FWIW, my plan is locked up front and LSD rear. My jeep is a DD, and also a wife driving kid toter when the weather is rough. I have a 231 T case so I need traction on both sides out back, at a moments notice. ie slippery corner, wet patch, ice etc. My jeep also sees a lot of highway time, and lots of long, on throttle sweeping corners on my favorite back roads. for this reason, I don't want to deal with an auto locker trying to engage when I'm on throttle coming around a corner, or any of that chirping in a parking lot crap.

with that said, I still need it to be pretty capable off road when I'm getting to these rock climbing crags, and for when I'm out with all my Toyota buddies. Somebody has to pull those guys out...

So... It's locked front, LSD rear. But that serves my needs best. Might not be the best for OP needs.

 

So the consensus for a noob that doesn't have a set type of terrain is rear locked?
I'm not worried about a locked front being a different kind of animal. This is my first 4x so the whole thing is new to me.

 

What ever happened to wheeling open and getting experienced and then deciding what your jeep needs along with your driving style ?

 

You need Rockwells, full hydro, 3-link, ls swap, 42's and a tube chassis to even attempt to go offroad....

 

lol, I'm trying to decide if I need portal axles or a hemi swap before I hit the trail for the first time.

 

Screw the hemi drop an eco diesel in it.

 

I will be wheeling open/open for a while to gain experience and since I've already depleted my budget for this thing. I figured it's just inevitable that it'll get locked eventually and want to know which is preferred when the time does arise.

 

You really need to wait till you decide on what lift size your doing and most important the size tires you will be running. When that is finally decided then you will need to regear then install lockers at the same time.


Till then save your money and have fun with what you have.

 

if you're indeed open in the rear, you should definitely throw a lunchbox locker in the rear. this way you won't need a strap at every root or rock, thus slowing the group down.

don't forget to let some air out of those tires when you do go off road, again, at street pressure, you will be bouncing all over the roots and rocks, slowing the group down.

enjoy

 

I have also been trying to decide what to do about lockers. This was a good read. I'm going to lock the rear diff with a lunchbox locker.

 

No brainer lock the front cause you can just throw a pound of welding rods in the rear.

 

with the 8.25 there is no carrier break. if you are ever gonna re gear you might as well put full case locker in the rear and drive the jeep for a while. then when you regear put a elocker up front and you can retain the rear detroit.
this is why i did rear first. 1 locker is better than none, and i wouldn't want to toss the d30 locker out the window when i finally did my regear.

 

Front first. I have lunch box lockers front and rear. Front added significant capability while the rear just gave that extra umpf up some stuff and the fun of dirt drifting and donuts lol.

Steering wise a front lunch box will make turning in 4x4 a lot harder. I don't know why but after I did the rear too it steered easier than with just a front lunch box locker

 

LOL doing a frnt install today , would be the way to go.

 

Very, very true with my rear locked I need 4wd less than I ever did before going places I had wheeled only in 4wd now in 2. A full case locker like my Detroit Lockers have never let me down and unlike a lunch box they are quiet.