ARB air locker in SR5 question.

Anyone have one of these installed? Looking for thoughts and opinions. Also, what did you pay to have it done?

I'll be looking to add in the next year or less. I'll need to fine a place that I can trust to do this as well so I'm looking for advice there too.

http://store.arbusa.com/ARB-Air-Locker-Toyota-Tacoma-Rr-30-Spline-All-Ratios-RD129-P3520C7.aspx

 

Here is one option:

https://eastcoastgearsupply.com

 

@Hobbs has it right, get an assembled third from ECGS. That's what I plan to do once I can afford gears and lockers.

 

I have ARB lockers front and rear that I added to my Tacoma. They are absolutely incredible. I roll around in 4WD until I get to a spot where I start spinning a wheel. Stop, hit the magic button, and BOOM...forward motion again. They make the truck a hugely capable beast; far more capable than it looks.

 

You only want the locker installed and no gears?
If you're near Seattle I can do that for you

 

I am going with east Coast gear.

 

Another vote for East Coast Gear Supply. I ordered a assembled third with 4.88s and an

$1,110 ARB RD129 Air Locking Differential

ARB RD129. Would order through them again in the future.

 

Did you install yourself? How was it?

 

Me and a buddy installed it in about 2-3 hours. Wasn't bad to install. Hardest part is getting brake lines/brackets out of the way, and pulling the rear axles out just enough to get the old 3rd out and the new 3rd member into place. I already had all the wiring and plumbing in place for the rear locker(I did this before hand), so all we had to do there was plug it in and test it out.

The wiring for the compressor and locker is the hardest part of this job imo.

 

I'm located in NW Arkansas so either coast is a bit of a drive and not feasible. Doing it myself is definitely an option for me but having never messed with rear ends before, I am hesitant. I don't like getting into wiring much either. I do like saving money a LOT though. Surely there is a write up or YouTube video to walk do-it-yourselfers through the install.

I have looked at the locker itself and some compressors... what would you all say a good budget is for this? I'm also curious as to where everyone has installed their compressor. I was kind of thinking about the rear passenger side, where the little bed box thing is. Figured it would make for easy access to an air hose and it would be a counter weight to the battery and fuel tank.

 

I think you could do the assembled thirds install yourself as all of the hard work is done for you, other than the compressor install. You just pay them a deposit and then once you install and send them back your core they refund the deposit.

I am tentatively planning to install my compressor where the original spare tire was located as I have a swingout rear but I've seen them installed anywhere you can think of (in engine bay, behind rear seats, in place of the cubbys in the bed, etc.). Depends on your preferences. They are quite loud so I don't think I'd want it in the cab with me.

 

My compressor is on a Slee mount under the hood with an ARB chuck on the ARB bull bar up front.

http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/products_air.htm

 

If you plan to regear (you probably should if you're even considering larger tires in the future) then you should do that at the same time. The labor charge is the same. If you regear, install lockers and the compressor at the same time you're looking at about $5k roughly. This is for the front AND rear. I did it last year in the spring and I haven't regretted it. There's a shop here in Dallas called Baertrax that does stellar work and they did mine. I'm sure up in NW Arkansas there's a decent place too.