[joeblow]

Gwagensteve wrote:

No doubt, if my car was a daily, it'd have an airlocker in the rear. If it's not a daily though, I think an airlocker is a waste of money for the rear.

Steve.

my vehicle, as well as others i know are not 'daily' driven. we do a heap of transport stages to and from tracks. this requires being on public roads. to have my vehicle perform safely on these roads i can thouroughly justify the expense of an airlocker. my vehicle is fully engineered and fully insured (if i had an auto locker or a spool i'd be up shite creek). a lockwrong or a spool would be perfect.....if kept on private property.

[Shansh]

steve thats how i ride a bike, i dont really care about bodywork too much, dings and scratches are gonna happen off road anyway, i just like the idea of being able to control if & when the diffs are locked

[Crunched]

How much wheeling do you actually do? No point in spending $2k+ on air lockers for the occasional fire road or sand dune.

I think the welded/mini spool rear and air locked front would be my choice for enough traction for most situations. It won't be ideal for those few occasions where you need less traction in the rear (like the side slope like royce mentions), but just use your noggin in those situations.

I'm running an auto locker in the rear because the diff came with it - my plan was to mini-spool/weld it up. Zook's are light, deal with the on-road piggyness.

Don't ask about my front - it's not nice at the moment...

[Shansh]

mate i reckon it doesnt matter how much wheeling is done, i think that its more that when you need it, its there

[Crunched]

Shansh wrote:

mate i reckon it doesnt matter how much wheeling is done, i think that its more that when you need it, its there

Agreed, and there is no harm in spending the cash for air lockers all round, I was merely pointing out that if you won't be needing that level of control all the time, there are cheaper options.

[Shansh]

sweet as mate but i think im gonna save my bikkies ( as much as that is possible) and chuck in the airlockers, thanks for the advice though

[3cyl]

joeblow wrote:

3cyl wrote:

joeblow wrote:

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get lockrights.

eh shep, image once i put all that work into the yellow thing.....and then went and put lockwrongs in it.......what a waste!........plus.....some of us care about how our vehicles drive.

Hey Joe, If ARB make me some airlockers that fit 1 litre type diffs I'll pull out my Lockrights and smash them in a press! Until then they sure beat welded.

well.....i am building some new fabricated diffs for kenn's lj (wider with coils)........so he might have the current 1.3 front and 1.6 rear custom made diffs to suit an lj up for sale soon..... (would like to see them go to a good home)

Hmmm... Interested in housings only, being 2stroke(something I don't want to change) I'd need to go 5.13's and put the springs back below them. Thought of trying to build centred 1.3 housings before but maybe a better option to just go Vit in the first place. Like the clearance of LJ centres, is Vitara rear much bigger than 1.3?

[kenn]

3cyl wrote:

joeblow wrote:

3cyl wrote:

joeblow wrote:

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get lockrights.

eh shep, image once i put all that work into the yellow thing.....and then went and put lockwrongs in it.......what a waste!........plus.....some of us care about how our vehicles drive.

Hey Joe, If ARB make me some airlockers that fit 1 litre type diffs I'll pull out my Lockrights and smash them in a press! Until then they sure beat welded.

well.....i am building some new fabricated diffs for kenn's lj (wider with coils)........so he might have the current 1.3 front and 1.6 rear custom made diffs to suit an lj up for sale soon..... (would like to see them go to a good home)

Hmmm... Interested in housings only, being 2stroke(something I don't want to change) I'd need to go 5.13's and put the springs back below them. Thought of trying to build centred 1.3 housings before but maybe a better option to just go Vit in the first place. Like the clearance of LJ centres, is Vitara rear much bigger than 1.3?

Yep

[kenn]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Meh.... who cares where the rear is pointing? so long as the front's pointing up the hill it's all good - punch it!

Steve.

Sounds a little bit homosexual to me..

[3cyl]

Lack of torque/gearing means I can't go bigger than 30" tyres, not to mention the QLD Transport Dept. LJ diffs at least offer some clearance.

[kenn]

You could run 5.12 Vit gears in them and the're only about an inch bigger.
I 'll go measure both of them (LJ/Vit) today..

[alien]

joeblow wrote:

alien wrote:

i always wanted one in the front but after driving it in its current setup for a few years now i dont want a front locker on the grounds that it will make whats currently a challenging section of track much easier - and i prefer to keep it challenging, otherwise i have to go find harder tracks further from home and will have less people that would want to join me on a trip out.

you don't want a front airlocker?......you could allways leave the switch off....

Age old story - if you've got it youll use it... i know for a fact if i start having trouble getting up a section with the rear locked i'd just hit the front locker and plow on up rather than backing up and finding a better line and making it happen without a front locker.

What im saying is that i'd prefer to keep things challenging - im ok with the fact i won't be able to drive up every single obstacle thats infront of me - but trying is half the fun! =)

[neofitou]

I want a front locker. On a recent outing I only made it up a hard rocky track with lots of revs, bouncing & 2 or 3 tries per hard bit. I was trying to balance getting up the hill and not breaking stuff.

Everyone else just took whatever lines they wanted and drove up nice an slow.

The orignal question as to "which is the most popular?": auto lockers.
What should everyone get: air lockers. I will when I can.

[kenn]

alien wrote:

joeblow wrote:

alien wrote:

i always wanted one in the front but after driving it in its current setup for a few years now i dont want a front locker on the grounds that it will make whats currently a challenging section of track much easier - and i prefer to keep it challenging, otherwise i have to go find harder tracks further from home and will have less people that would want to join me on a trip out.

you don't want a front airlocker?......you could allways leave the switch off....

Age old story - if you've got it youll use it... i know for a fact if i start having trouble getting up a section with the rear locked i'd just hit the front locker and plow on up rather than backing up and finding a better line and making it happen without a front locker.

What im saying is that i'd prefer to keep things challenging - im ok with the fact i won't be able to drive up every single obstacle thats infront of me - but trying is half the fun! =)

I'll never understand why people argue for there limitations. It's way more fun driving stuff that others can't but in saying that Lockers don't mean you can just point and shoot , you still have to pick a line and apply the wright amount of throttle and when it all go's wrong it often go's really wrong . If you want to bounce up and down get a pogo stick or a fat hooker..

[Joe]

kenn wrote:

alien wrote:

joeblow wrote:

alien wrote:

i always wanted one in the front but after driving it in its current setup for a few years now i dont want a front locker on the grounds that it will make whats currently a challenging section of track much easier - and i prefer to keep it challenging, otherwise i have to go find harder tracks further from home and will have less people that would want to join me on a trip out.

you don't want a front airlocker?......you could allways leave the switch off....

Age old story - if you've got it youll use it... i know for a fact if i start having trouble getting up a section with the rear locked i'd just hit the front locker and plow on up rather than backing up and finding a better line and making it happen without a front locker.

What im saying is that i'd prefer to keep things challenging - im ok with the fact i won't be able to drive up every single obstacle thats infront of me - but trying is half the fun! =)

I'll never understand why people argue for there limitations. It's way more fun driving stuff that others can't but in saying that Lockers don't mean you can just point and shoot , you still have to pick a line and apply the wright amount of throttle and when it all go's wrong it often go's really wrong . If you want to bounce up and down get a pogo stick or a fat hooker..

Ive tryed that and its not that much fun

[alien]

kenn wrote:

I'll never understand why people argue for there limitations.

in my case - as i explained, i'd rather have a hill thats just HARD WORK to get up, and its a great feeling when you do... i don't think a front locker is some magical solution or anything - of course you need to drive it right.

I cant understand why you'd want a car that can drive literally anything with so little effort other than to show off to others you made it first go... whats wrong with 5 or 6 attempts to get to the top?

As for bouncing etc, once again - driving style plays a large part.

[Joe]

I agree with what Alien is saying with airlockers at least you can still have a go unlocked to see if you can make it before hitting the cool buttons
With auto lockers ya dont really have that choice

[3cyl]

joseph wrote:

I agree with what Alien is saying with airlockers at least you can still have a go unlocked to see if you can make it before hitting the cool buttons
With auto lockers ya dont really have that choice

That is true but at the end of the day both lockers will get you up the same hill, all about manners and budget really.

[Highway-Star]

alien wrote:

kenn wrote:

I'll never understand why people argue for there limitations.

in my case - as i explained, i'd rather have a hill thats just HARD WORK to get up, and its a great feeling when you do... i don't think a front locker is some magical solution or anything - of course you need to drive it right.

I cant understand why you'd want a car that can drive literally anything with so little effort other than to show off to others you made it first go... whats wrong with 5 or 6 attempts to get to the top?

As for bouncing etc, once again - driving style plays a large part.

That is my argument against auto lockers.... but its a flawed argument for manual/selectable lockers. I persist so much with trying stuff open diffed, it usually results in everyone around me saying something along the lines of "Press the farking button already!"... I have a locker (was rear, now front), and I will only use it when I want it, saying you will use if you have it is silly . You will use it when you want it.

And believe me, some things will still be a challenge on a twin locked 31" tyres Zook, but having twin airs, you'll have that ability to challenge yourself at a broader range of tracks, by being open, single locked or twin locked.


Edit:
3cyl you can also get aftermarket 5.3 diff gears for 1.3 size pumpkins ....might make the swap more usefull....though costly

[steve]

as stated already, you'll never regret getting air lockers and that's the difference

but make sure you actually need a locker, no point spending the money if you don't drive tracks which require lockers.

[3cyl]

Hmmm... 5.3:1 that's a ratio I could use. Never tried to build housings before, how hard could it be? Even though 5.12 would be ok, I couldn't see enough gain to attempt to do it but 5.3, where's me calculator?

[31zook]

type in calc into the search function and you will get a good list of figures and claculators....

And if your buying ratio's from other diffs its well worth getting a shop to set it up. You can do it, but it's just not worth destroying an expensive part of your drive line. I think someone said on here that they pulled apart there centers put new bearings and R+P in and then took it to a shop to get it alll spec'd up for about $100...

[3cyl]

Because I'm a cheap ass I'll do it myself, did it once before on a Dana 60 and have done heaps of Zook and Rover diffs that involved lockers, and not ratio changes. I think the housing would be the hardest thing, centred 1.3.

[Shansh]

highway star im with you, its nice to have it when or if you want it, argument settled guys, im getting air lockers once i have the cash, that way i have the option if and when i want it

[3cyl]

You can justify the expense by keeping the airlockers if you sell the Zook and putting them in your next one, if you buy something else people are always chasing second hand ones. On the 5.3 gears 61:1 would be just about right for me, just how expensive are they?

[Highway-Star]

3cyl wrote:

You can justify the expense by keeping the airlockers if you sell the Zook and putting them in your next one, if you buy something else people are always chasing second hand ones. On the 5.3 gears 61:1 would be just about right for me, just how expensive are they?

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.ph ... gears.html

Actually 5.38 , making it about 62:1.

Wonder how much can be shaved out of the 1.3 housing to try and match it to LJ clearance?

[3cyl]

Pfft... $209 US I'd pay that, maybe next year, though the way I work it'll take a year or so to do the housings.

[shep]

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get lockrights.

this has a typo in it, what i meant to say was

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get airlockers.

i didnt bother fixing it as the airlocker fans where in full swing with there egos/cars
there is no doubt that air lockers are superiour then lockrights however they need
to be, dont they i have traveleld at least 120000ks on the lockrights in my diffs
with no problems. i really cant think of a time that a open diff would have been better, hell my wife uses the car to take my youngen to school.
maybe you southerners just are unable to install them properly.

[kenn]

3cyl wrote:

Because I'm a cheap ass I'll do it myself, did it once before on a Dana 60 and have done heaps of Zook and Rover diffs that involved lockers, and not ratio changes. I think the housing would be the hardest thing, centred 1.3.

Make a jig off your LJ housings. Then unpick the axle tube welds of your LJ housings and the donor housings remove Lj centre replace with 1.3 centre check measurements and then weld to your hearts content..

Vit centre is 240mm diam.
Lj centre is about 210mm diam.

[ajsr]

shep wrote:

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get lockrights.

this has a typo in it, what i meant to say was

shep wrote:

around $2800 for air lockers or around $550 for lockrights
if price is important get lockrights, if not get airlockers.

i didnt bother fixing it as the airlocker fans where in full swing with there egos/cars
there is no doubt that air lockers are superiour then lockrights however they need
to be, dont they i have traveleld at least 120000ks on the lockrights in my diffs
with no problems. i really cant think of a time that a open diff would have been better, hell my wife uses the car to take my youngen to school.
maybe you southerners just are unable to install them properly.

there is nothing wrong with lockrights they lock your diffs a treat yes they do affect the way your vehicle drives a bit and I think they are MUCH better in the rear than front .But like all things you get what you pay for and air lockers are the shit to have .
Air lockers are not without their drawbacks they plain suck when you manage to rip out the airline on the diff(done that twice now) and you have to listen to that comressor everyso often .
as Shep said if you want a cheap product that works buy the lockright but if you want the goods and have cash to burn buy the airlockers you wont regret it until your wife finds out how much they cost