I went to Holly Beach today and drove up and down the beach in the sand. This is the place that made me want to get a locker in the first place. Last time I was there, I got a little nervous because I thought I was going to get stuck. At the time, I put it in 4Lo and was able to get out. Still, that nervous feeling stuck with me so I got the lockers.
Today, the way the locker worked seemed surreal. I got into some loose sand and could see the chevy Z71 starting to get bogged down and I could feel myself sinking and losing traction. I was in 2H intentionally so I could find a spot to test the locker. I put the transmission in neutral hit the switch on my compressor and on my locker then put it back in drive. I was moving again without hesitation. The locker engaged so smoothly with no noise or hesitation I wasn't sure if even engaged at first. The only indication of it working was suddenly I was moving along with good traction. I came to a big dip in the sand so I put in 4Lo before entering it and I just walked in the hole and walked out like it was nothing, no kicking up sand or spinning tires or anything. All while this was happening, the Z71 had to break off from following me and get to harder ground because he was getting buried and had very little traction.
My main take away from this is the locker tamed the computer. Previously I had problems with the esp, traction control, and all the rest of the computer garbage taking over, applying brakes and gas at the same time which causes the jeep to go nowhere and just shake in place. With the locker, that does not happen because I can just press a button to get more traction, so the computer never senses that anything is wrong.
The smooth seamless engagement was nice. Almost too nice because other than better traction, I had no way to know if it actually engaged or not.
The Goodyear Duratracs performed well in the sand.
I do have a couple of things worth noting on today's trip though. I drove a couple of miles at about 5 mph in the sand. It was in the upper 90's today plus the humidity was really high. Towards the end, I started smelling hot oil. The more I sniffed, the more it seemed like the smell of automatic transmission fluid. I did not get any warning on the dash or anything and I had no indication of anything wrong, other than the smell. Needless to say, a transmission cooler is on my want list. I had been looking at many different types recently and have not decided on what to go with. Some have fans, some do not. Some look like a an a/c condensor while others seem like a round tube with fins on all sides.
The other thing that happened was the blower motor on my a/c stopped working. It was working and I stopped at a store to pick up a bottle of water. When I went to leave, no blower motor. I shut the jeep off and restarted it a few times but nothing helped. I messed with it on the way home and for little while it started blowing again, but just barely. I left it off for the rest of way home. I checked fuses and nothing is blown. I did a search and there are many threads about it. Since Monday is labor day, everything is closed. On Monday I am going to the dealer. I think it is the blower motor resister because for a while now it seems like only the high setting works and any other setting barely puts out.
i had planned on installing my dual battery system and high output alternator this weekend, but I am going to hold off on that until the blower motor is fixed so that I don't introduce another unknown.
The locker in the rear worked so good that I want one for the front now. I am just weighing my options regarding the axle.