ARB Airlocker Locking Differential, Any opinions on it?

So I have a 07 Tacoma sport 2x4 with and LSD on it. Im 100% serious about putting a locker on/in it. Since my truck is only a 2 wheel drive I need to make the best of what I have. Only problem is I often drive on the street and there is NO way I would put a full time locker on it. Then I continplated the idea of putting an automatic locker which seemed like it would suit what I wanted but then I was told that driving in the rain or on the highway is extremly difficult and dangerous. Then I was recomended a Detroit True track, back to an LSD???

Anyways my new idea is an arb locker because it can be enegaged and disengaged with the flip of a switch. Only gripe about arb system (Besides the price!) is that I need to install an air compressor, small tank and airlines! Does anyone know of a rear locker steup (For Toyota) that is controlled electronically as oppsed to air or have any opions on the arb steup?

Thanx

 

you may want to check with toyota or some place that carries and can order trd parts/accessories. the locker on my prerunner is a trd e-locker(electronic), but im not too sure of the price of the setup and install(although doing it yourself would save you alot of $$).

 

"E-Locker" Ahhh... I was actually thinking about that and I have a sales rep at a shop getting me a quote on a TRD locker. Ive never used a TRD locker before and Ive read that it only works in low 4th and under 20miles an hour? If this is true true than I think I'll stick it out with the air system. Anotherthing to keep in mind is TRD charges 400 dollars for a plastic intake. I can imagine what the price on an e-locker setup would be

God Help Us!

 

im still kinda unclear on the 4x4's with the locker as far as locking it up......but on my prerunner, you can lock it and go as fast as you want too. the speed thing with the locker is just a myth(toyota's way of saving their own tails)........you just have to be careful and sensible. i've had mine up to 35/40 mph locked, and it was pretty cool and it didnt hurt anything.

 

off topic. but curious about the screen name hail-bop. care 2 share?

 

Oh really... That sounds like a pretty nice setup. What about having to be in 4th gear to use the E-locker? If so I'm sure there is a way of bipassing it....

 

You can go as fast as you want with the elocker
there just covering there rears as far as 4low yes and no
factory set to only engage in 4 low but an easy mod to use it in
any range.I wouldnt ask them for the trd one as the logo itself drives up the price the same locker is in the 4 runners and fj40's just ask about an electronic locker are look into your local salvage yards and find a wrecked
one with a good locker in it

 

thats the part im not really sure about for the locker on the 4x4's. hopefully someone with a 4x4 will chime in.

 

thats funny... Ive been asked about that two times this week. Its a pun on the ridiculousness (If thats even a word) on the things that we do and say, if that makes any sense. An artist by the name of Ron English "liberated a billboard" by putting a face of Charles Manson on it and a caption that read Think Different. Kinda the same thing I had in mind.....

 

What about on your truck? I dont have 4wheel drive either...

 

If and only if your truck is a 4x4 then in factory configuration it will only allow you to lock the rear diff in 4 lo, that is 4 wheel drive low range, as opposed to 4 wheel drive high range or 2 wheel drive high range. It has nothing to do with the gear your transmission is in. (This can be over ridden with a couple of mods that I believe are covered in Tiger's cheep mods section) Once you are locked, you can go as fast as you care to, you only have to be below 5 mph to get it to engage in the first place, just keep in mind that a locked rear end does alter the handling of the truck, and could cause an in-expoerienced driver to loose controll hence Toyota's cover their ass wording.

In a pre-runner, 4x2 truck, you can engage the locker in 2 wheel drive high range (which happens to be the only mode available to a pre-runner), though I do believe that you still have to be below 5 mph to get it to engage, but I am not 100% sure about that.

As for price, if you can find one it should be roughly the same price as the complete ARB set-up installed.

 

But I seroiously didn't copy him or bite his style,

 

on my prerunner.......you need to be under or at 5mph to engage the locker, but i have found that if you shift to neutral(at a stop of course) getting it to lock/unlock works alot better than being in drive.....it will definitely work while in drive, but its easier while in neutral.

 

Thanx that was very insightful and actually answered alot of my questions. If the TRD Elocker is the same price as the ARB setup I guess I would just go with the ARB because there is less limitations on the way it operates.

 

lol ok cool thanx.

 

You're not looking at any limitations from the TRD e-locker as you have a pre-runner, so you would have no electronic nanny in your truck that needed bypassed. Any selectable locker would have some kind of speed limitation on it to prevent damage while being engaged.

Think of it like this, either the TRD or the ARB locker uses a system of something like locking pins that come out of one side of the 3rd member and fo into recesses or holes on the other side to lock the axle shafts together. The TRD uses an electronic solenoid, the ARB uses air, but in either case if you tried to engage the locker at say 40 MPH it would be like dropping a grenade in the diff. One piece is moving at 40 MPH, and if you imideately tried to lock it together with another piece that is not moving at all, it would be like dropping your trans from park to drive at 4000 RPM or sticking a broom handle into the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

So in a Pre-runner there are no limitations for either locker other than the one that keeps you from shattering it into a thousand pieces.

 

Yeah. I see what your saying... I was kind of under the impression before I was enlighten by this thread that the e-lock could only be engaged in one gear (Which I know know is not true) and that once it is engaged that your extremly limited on your speed.... Do you think the TRD is as strong or will last as long as the ARB set up?

 

the only speed you are limited to is when you engage the locker.........you can go as fast as you want to after it is engaged.

 

So is the TRD locker the only E-Locker that will work for a Tacoma or is there any other types of E-Lockers out?

 

the trd is the only one that i know of, but someone else may make a setup for the 2nd gen tacomas.