Anyone installed a front locker and rear LSD?

[basinite]

I have now gained some experience with highway driving on snow and ice in 4hi with a lunchbox front locker.

It does get grabby and pull-ee. I found myself taking it out of 4hi (because the front is locked) when I wouldn't have if it wasn't locked.

I bet, living in Texas. I feel for you guys, hope things get back to normal and the sooner the better. I used to live in Corpus, I imagine all my old orange and lemon trees in the back yard are probably dead.

Thanks for the honest feed back/update regarding driving in foul weather. I was really concerned about that.

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[rkwfxd]

I put a cheap Yukon lunch box locker in the frontnof my TJ with a LSD in the rear. Worked great and was simple enough I did it myself. My TJ was way more capable than my friend’s. He could not wheel on the same trails. Then he went to full lockers and I could not keep up with him so I installed a rear locker as well.

 

[Boothorp]

I have a Torq lunchbox up front, and LSD 44 in the back. Very satisfied with this combo. Being from Michigan the LSD was great when it's snowy. The locker is only engaged in 4WD and due to the FAD there is never any clicking for me in or out of 2/4WD. I've taken it to Moab, Rausch Creek, Badlands and Silver Lake Sand Dunes with awesome results.

 

[Pig-Pen]

I have a Torq lunchbox up front, and LSD 44 in the back. Very satisfied with this combo. Being from Michigan the LSD was great when it's snowy. The locker is only engaged in 4WD and due to the FAD there is never any clicking for me in or out of 2/4WD. I've taken it to Moab, Rausch Creek, Badlands and Silver Lake Sand Dunes with awesome results.

i have the same set up. Ive only been able to take it out on the trail a couple times yet but its been great so far.

 

[entropy]

I have a Torq lunchbox up front, and LSD 44 in the back. Very satisfied with this combo. Being from Michigan the LSD was great when it's snowy. The locker is only engaged in 4WD and due to the FAD there is never any clicking for me in or out of 2/4WD. I've taken it to Moab, Rausch Creek, Badlands and Silver Lake Sand Dunes with awesome results.

So is it always on when on 4WD? How is it driving on snow with the front locker connected at all times? does it get sketchy? I might go this route instead if it works fine. The price is so tempting. What brand of lunchbox did you use, and did you install it yourself?

 

[Boothorp]

So is it always on when on 4WD? How is it driving on snow with the front locker connected at all times? does it get sketchy? I might go this route instead if it works fine. The price is so tempting. What brand of lunchbox did you use, and did you install it yourself?

Torq locker up front. I don’t run 4WD unless I have to, so it’s usually always in 2wd until I need 4WD. You do have be a little more cautious because it’ll catch. Other than that! It works really well off-roading. This is my daily driver and I have been using the Torq since it was released.

 

[Pig-Pen]

The aussie locker is pretty simple to install. and no fears of failure from electrical or air. My buddy bought a well modded xj with aussie lockers. He had never heard of them and he said they do great, and he wheels the hell out of that rig.

heres video of driving in the snow

 

[Pig-Pen]

Its funny, @zeebo and i installed them on our Sports. You cant tell they are even there. No clicking, or pulling or anything. We were wondering if it was even doing anything lol. But some somehhat difficult obstacles were even easier to climb over now. For the price, it cant be beat. And you can do the install yourself.
when you call the company, you can speak with the owner too. Great customer service. She said theyre currently working on a rear for JLs

 

[workky]

I have a spartan lunch box locker in the front of my 21 JL Sport. I have a Dana 44 LSD in the rear, wouldn’t change a thing, right now. I’m running factory rubicon wheels and tires, and suspension. I ordered Mopar lift and probably will go to 35’s.

I do drive my Jeep a lot, it’s a daily driver. I do have some clicking in 2 wheel drive when turning really sharp. It’s not bad enough to annoy me.

I off road as much as I can, but I don’t like doing mud. I go up to Beasley Knob in Blairsville and ride out there. Terrain is extremely steep and rocky in some areas. I drive as far as I can in 2 wheel drive, when it won’t go I put it in 4 wheel drive and it just goes. Never been stuck with the lsd and locker. That being said, I haven’t really put it in a situation to get stuck
.
I had a 2017 Rubicon, ( ex-wife got it in the divorce)I would love to have lockers in my JL, but I can’t justify the expense based on how much I go off-road and don’t put the Jeep in a situation that would damage it. I think one day I’ll buy a locker for the rear, maybe find something for the front, but for now this works for me well.

 

[workky]

 

[Kreepin1]

I have a million questions for you, but I'll save you the death by papercut.

1. How hard is it to turn while in 4 wheel, say while climbing a rocky hill for example? Is it as bad as people say, or not so much?

2. Occasionally, I do need to be in 4HI driving down HWY (Whiteouts, super slick snow packed roads and etc). During these times I'm naturally driving slow - 45 MPH or less. Have you had any negative experiences in the conditions mentioned above?

3. If going thru a mud hole, deep snow and etc, can you still maneuver the Jeep easy? Say for example I need to pick a new line quickly, will the Jeep respond? Or does it want to keep going straight?

These are great questions and get to the heart of it for a street and trail rig. There are a lot of lockers and limited slips on the market and a lot of different drivers and driving conditions. I'm going to try to clear up the confusing information by getting down to the basics. This won't be easy...

Open Differential
Found in the majority of axles, torque from the driveshaft is evenly split to both tires even in a turn when the tires are going different distances and rotating at different speeds. When one tire looses traction it will spin while the other does not. The issue is that the tire with good traction is only transmitting the same small amount of torque as the other spinning tire. The good thing is the tire with good traction continues to keep you going in the intended direction. This is a key point.

Spool
A spool is the simplest locker. It replaces all the moving parts in an open differential with a solid chuck of steel.

In a rear axle the the tires will bark and chirp in a tight turn and draw a lot of attention. On the road it has surprisingly good manners until the road gets slick and then in a turn both tires will spin and the rear will slide - often fish tailing or worse. In rock and mud turning radius is reduced because the front tires have to fight the rear. Works great on loose climbs and under full power.

Front axle application is limited to axles with locking hubs. I have never driven one of these, but expect it would be fine in deep snow and OK on slick roads if you drove with care. The front will slide in a turn but you could just turn a little more to keep going where you want to go. Turning radius would be reduced in mud and on rock you would need hydro assist ram to turn.

Oddly, turning is fine in mud pits and deep snow. I guess the tires are slipping so much you don't need differential action to turn.

Automatic Locker
Detroit, Lockrite, Aussie etc. Very robust with little to go wrong. These work like a spool until they sense one tire pushing the opposite direction of the other meaning you are trying to turn. This causes the tire trying to go faster (on the outside of the turn) to disengage and freewheel, so only the inside tire is pushing the vehicle. On the street this can lead to some odd behavior.

In a rear axle when you are entering a freeway under power and it acts like a spool with slight oversteer as both tires are slipping. Then is disengages and suddenly you are pushed to the outside of the turn in strong understeer. It doesn't take long to learn to be easy on the throttle in curves and it drives fine. The worst is winding hi-ways where you have to be under power to maintain speed and randomly get pushed towards the guardrail or oncoming traffic. OK, I lied. The worst is under slippery conditions when there is not enough torque to unlock and it acts like a spool. You haven't lived until you have been completely sideways going 50 MPH on a two lane country road in a long bed crew cab truck... Like a spool in the mud as there is not enough torque to unlock. Drives great on rock, you don't know it's there.

My personal favorite for a front axle with locking hubs. Never tried one with with central axle disconnect but expect it would be great also. Behaves like a spool in mud or slippery conditions so I would not recommend for a daily driver that will ever see snow and ice. Drives great on rock.

Selectable Locker
ARB, Eaton E-locker, stock Rubicon, etc. Best of both worlds; spool traction or open diff control at the flip of a switch or yank on a lever. My personal favorite for a rear axle. You do have to actively manage them, locking before a climb or mud pit and unlocking to make a tight turn - or turn at all on slick rock where they can cause stuff to break.

A note. Jeep has the control strategy wrong. There are times when you want to lock the front and leave the rear open so it will follow better. This is the case on muddy sidehills and certain situations in the rock.

A caution. I had an electronically lockable true trac in a front axle for a while. It took a full rotation to lock which I didn't think was going to be a big deal. But if I got stuck in big loose rock or mud that one tire revolution caused the other to dig a pit when I tried the forward and back strategy to work my way out. Totally sucked. Plus it would engage under full power and eventually destroyed itself. So avoid lockers that disengage and reengage when reversed.

Limited Slip
These have a torque bias, meaning they can transfer some multiple of the torque available to the slipping tire to the tire with traction. On ice, 3.5 times zero is still zero. But there is a trick, you apply a little brake and presto! Forward movement. These really should be split up into sub categories. For example my Tahoe had a Gov-loc that would acted a bit like a selectable locker - open diff until one tire started slipping. Others have spring loaded clutch packs and act more like automatic lockers - they require some reverse torque before they allow differential rotation. These two will have very different behavior on a street driven vehicle in snow and ice. Personally I wouldn't pay to have one of these installed but they do have their place.

 

[entropy]

Anyone considering a front locker on their sport get a Torq masters locker ASAP. I installed one in mine. And if you check my older posts I was against the idea of an automatic aussie style locker. I was just repeating crap i read online and people are completely full of shit.

There are no downsides with the torq locker. Zero. This thing is better than any selectable locker in the market and you can install it yourself.

Your turning radius will NOT be affected. 4hi driving on loose terrain is NOT sketchy. Driving manners on 4WD barely change from stock, you probably wont even tell the difference. Clicking is non existent in 2wD and you really have to pay attention to hear it on 4lo. Only on the tighest turns with windows down on 4lo i noticed the clicking. Which is awesome cause it allowed me to turn my wheels on technical terrain. The traction is unbelievable. It is mechanical, foolproof and it always works.

Dont get a selectable locker. And dont think of a torq locker like the old lunchbox lockers. This thing is very very well made. Oh and I love that 4 year warranty.

 

[Kreepin1]

Anyone considering a front locker on their sport get a Torq masters locker ASAP. I installed one in mine. And if you check my older posts I was against the idea of an automatic aussie style locker. I was just repeating crap i read online and people are completely full of shit.

There are no downsides with the torq locker. Zero. This thing is better than any selectable locker in the market and you can install it yourself.

Your turning radius will NOT be affected. 4hi driving on loose terrain is NOT sketchy. Driving manners on 4WD barely change from stock, you probably wont even tell the difference. Clicking is non existent in 2wD and you really have to pay attention to hear it on 4lo. Only on the tighest turns with windows down on 4lo i noticed the clicking. Which is awesome cause it allowed me to turn my wheels on technical terrain. The traction is unbelievable. It is mechanical, foolproof and it always works.

Dont get a selectable locker. And dont think of a torq locker like the old lunchbox lockers. This thing is very very well made. Oh and I love that 4 year warranty.

Ummmm. Have you driven it in mud or on snowy roads with 4WD engaged yet? That is typically where the handling quirks of automatic lockers raise their ugly head...

 

[entropy]

Ummmm. Have you driven it in mud or on snowy roads with 4WD engaged yet? That is typically where the handling quirks of automatic lockers raise their ugly head...

Not yet. But I drove at decent speeds with the locker on loose dirt sand and I felt it lock once or twice when trying to turn. It was very tame honestly and nothing dangerous. I lived in VT for a bit over 10 years and have plenty of experience driving in snow. The torq locker isnt very aggressive and I am sure itll be fine. See the way you drive on snow the locker wont be engaged, and also you are supposed to drive slow.

If you wanna do dumb shit on snow then maybe a torq locker isnt for you. I will try it in snow and ill post my results. I am sure itll be fine.

It isnt rocker science. You hit the gas, the diff locks. Youre let go the gas, it doesnt.

I am just posting because of all the warnings and all the things people told me about this locker. And it was all a bunch of bs. Maybe from their past experiences or from the friend of their friend of their friend. Or their friend who spent thousands on ARB.

 

[DigitalDiem]

I woudlnt personally put a lunchbox on a JL. I am thinking either ARB or Eaton electric locker. But they are so close in price that ARB seems worth the extra cash.

I have a Torqlocker on the front of my JLU Sahara. Works great actually. However, I on occasion drive from MId-TN to Colorado and wheel the passes. What I have found is on tight switchbacks it would be handy to be able to unlock the front without taking it out of 4W-Lo to negotiate a tight 3 or 4 point turn. So I will be switching to an Eaton Electric locker in the near future. Honestly that is the only reason I will be switching out. The Torqlocker has never failed to get me out of a bad situation. I have the nasty habit of wheeling alone and so far haven't had to use the winch. BTW my Sahara doesn't have a LSD in the rear and it's gotten me through Engineer Pass, Hagerman Pass+Several others and minor trails in MOAB. I don't tend to go where I think I shouldn't when I am alone

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