For $353 more than a trutrac just get an ARB selectable. There is nothing better than being able to leave that thing off the 95% of the time you don't need it.

I've run every type of locker in one vehicle or another over the years. The trutrac has pretty good road manners, but you'll still know it's there in the high speed corners. I prefer open diff for street driving and I'll never do anything but a selectable ever again. If I don't have the money for one, I'll wait till I do, or stay open.

 

For $353 more than a trutrac just get an ARB selectable. There is nothing better than being able to turn that thing off the 95% of the time you don't need it.

I've run every type of locker in one vehicle or another over the years. The trutrac has pretty good road manners, but you'll still know it's there in the high speed corners. I prefer open diff for street driving and I'll never do anything but a selectable ever again. If I don't have the money for one, I'll wait till I do, or stay open.

I'm with Tipped on this! :+1:

 

Agree with the selectable. I drive my '78 around a ton and I love the OX selectable lockers I have front and rear. Definitely feel it's worth the extra money if you drive your Jeep around town frequently. Keeps the driveability and let's you lock up when you really need it.

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I've also been looking into a selectable locker for my current project, but haven't purchased anything as of yet. Personally, I really like the idea of a cable over air just for simplicity's sake. But that's just my humble opinion that could sway as I get closer to pulling the trigger.

But, just wanted to throw this out there as FYI. I've never seen this mentioned on the forum anywhere, and perhaps it's common knowledge, but when I call in orders to Quadratech and mention that I'm a JF member, they give me a 5 or 10% discount- can't remember which. With a pricey item like a ARB or another selectable locker, that could easily save an additional 30 bucks or better, and would be worth the phone call at the very least. There's not an option to claim that discount with a web order.

Just something else to think about as you try and shave some cost - especially if you are considering buying a new unit.

Best,
Hoover

Edit: Did some looking (took a while), and found this posting from Quadratech.

 

I've also been looking into a selectable locker for my current project, but haven't purchased anything as of yet. Personally, I really like the idea of a cable over air just for simplicity's sake. But that's just my humble opinion that could sway as I get closer to pulling the trigger.

But, just wanted to throw this out there as FYI. I've never seen this mentioned on the forum anywhere, and perhaps it's common knowledge, but when I call in orders to Quadratech and mention that I'm a JF member, they give me a 5 or 10% discount- can't remember which. With a pricey item like a ARB or another selectable locker, that could easily save an additional 30 bucks or better, and would be worth the phone call at the very least. There's not an option to claim that discount with a web order.

Just something else to think about as you try and shave some cost - especially if you are considering buying a new unit.

Best,
Hoover

Edit: Did some looking (took a while), and found this posting from Quadratech.

Kinda getting off topic but to simplify my selectable air locker install I tied into my existing c02 tank and used a mechanical toggle switch to turn it on and of. No electricity or solenoid involved. So easy to use 5mm nylon air line and push lock fittings everywhere. I can change all my 5 mm air line in under 10 mins if I needed to. I keep a 20' roll in my tool bag. Literally all I need is a razor blade.

 

Personally, I prefer a tru trac. They are virtually invisible,and they lack the added hoses or cables that can go south. They are also less money to install. For the price of a selectable, you could just about get two tru trac's, one front and one for the rear.



If you decide on an selectable, I would recommend a set of one piece axles as well.

 

Personally, I prefer a tru trac. They are virtually invisible,and they lack the added hoses or cables that can go south. They are also less money to install. For the price of a selectable, you could just about get two tru trac's, one front and one for the rear.

If you decide on an selectable, I would recommend a set of one piece axles as well.

+1, the cost for any selectable locker was just not worth it for me. I was able to do both rears with Trutracs for what it would have cost me to do one Ox or ARB. I don't even know they are in there on the street, and my off road needs are similar to the OP's.

 

My question is: what do you think the best choice would be for my particular situation. The Jeep is mostly used for cruising around town, but I do like the dunes, and trails. I'm not into rock climbing, and I wouldn't classify my wheeling as 'intense' by any means.

For your situation listed above, a selectable locker would be overkill in both cost and the locker type. For your non to light wheeling needs, why go through a carrier change and gear set up. That's a lot of cost and labor for a locker that can be done much easier.

For260 bucks (unless they've gone up), get an Aussie locker and put it in your front axle. It replaces the spider gears only so no ring gear swap over and set up needed. Installs in an hour or so and is easily reversed back to open diff if you want to remove it later. In a CJ with front locking hubs, it is invisible when in 2wd. It locks solid when it has driveshaft tension and breaks free around corners when not under load.
I installed one in the front of my Scrambler because that is where I have the most weight (under the engine), I needed help climbing up onto ledges / rocks/ logs, etc. and I wanted to keep the rear open for non change in the street feel...I had a Detroit in another one and it was squirrelly at times.
I was very pleased with the results. It climbed and went places that it would not even think of before.

Don't get me wrong, selectable units are the "best" and ARBs are going into my dedicated rock crawler front and rear, but for your described usage, I think a simple lunchbox unit will give you the results needed.

 

Ed,
Thanks for the great explanation from your experiences. I'm thinking it is a 'no-brainer' for me to install an Aussie (Spartan?) locker in the D30 front, regardless of what, if anything, I install in the AMC 20 rear. Maybe I'll do the front and try it out in the dunes and trails before deciding on an upgrade to the rear.

Regards,
John

 

During my recent adventure climbing hills at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes Jeep Invasion, I realized that I could benefit from adding a locker to my 78 CJ7. I was able to climb all the hills, but sometimes it took a few attempts to make it. My problem isn't power - the 350 TPI engine has more than enough torque. I have 3.54 gears and 32 x 11.5" Mud King tires. I have a T-18a four speed trans with a 6.32 creeper gear.

My question is: what do you think the best choice would be for my particular situation. The Jeep is mostly used for cruising around town, but I do like the dunes, and trails. I'm not into rock climbing, and I wouldn't classify my wheeling as 'intense' by any means.

I have a 78 Jeep CJ-5 with 304 3:54's t-176 and 31" tires and ARB lockers. I find that lockers are not much help in the sand at Silver Lake, I very rarely use them there. For trails the lockers are great. IMO Sand is HP and flotation (achieved by low air pressure and or wide tires) I run 31x10.5 at 5-7 psi. I added bead locks to keep the rims from spinning in the tires.

 

I got a question for you guys.
if you have a Aussie locker in the front with the hubs engaged. Does it hurt the steering?
In the winter, I like to run with the front hubs locked ready to slip into 4WD as needed.

When plowing around here, you have to pile the snow up on the owners property, There are deep drainage ditches and sometimes you miscalculate a little and two wheels in the air, one on each axle, make it hard to pull back.

 

I got a question for you guys.
if you have a Aussie locker in the front with the hubs engaged. Does it hurt the steering?
In the winter, I like to run with the front hubs locked ready to slip into 4WD as needed.

When plowing around here, you have to pile the snow up on the owners property, There are deep drainage ditches and sometimes you miscalculate a little and two wheels in the air, one on each axle, make it hard to pull back.

I can tell you on snow they are fine and it's not a problem. I can not speak to ice. I never tried it on ice.

 

Just to let everyone know, I'm watching the posts closely, and appreciate everyone's thoughts! I didn't want to post responses too soon, as I want to get as many opinions and reasons as possible before I pull the trigger. Keep the thoughts coming, as they are very helpful in my decision-making process!

Regards,
John

 

Selectable rear axle. Aussie front axle. End thread/. Hahahaha.

 

That funny.
I actually thought that. Ha

 

OP-what R&P are you run'n?
I don't care for air lockers or such-Seen to many internal air leakage issues.
ME-I'm old school, and run a DL in the front and back.
LG

 

Hi Lumpy,
I'm running stock 3.54 gears, D30 front (Warn Lockouts) and AMC 20 rear, with Moser one-piece rear axle shafts. The previous owner installed the one-piece shafts as well as one of those fancy Crane aftermarket rear diff covers (~$150). I haven't pulled the cover off, but I'm finding it hard to believe that he spent all that money and didn't put some type of locker in the rear. When I jack it up, it behaves like an open diff, and drives like an open diff. Perhaps it is a limited slip, and the clutches are worn out. I'm going to pull the rear cover and check it out before I order any type of locker, so I know exactly what I'm dealing with. Any thought on this subject are more than welcome!

Thanks,
John

 

One thing that goes somewhat unmentioned about OX is the fact that the locker can be actuated through all three options that they offer, cable, air or electric if you so choose to make changes over time. If you want to go ultra simple but not terribly practical you can simply use the drive away to lock the differential.

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OX Locker

I have been running a AMC 20 with an OX in the sand and in the woods for about eight to ten years. Nothing broke, nothing has needed adjusting.
We have few rocks in our area, plenty of mud, deep summer dry ruts where a winch comes in handy going up hill from time to time and some of the best sand dunes around.
I shift in and out Spool, on the fly at any speed and it is locked in about one turn of the tires.
I run still run cat roads from time to time and they can get slick so in and out at the flip of a lever works for me.

 

Lets talk about gears first.

3:54 is boderline for 32" tires. I know you have that wonderful granny 1st....but you would actually be better off with 4.10's. 32's, 33's....no problem. Street manors would be better.

Lockers....you will be amazed what a front locker does for you. Short of hard core....the TruTrac is a great limited slip....you don't need the friction additive. Bloody things are bullet proof. Aussy locker? No experience. But it looks like I need to research them.

Rear? The full Detroit is also bullet proof....but...tricky in wet weather or snow. For a daily driver, selectable is the way to go. I have an ARB in my AMC20. Nice thing about an air locker...you need air. The same air that can also air up your tires.

What the heck....it's only money

 

Lets talk about gears first.

3:54 is boderline for 32" tires. I know you have that wonderful granny 1st....but you would actually be better off with 4.10's. 32's, 33's....no problem. Street manors would be better.

Lockers....you will be amazed what a front locker does for you. Short of hard core....the TruTrac is a great limited slip....you don't need the friction additive. Bloody things are bullet proof. Aussy locker? No experience. But it looks like I need to research them.

Rear? The full Detroit is also bullet proof....but...tricky in wet weather or snow. For a daily driver, selectable is the way to go. I have an ARB in my AMC20. Nice thing about an air locker...you need air. The same air that can also air up your tires.

What the heck....it's only money

ddawg16,
Thanks for the reply. In response to the BOLD items in your post:

My Tuned Port 350 has tons of low end torque. Even with my 32" tires and 3.54 gears, it doesn't feel the slightest bit under-geared. On the sand hills, I was using second gear, high range, and digging holes at the top, probably because I was aired up to about 12 psi.

I'm thinking the front locker will definitely be a big improvement. It will be a pretty cheap experiment in $$$ and time, so I'm thinking it's a no-brainer.

If/when I decide I need to add a rear locker, it will be a tough decision between a selectable and a Trutrac. Both have plusses and minuses.

With respect to it being only money, I have three other 4-wheeled children's mouths to feed (59 Corvette, 95 Corvette, 55 Chevy wagon), and they're always hungry! So, I have to be diplomatic about who gets fed first... LOL.

Regards,
John

 

Just a note:

The day I got my stock LSD on the model 20 axle to work right. I spun the hub on the 2 piece axle.

You might want to think about 1 piece axles if you haven't already done that.

 

Thanks John Strenk!

I already have Moser one-piece axles in the AMC 20, compliments of the Previous Owner! I'm guessing (hoping) that the stock Dana 30 in the front can handle the Spartan locker without and additional modifications. Your thoughts?

Regards,
John

 

I just wanted to say, the reason I put in the OX is the stock AMC 20 track lock case broke, after rebuilding it!
MY rig is much like yours gearing, Transmission, 304-V8,Moser axles, etc.

You can go a bit lower on tire pressure, I run 7 - 8 lbs and run up and down the dunes, side hill carefully! But no brody's or you will throw the tire off the bead. Wide rims make all the difference!
Red Neck

 

I just wanted to say, the reason I put in the OX is the stock AMC 20 track lock case broke, after rebuilding it!
MY rig is much like yours gearing, Transmission, 304-V8,Moser axles, etc.

You can go a bit lower on tire pressure, I run 7 - 8 lbs and run up and down the dunes, side hill carefully! But no brody's or you will throw the tire off the bead. Wide rims make all the difference!
Red Neck

That's not the first time I've heard of a Trac Lok case breaking. I replaced my Trac Lok with an Auburn. Much better performance but wish I had a Tru Trac. When I bought the Auburn, Tru Tracs were not available for the AMC 20. Auburn's literature did say that the their unit was 30% stronger than the stock diff and I imagine this includes the Trac Lok.

 

My opinion, put limited slips in both the front and rear axles. Not expensive. Will make a world of difference not only in sand, but mid-western mud holes too (as well as rock crawling should you ever expand your 'wheeling adventures). Am impressed with a friend's off-highway capabilities with just such an equipped XJ.

Myself, ARB lockers front and rear first in an '89 Jeep Cherokee. Did well on a trip to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes a few years ago, in fact. Topped the tallest dune once I got over the fear of doing an endo nose first and quit letting up on the go peddle a few feet too soon. The good traction stuff now resides in my '99 Jeep Cherokee.

 

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The ected looks cool . I don't know how well it fares but if you drive in the snow you want limited slip but not a full time locker so much but with the ected you can switch to full locker to get yourself unstuck. I went with a track loc for authenticity. But the ected looks cool

 

All my Jeeps have Detroit lockers in the rear and I love them. Grant it I do not use them everyday and only on weekends, but they do see their share of street driving to the swamps. Offroad they are great!

 

I have a fulltime locker in my front dana 30. You can spin out just making s turn on the ice. I dont feel comfortable going 45 on an icy highway so I leave the hubs unlocked on the ice and would just lick them if I get stuck. But I loose the ability to drive at full speed on the ice at full speed because of that locker. With an open differentials you have the option of having a driven wheel in the front and a driven wheel in the back for traction and no breaking traction all the time because its a locker.
And one thing I'd like to know is ; are you more likely to break something due to binding because of a locker when 4 wheeling. I'd like to see s trump track in action . There as re mixed reviews about the amc 20 track loc some say the friction plates wear quickly others say it does good

 

I'd like to see s trump track in action.

That would be interesting. That's the bright orange unit right.:wink2:

Clutches in the AMC track-lok are apparently good for only about 20k miles. Then it just runs like an open diff - just like mine! I'll probably go truetrac when I upgrade gears soonish.

 

I'm just finishing up the install of my Spartan locker in the Dana 30 front axle on my CJ7 (covered in another thread here). I plan to run it with the hubs disengaged, except when needed. I've decided to wait until I try out the off-road performance with the Spartan, to decide what, if anything, I'll do to the AMC 20 rear. I do plan to pull the cover and confirm that it is an open diff, and not a worn out limited slip. I know the PO installed Moser 1-piece axle shafts and an expensive, cast diff cover, so I suspect that there is something non-stock in the rear, although it acts like an open diff.

Regards,
John

 

I'm just finishing up the install of my Spartan locker in the Dana 30 front axle on my CJ7 (covered in another thread here). I plan to run it with the hubs disengaged, except when needed. I've decided to wait until I try out the off-road performance with the Spartan, to decide what, if anything, I'll do to the AMC 20 rear. I do plan to pull the cover and confirm that it is an open diff, and not a worn out limited slip. I know the PO installed Moser 1-piece axle shafts and an expensive, cast diff cover, so I suspect that there is something non-stock in the rear, although it acts like an open diff.

Regards,
John

I went to leave one of my hubs locked before hitting road home after a trail ride and my brother in law said I need to unlock both of them because power is gonna go straight to the unlocked hub anyway (not through the hub as its unlocked ) As I'm thinking about that now the one reason I can think of for needing to unlock both hubs is that it can still be hard on parts. But I believe as long as the 1 hub is unlocked that tire can go as slow or as fast as it needs for the different distance it travels around turns than the other tire. But my brother in law didnt think it was a good idea for some reason . The reason I'm wondering about this is if it puts stress on the unlocked half of the axles then there would be no reason to leave one hub locked which you said you planned on leave both unlock ked. But if it doesnt put stress on it then guess what ; you kinda have a selectable locker. With only one hub locked you get power going to one wheel and the other wheel is free.
Hopefully someone can chime in which is the case.

 

Update with more questions...

Hi guys,
I have an update to my thread, along with more questions! I installed the Spartan Locker in my D30 front diff, and it worked very well on my only off road excursion, which was power line trails in Gladwin, MI. Fast forward to yesterday, when I finally got around to pulling the cover off my rear AMC 20. I discovered two things. It is just an open diff, and, there is some serious pitting on a section of the ring gear teeth. I'm guessing it sat for a long time with the previous owner and the teeth that weren't in the gear oil did some rusting... My dilemma is what should I do? If you go back to the start of this thread, you can read all about my set up and usage. I'm thinking the easiest thing to do would be to buy a new set of 3.54 gears (about $230, I think), and try to install them without upgrading the carrier. I imagine it makes the most sense to put new pinion bearings and seal in at the very least. I still haven't convinced myself that I need any type of locker in the rear, based on my limited usage and success thus far. If I decide to upgrade to a locker at a later date, I'll already have the gears done. Of course, the EASIEST thing to do would be slap the cover back on, fill er up with lube and run it. Not sure that's the wisest idea though... Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. The rest of the gears look good, with no chipped or broken teeth. I have noticed a minor vibration at higher speeds, and I'm guessing this could explain that.

Regards,
John

 

How much shiny metal drained out when you pulled the cover? Did you hear whining while driving that started around 40-50 mph? If the answer is none on both those questions, put cover on, put lube back in and monitor with IR heat gun and listen for developing whine. You might get another 10, 20, 30K miles outta that. Depends on a few variables. Who can really say. That pitting will not cause the vibration you are feeling. That is something else.

But yeah a new ring/pinion is in your future. You know your mind will not be at ease knowing that's in there.

 

TIPPEDITOVER,
Thanks for the quick response! I did not notice any debris when draining. I’ll double check, as I drained it into a clean pan. Have not heard any whine, or detected any issues with the rear end. My main reason for opening it up was to see if it might have a trac loc in it. For as little as I use the Jeep, I REALLY don’t want to rebuild it right now. Plus, I’m planning on another trip to the dunes in May, and I don’t want to get it torn apart and not fixed in time. I’m thinking I will clean it out a bit more and do some inspection. I’ll check the backlash I the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ areas to see if they are significantly different. If all looks reasonable, I’ll seal it up, pump in some fresh lube, and roll the proverbial dice... Would you recommend 80W-90, or something different? I’ll update when I get some more inspecting done. Thanks again.

Regards,
John

 

TIPPEDITOVER,
Thanks for the quick response! I did not notice any debris when draining. I'll double check, as I drained it into a clean pan. Have not heard any whine, or detected any issues with the rear end. My main reason for opening it up was to see if it might have a trac loc in it. For as little as I use the Jeep, I REALLY don't want to rebuild it right now. Plus, I'm planning on another trip to the dunes in May, and I don't want to get it torn apart and not fixed in time. I'm thinking I will clean it out a bit more and do some inspection. I'll check the backlash I the 'good' and 'bad' areas to see if they are significantly different. If all looks reasonable, I'll seal it up, pump in some fresh lube, and roll the proverbial dice... Would you recommend 80W-90, or something different? I'll update when I get some more inspecting done. Thanks again.

Regards,
John

80w-90.

I use 80w-90 in my front, rear, trans and tc.