how about some experience from a guy who ran locked front open rear as well as locked rear open front.

my theory was weight transfer. not much weight is on your front tires when climbing hills which is where you more often than not could use the added traction.

and personally i prefered having just a locked rear to just a locked front.

but of course once you have lockers at each end there is no going back.

 

Pretty evident difference there!

My experience has been that it depends on what you're doing. I had a locked rear, open front and it worked great for climbing hills, mud, and general trail riding.... but I always had a MUCH harder time going over rocks with lots of articulation than those who had front lockers. I would always have to bump over large rocks they could just climb. So it's situational, I guess.

 

OK....let put this same situation in a car...your going to climb a hill covered in snow and ice...which car would you pefer...the fwd car or the rwd car (no your jeep isnt a option lol)??? i dont care how steep the hill is or how much weight transfer you get, i'll take the fwd car. i've tested this theroy in my buddies old rubicon. it consistantly climbed over stuff and went though more mud with the front diff locked as opposed to just the rear locked. but either way a locker in the back will help out a ton with traction, and i would probably start there.

 

I would have to say a rear selectable locker is what would help in our case, cause more ofter than not I find my rear tire spinning! Even though there is more weight in the front, for slow crawling on rocks we don't get much weight transfer. Being that the weight IS in the front when ur tetering it takes the weight off 1 rear wheel, so having them locked would give you power back to your rear end! Since the power in an open diff will always take the easiest route!
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!?!?

 

That is true...it does seem like one of the rear wheels are coming off the ground more than the front when rock crawling. Its all about getting the power to the ground!!

 

I ran Rear Locked, Front Open before I was locked f/r and I honestly would do it all over again. Before I had lockers, and ran open/open I always found it much easier to get my front tires onto to an obstacle than my rear tires. I also found that once my front tires were up on something that I'd have a hard time getting my rears up. I locked the rear, and loved it.

As for daily driving, I also really liked having the rear locked first. It made travel in inclement weather nicer because of the equally added traction in the rear. It's easy to learn how to drive it with a rear locker in the snow/rain. Also, if you lock the front then you're sacrificing the ability to have the XJ in 4WD more often or around turns because the locker will want to push the XJ through the turn.