to go to a manual locker.

[Matt H]

I like the ARB, especially in the front axle. I like I can turn it off for tight, high traction sections while retaining the improved carrier strength. There are some downsides of course but overall given the choice I'd go ARB front and rear.
My 2c.

[headdamage]

Based on wheeling with John I feel the Detroit Locker works better in the back of a 90 than an ARB. I have an ARB and I've noticed that sometimes I have to turn it off to keep it from forcing me off of my line in some mud and snow situations, I then tend to loose traction and can't take advantage of it. In the same spots John just drives right through with the Detroit. If I hadn't been able to directly compare my ARB to John's Detroit I'd think the ARB was better based all I've read but in my experience it just works better in John's 90 than in my 90.

The situations I've thinking of have been ones where there is really bad traction on one side of the truck and fairly good traction on the other side. I've watched John drive through keeping a strait line no problem but when I take the same line with the ARB locked it will not stay strait and the truck turns away from the higher traction side quite dramatically. I think that these occasions also involved having chains on the rear which likely has something to do with it.

I'm going to take the ARB out of the back of my 90, put it in the front and put a Detroit Locker in the rear.