Rear lockers 4hi

[KrzybonesJLU]

Not sure if it’s my search criteria or I’m just not looking hard enough but what’s the speed limit when running rear lockers in 4Hi?

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[MrMischief]

Stock? I believe ~112 mph.

 

[autotragic]

Not sure if it’s my search criteria or I’m just not looking hard enough but what’s the speed limit when running rear lockers in 4Hi?

Couldn't tell you but I know I've never had the rear locker disengaged by itself while in four wheel drive. Without the tazer the front sway bar will reconnect on its own at I think 20 or 30 mph. But I know I've been faster than that and not had the rear locker disengage

With a tazer it'll never disengage no matter how fast you go if you use steering wheel mapped buttons. Sway bar or lockers.

 

[KrzybonesJLU]

Couldn't tell you but I know I've never had the rear locker disengaged by itself while in four wheel drive. Without the tazer the front sway bar will reconnect on its own at I think 20 or 30 mph. But I know I've been faster than that and not had the rear locker disengage

With a tazer it'll never disengage no matter how fast you go if you use steering wheel mapped buttons. Sway bar or lockers.

got thanks—-

Reason I ask is because winters coming and I plan on going up to driving through snowy roads. Since I know you can engage rear lockers in 4Hi just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t put too much strain on it.

 

[JesseT]

got thanks—-

Reason I ask is because winters coming and I plan on going up to driving through snowy roads. Since I know you can engage rear lockers in 4Hi just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t put too much strain on it.

Be careful with lockers in the snow. At anything resembling speed in anything but a straight line on anything with camber they can make your back end want to slip out.

 

[KrzybonesJLU]

Be careful with lockers in the snow. At anything resembling speed in anything but a straight line on anything with camber they can make your back end want to slip out.

So are you saying it would be safer to just drive in 4Hi in the snow?

 

[THAW]

Without the tazer the front sway bar will reconnect on its own at I think 20 or 30 mph.

17 mph stock
30 mph in 2WD with Tazer
No limit with Tazer SwayKill (mapped button, as you noted)

 

[JesseT]

So are you saying it would be safer to just drive in 4Hi in the snow?

Well, yes and no. I'll let folks with more snow experience than me chime in on the practical side, but here's the principles at play.

It's all about traction and torque. Traction keeps you attached to the road, torque turns your wheels, and traction+torque=propulsion.

Looking at just the rear axle in the snow:

From a dead stop with an open differential, if one of your wheels has traction and the other doesn't, you don't go anywhere. The wheel without traction gets all the torque and just spins, so one wheel has all the traction (keeps you on the road), and one wheel has all the torque, but neither wheel has traction+torque, so you don't go anywhere.

Engage the rear locker and now the torque is split evenly between both wheels, so now the wheel with traction has traction+torque and you get to move (assuming it's enough to overcome the forces keeping you in place). In this case, lockers in the snow are good.

Now say you're moving. With an open differential if one of your wheels loses traction it starts spinning and the other wheel loses torque (but may maintain traction). In this case, the wheel with traction (but no torque) acts like a keel, keeping you from sliding sideways. If you're still moving (momentum) you might end up in a position where the wheel that lost traction regains it and you're good to go.

With the locker engaged, losing traction with one wheel doesn't make the other wheel lose torque so you're more likely to maintain propulsion. You're also much more likely to lose traction with both wheels simultaneously though. If that happens your back end can slide in any direction, so if you're on a cambered surface you'll likely start sliding sideways downhill. Also, in this configuration one of your wheels always loses traction in a turn necessarily.

So, locker engaged while moving in the snow is more likely to maintain traction+torque with at least one tire, but it's also more likely to lose traction entirely.

 

[Zandcwhite]

I find no advantage to lockers at speed, especially in the snow as others have mentioned. Unless you're goal is to travel in a straight line (or donuts and drifts), you're better off in 4HI with the lockers off.

 

[Ratbert]

17 mph stock
30 mph with Tazer
No limit with Tazer Swaykill (mapped button, as you noted)

Is there a setting to change it to 30 with the Tazer? Mine still starts complaining / reconnects at 18.

Note that I haven't tried enabling swaykill again since running into so many issues where it'd disconnect the sway bar every time we left the interstate.

 

[Vinman]

My 44 years of Canadian Winter driving experience tells me you do not want to use rear lockers at any speed above about 10 mph.

 

[THAW]

Is there a setting to change it to 30 with the Tazer? Mine still starts complaining / reconnects at 18.

Note that I haven't tried enabling swaykill again since running into so many issues where it'd disconnect the sway bar every time we left the interstate.

The 30 mph is automatic (i.e. no setting). The instructions appear to indicate it might be only for 2WD though - I'm not sure, I'd have to test 4Hi.

 

[Ratbert]

The 30 mph is automatic (i.e. no setting). The instructions appear to indicate it might be only for 2WD though - I'm not sure, I'd have to test 4Hi.

Weird. If I'm on a dirt road I'm usually in 4wd for the way it handles. I'll have to try it in 2wd next time.

 

[ArmyW4]

4 High in the snow. I only use lockers and low range when I'm pulling tourists out.

 

[Grayhound]

Lockers in snow is really only good for donuts in 2wd.

When I'm not tearing up someone's snowy parking lot i leave the locker off and let jeeps traction control work!

Lockers are really an extreme mod. Yes, most of us have them, few of us need them.

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