[shep]

nick.gooding wrote:

shep wrote:

nick.gooding wrote:

ajsr wrote:

about $230 - 250 vs $1300 or so for each

i just had a look on superior engineering and they say around 550 for a rear or front

http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/s ... _29_30_216

$199US from lowrange

hey hey...
thanks mate

that is for a sierra one, i dunno how much for the gayer types of suzuki's.

[Fatzook]

I hate auto lockers!

Too clunky and unpredictable onroad. They are very much an agricultural solution.

Infact I prefer a welded diff to an auto locker purely on the basis that they ARE predictable.

JMO
Pete

[Junior_91]

I will only ever run air's as that is all i have ever had and they didn't cost me 2k they cost a fair bit less then that but lets just say i get a nice discount as i work for a said company

[matty87]

so wheres the love junior ill put my name down for a front and rear for a w/t

[303zuke]

There is a third option, one to which I am guessing Joeblow was hinting at earlier.

The Detroit Locker is an automatic un-locker which is far more refined than a ratchetty Lockright (I think they're up to the Series IV or V now). However, as the unit is in a whole new replacement hemisphere, the cost is a lot more than a Lockright, but not quite as much as an Air Locker w/Compressor.

It is still an automatic thing that the driver has limited control over, but is far smoother and driver-friendly than a LR. Price is about mid way, so it's just another option to consider.

The link above is to the Australian distributors, but there's more info on the US Eaton site.

[Ridge]

I have had a richmond lock rite in my rear diff for over a year now, and love it. I dont notice it on road at all but you can only feel it when parking sometimes. Off road it is great, way better then a welded centre IMO. You will have to adjust the way you drive but you will get used to it quickly.

it is best $220 i spent on my car

[hutch]

royce wrote:

do they have enough power to get em to step out?

regarding the tyre wear thingy, my Sierra used to kill a set of 4 31" MTR's in 35000km with a welded rear diff, I comapred it to a GV with similar sized MTR's that got over 70000km to a set

my current vit with ATR's still has 2 tyres left that have done 90000 and are about dead (2 were replaced due to punctures)

so based on that at $1000+ a set it is cheaper to fit an airlocker than weld your diff in the long run, wont be as bad for an auto locker though

Depends on the driving surface... if you spend more time on the road then I guess so, but soft soil/sand etc should not were tyres as quick. Rocks are another matter.
I have 3 sets of tyres anyway Road/mud and sand/ and cheap claws for rocks/tough stuff

[hutch]

Ridge wrote:

I have had a richmond lock rite in my rear diff for over a year now, and love it. I dont notice it on road at all but you can only feel it when parking sometimes. Off road it is great, way better then a welded centre IMO. You will have to adjust the way you drive but you will get used to it quickly.

it is best $220 i spent on my car

Do you have the "full" locker eg with the side couplers?
Perhaps I have a problem with mine? I have the couplers, and it bangs and clucks on road!

[ajsr]

hutch wrote:

Ridge wrote:

I have had a richmond lock rite in my rear diff for over a year now, and love it. I dont notice it on road at all but you can only feel it when parking sometimes. Off road it is great, way better then a welded centre IMO. You will have to adjust the way you drive but you will get used to it quickly.

it is best $220 i spent on my car

Do you have the "full" locker eg with the side couplers?
Perhaps I have a problem with mine? I have the couplers, and it bangs and clucks on road!

I think the way they perform has ALOT to do with the specs on the shimming,
I checked and set mine up to near the max tolerance in the manual.
I rarely had any nasty bangs and clunks it make a light sort of ratcheting click but was quite predictable.

when I did the front however I just did what everyone seems to do and just put it in as I was in a hurry and this one was a pig it banged and hoped doing all kinds of nasty shit. mates that did the same in the rear reported similar problems .
you also need to realise that the more power you feed into the diff the harder it is for an auto locker to release as power or load on the pinion engages them and they dont really unlock as such they only allow one wheel to travel faster than the driving wheel not slower until wheel speed evens out againg or you put more power in.
now the ones I was using were without the side couples and from all reports I've read they are the nicer of the two in terms of noise etc.
I'd run a rear again as they are easy and work well a front however I'd save for an airlocker even if a chinese one as the ability to turn it off just makes wheeling for enjoyable IMO