How do I properly use a front locker?

Here's some advice, I've had a locker for over 5 years. Used it a minimal amount of times, only incurred damage once and that was due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge on the line I was on.

You can use it with the wheels turned, steering will be damn hard though. Be very cautious, if you feel binding, back off immediately and assess the situation. The front ends on these trucks are very stout despite what people may say.

Avoid wheel spin with it locked. Shockload will kill the front end. If the front locker is engaged, you should only be in 4lo with a good reason to use it. I sometimes like to ripping around with the rear diff locked, this is NOT the case with the front end. Steering is very tough if you're trying to make tight turns.

I view it as a last resort, if the obstacle is not able to be passed then engage it. Try with rear locker first, maybe multiple line approaches. Depending on the condition, maybe even consider winching before engaging a front locker as well.

There are times when it is super useful, if in a straight line and say you don't have enough droop, a front locker is great to get you through an obstacle. I disengage it as soon as I don't need it anymore.

Here's my carnage at Rausch from about 4 years ago. Fast forward to the 5 minute mark, 5:19 for the exact point of carnage, you can see my drivers front wheel turning and my passenger wheel locked up in a rock. I was in double low with both lockers engaged. The result was a shattered ADD tube, surprisingly the CV survived, but I had to sacrifice it to get home without a tow (I now have an outer CV stub trail spare to use for situations where a CV is broke and get home)

 

I'm putting 2 & 2 together.

 

Awesome input, thank you.

 

You are welcome, one other thing I didn't mention but it may be obvious. It's alot easier to break things on the front end with it engaged, I'd recommend at a minimum carrying an inner TRE, outer TRE, and CV axle for a spare. There are alot of people that opt to regear and not get the locker due to the added cost, but my theory was always buy once cry once. And "it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it". If I'm out wheeling by myself and that front locker gets me out of a bind I'd otherwise be stuck somewhere or calling for a tow, I consider that a cost effective modification.

 

soooooo many approach any wheeling adventure like Tim the Tool Man Taylor.................... MO POWA!!
monster trucks.........sparks + blazin open exhausts
Bigger has got to be Better !!

that every pile o rocks need be conquered

front lockers can give U 3wheel or actually Real 4wdrive
used correctly the fronts will pull & assist

slippery stuff like knee deep mud/ clay possible
steep inclines when incline traction is sketchy
3-4 wd will help

when traction per axle or each wheel is arbitrary
be careful
wrong moves can be costly $$$$$

 

Locked front/rear makes it so much easier on the trail

 

The noises in this video make a trip to the dentist a walk in the park!

What winch do you have?! My friend decided his balls are too old and too much on loan for a locker.

 

What about front lockers in the snow?

 

Can't be the whole story? The Colorado ZR2 comes with factory front locker on IFS. Imagine the number of people who don't know the "proper" situation to use it.

 

Haha, yes rewatching that video brings back nightmares, sounded like a shotgun went off from inside. it’s a warn 9.5xp-s, very strong bugger and not given me a lick of trouble for 10 years.

for the same way Toyota puts the sticker on the door for the oem rear locker. Use at your precaution. I’m sure there’s some interlock to have to have the rear locker engaged prior to the front locker And to be in 4lo to be able to engage the rear locker so people aren’t flying around with their front diffs locked on the highway.

as with anything else, Darwinism prevails, I’m sure Chevy won’t cover damage done by using the front locker.

 

I would have to imagine that with little to no traction on all 4 wheels the risk of damage is minimized and it becomes quite a useful tool to have aboard. Like anything else though, if you are hammering along WOT in the snow and you suddenly catch traction, you’re probably in for a rough time.

Due to the global climate changes here in New Jersey I have been unable to validate these assumptions for the last couple years.

 

Thanks, I was sure looking at how you were dragging your truck outta that hole of rocks it was a 20k lb winch. Good to know 9.5k lbs will work.

I can certainly appreciate the ability to recover from a situation on your own.

 

Close. Depending on snow depth and slope angle sometimes you have to run WOT. Like bouncing off the rev limiter WOT. In those instances the snow is usually so deep that as long as you don't catch something huge, like a log, there's no bind and no shock load.

Last year my front locker saved my ass from a long walk home on a local trail. Storm came in the day before and dumper about 2 feet of fresh powder. The unusual thing about this storm was the wind direction we SW instead of NE. I got about 7 miles in. There's a low lying meadow that's usually blown fairly free of snow. With the wind reversed it was snow loaded. I realized it was getting really deep. Think over the hood deep. The meadows about 1/4 mile long. I locked the front and pinned the throttle. There was snow flying over my roof. Eventually I made it to the other side and a the depth tapered off. I continued on and made it home just fine.

Without that locker I'd have had a very long out. So, yes, it's better to have and not need then need and not have. When you have it, and need it, you know shit just got real.

 

I’ve run front and rear ARB’s on my Jeep since shortly after they came out. Before that Detroit in the rear limited slip in front.
In both cases underestimating the terrain and overestimating driver ability is what causes most breakage.
Not all terrain should be attempted and inexperienced drivers should listen to experienced ones. And more importantly their spotter(s)
Like the old fables lesson, slow and steady is what works. That way you ease into and just as importantly out of the tricky bits.

 

I rarely use my front lockers. If i can’t get through an obstacle with my rear lockers engaged, then I really stop, take a deep breath, get out of the truck and re-assess.

If it looks like I can get through with the front lockers engaged, I will use it. Very carefully, with the wheels never at full steering lock, going slowly and deliberately. And I’m always ready to disengage. So far I haven’t broken anything in the front end.

 

dont agree with ' pinned ' or WOT can overpower the tyre/traction

most would be in a snowcat in 3-4 feet snow

 

How much snow wheeling have you done?

 

I just got around to watching the video. Is that yellow jacket at rausch?

 

quite a bit actually

seen quite a bit tore up sh!t

on 3-4 foot snow most vehicles wont move far because the bumpers

axles etc will actually start to PLOW..............like a wheel chock

iv seen many a real pickup truck with actual plow with wheels on asphalt( some snow/ice )

cant move with less snow than 3-4 feet on the ground

next time time sell tickets ............i will show up

beer /hot dogs on me after we walk out .......................................................