Yea with the rear locked, rally style driving is much more fun and effective. Open diff just spins the inside wheel and severely limits acceleration out of turns.

 

I'll tell you from someone who went from spartan up front to spartan in both to spartan in the back and an arb up front. The front makes the world of difference, now that i have a selectable in the front I'll never run anything else.

 

agreed

 

I vote neither.

When I bought my XJ nearly four years ago, I was set on putting lockers in the front and rear. But, after wheeling Colorado trails in the XJ and a TJ for the past seven years (neither vehicle locked) and running with buddies in Toyotas with lockers, I decided to pass on them until I got tired of winching myself out. What I've learned is having a disconnected sway bar and good (aired down) tires can get me most places without trouble (many times while watching the locked Toyotas struggle). I have winched myself out a small handful of times and winched other people out more. Lockers help yourself, but a winch helps you and other people. Based on your statement of running mainly moderate trails, I think lockers would be a waste of money as they'd rarely get used.

 

Good post. but opposite of anything I have ever read anywhere. I bet you spend a lot of time with 1 tire spinning.


I lived in CO. a number of yrs and your correct lots and lots of trails you can drive your 2wd car on for many miles.

 

I've always locked the rear first the lock the front after. Most of the time I'm still in 2wd when people infront of me. Are in 4wd

 

If you have open diffs and find yourself spinning one rear tire, use the e-brake.
If the front is spinning or if one wheel in front and back spin, use the foot brake.
Both techniques work very well.

 

With good lift and tires, you can get up and over quite a bit. Was just up in Buena Vista, CO for a week and ran Chinaman's Gulch, Iron Chest, Holy Cross, and Grizzly Lake. I'm running 6+ inches of lift, 35" MTR's with 4.56, open diffs and a LP front. In all these trails, I got winched up 1 obstacle on Holy Cross, and stacked rocks once on Grizzly Lake. (I even made it through French Creek on Holy Cross. It wasn't pretty, but I made it.) I broke a front shock because it overextended coming down a ledge and put a few new dents in the rear quarters (+the muffler ).

I drew the line at Carnage Canyon, but with lockers, I would definitely have given it a go.

I've also run Hells Revenge, Gold Bar Rim and Strike Ravine in Moab with the same setup without any problem.

Having said that, I am in the process of building up an HP D30 with an Eaton-elocker. Purely because I am building it first, I am locking the front first. I'll get around to locking the rear, eventually.

I say, learn what your rig and what you can do. 90% of the time I'm on the trail, guys are locking up to get through stuff that a little driving skill could easily get them through, and 5% of the time a lot of driving skill could get them through.

 

Those must be the 2wd dirt roads Fred/N0AZZ was referencing.

Bingo!

 

Drive your truck for a year or two and see how you do if you still want the added traction I usually do front first but have a couple buddy's that say rear and to be honest they all have their pros and cons.

 

Hi Guys!

From our sales data, most people locker their front first. In a warm climate, I would say front first because you wont have to worry about driving on ice, and you won't hear the ratcheting. If you don't care about the ratcheting, lock the rear first and you won't experience the minimal steering difference that you see with a front locker.

I've been spoiled with traction for years, so I say lock both and go have fun! But I understand that many folks just like the mild scenic trails where a front locker and LSD rear is a common combo.

Feel free to call, PM or email anytime! We're here to help!
customer service@aussielocker.com
office: 585 -723-1489

 

And if you live where ice is possible from late October until late March?

 

We don't recommend driving in 4WD, at highway speeds, with a front auto locker, in Icy conditions - but you shouldn't need 4WD at these speeds anyways.

Test out the handling in snow and ice in an empty parking lot to feel how the front locker affects handling before you drive around town. In deep snow, the locker will perform great, we love snow wheeling!

Here's a good review of ice and snow, front aussie, from a guy in Utah.. sorry to link to another forum:

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/au...l#post21068281

 

I suppose the difference is relative and varies by terrain, but overall how much does it change from being open?
I've read extremes from opposite ends..."you are forced to go straight, no way to turn", to "can hardly tell it's there".

 

With a front auto locker, in everyday trail riding you may have to take a back up to make a hairpin turn every once in a while. The turning radius with a Font Aussie will be larger than an open diff, but smaller/tighter than a selectable when it's locked.

From my experience, doing rock crawling competitions with front and rear Aussie's, we never suffered points wise for steering. In these comps, you get a point (which is bad) for every backup, like in a K-turn. We were also competing against TJ's with Long Arms, slectable lockers, and cutting brakes, and we were able to be competitive with a CJ on leafs with Aussie's. There are a number of teams out there now running Aussie's. Check out this pick of our friend Nate at the last Idaho X Rocks event:


It's all a matter of preference. If you don't mind the clicking noise, do the rear first. If you want the locker to be silent on the road, but still give you locker traction offroad - with a very small sacrifice of steering radius - then lock the front. Out west, where there are no trees, I would say the steering radius is less of an issue.

For traction, which one is better, push or pull up an obstacle, I can't really say - to me they are both the same. If there is a difference it's so slight it's not worth fretting over. If you are this concerned with conquering obstacles, lock both front and rear and give 'em heck!

~Cora