Best 8.4 locker for 2004 Tacoma

I absolutely agree. I actually went to a Detroit from a spool thinking it would be better. I regret it, the spool was way more predictable, even in the snow. Offroad the Detroit was good but again I preferred the predictability of the spool.

Going with a selectable gives you the best on street and best off road with out compromising one or the other.

 

ARB all the way po!! If you can save for it do it! An all time locker kinda sucks at times. Hard on tires on asphalt, can be squirrelly on asphalt in slick conditions. The arb is a very strong unit, not sure where youve been seeing that they break alot. Another huge ass plus to the arb is you now have on board air to fill your tires!!(u have to get one of the upgraded compressors though, the lil cheap one thats just for the locker wont cut it for tire fillage)that in itself is fucking sweet!

 

No. ARB lockers are solid.
The potential for an air leak in the seal might occur if you had compressor output of more than 100psi. Stay with an ARB compressor or another brand that is regulated to no more than that and it's good.

Hope this helps your decision.

 

Save up for a complete 3rd from Marlin Crawler. Your stock diff can be used as a core, send it to them once the install is complete.
Takes about an hour and a half to install and you're on the road.
Wiring and plumbing will take a nice sunny Saturday to do clean job.

Good luck.

 

Anybody know anything about these?
http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/i-17845420-tjm-pro-locker-toyota-8-4-t100-sport-tacoma.html

 

Depends on your budget, but my vote in this order is:
1. Swap in an entire elocker axle, you can probibly find one cheap in a junkyard and its a stupid easy install besides some wiring and muscling the old axle out and putting the new one in. Mine was 100% reliable and i beat on it really good and never had a problem.
2. Spartan locker. I hated mine at first on the street, however i fixed some frame flex issues and now its fine once you are used to it. Plus it always works and no need to worry about it being on and what not.
3. ARB. Too complicated IMO and too many failure modes for it not to engage. You sound kind of new to this, so trouble shooting it if something goes wrong may be an issue.


I used to like detroits, however you need to do a gear setup and the spartan lockers are much more forgiving if it breaks.

I used to have an elocker axle, now i have a spartan in an fj80 rear axle, and ill be putting an aussie in my front axle.

 

Slander,
How's your build coming along?

As for lockers, my ARB has had zero issues. Yeah, like Slander said, installing the compressor and manifold along with the switches & wiring harness is a task to install yourself but, for me it was worth it in the long run. Nothing has failed but I had it professionally built. I wouldn't attempt to build the 3rd myself... install a complete 3rd, yes.

I've had Detroit lockers in my muscle cars back in the day... lotsa fun for sure on the street but at my age, reflexes aren't what they used to be. I like the selectability of the ARB which would be the same for all selectable lockers.

Good luck.

 

Im on the home stretch of buying parts, its all the little crap like bolts and wheel studs and bs like that. I need to get cracking i want to shake it down wheeling the weekend of april 22nd.

 

That's my experience with auto lockers. I had an F250 with a ford track lock, it was very scary on snow/ice in 2wd. It had a real shift lever for the transfer case so it was easy to engage 4wd on short notice, unlike my 2nd gen with the 2wd-4wd dial. I have thought of putting an auto locker in it but I decided against it for that reason.

 

Yeah mine has a real shifter too and I use 4wd in the winter most of the time

 

Am i the only one that prefers an auto locker over a selectable? Il take my cheaper, easier to install no-slip over an arb anyday.

 

Looks like theres two of us.

 

I had an auto locker in my '99 several years ago, loved it. Dirt cheap compared to the ARB and myself and a friend of mine were able to install it ourselves.

 

I got a cheap lockrite in mine and other than a bit of noise I've got no problems with it. Once you learn how to drive them they're not bad at all. I don't see the big issue driving on wet or snowy roads, it's not like we're talking 3-400hp rigs here that'll break the tires free at will.