Locker Options...

That feature is currently available on the Off Road model....That being said, I think it is better than a front locker for 95%. The other 5% will not be happy with anything less than dual lockers.

And Janster and company, chill out. Off Roading is not all slow moving stuff. And where I live, it's almost nothing like that. It's fire roads, sand dunes and swamps too ya know.

 

No I bumped it to say what I said about the ATRAC and diff lock, and added that at the end, . But I did notice 2 people arguing for an entire page about what off roading consists of........
What were you going to add BTW?

 

I just installed a Detroit TrueTrac in the rear of my truck and plan to install a ARB unit in the front later. Having the LSD in the rear can actually help out in situations during normal driving or times when you lose traction and don't have time to initiate a selectable. If you have just a LSD in the rear you can also use the brakes or E-brake to cause friction and "lock" the diff (for example one rear wheel in the air and one on the ground). Also having a selectable in the front can help "pull" the truck over an obstacle. Having an open diff in the front with the rear selectable locked you have to push the truck over obstacles if the front has no traction. I would rather have the traction in the front to get me over an obstacle.

Using a selectable front locker is a more fineness technique and parts can easily broken if you try to drive it like you have an open diff. Everyone that I have talked to that has/had or used a front locker in a IFS truck says the front selectable has more benefits than just having the rear selectable.

 

My '01 and '05 had the Rear E-Locker and open front. Went everywhere I needed to go, but often after tires were deflated (deep sand).

My '10 has A-TRAC and not only goes everywhere I want, but I have not yet let any air out of my tires for deep sand... and that is while in H4 with 'TRAC' on ('AUTO LSD' on all 4).

I turned off TRAC (VSC OFF MODE) in H4 just to see how the truck drove in sand with open differentials, and it soon became stuck (just like the previous Tacomas would with tires at 32 psi). I went into L4 with A-TRAC on and drove out of the stuck, without deflating tires or moviing sane away from tires/ differential.

Last Memorial Day, on the Mision Santa Maria trail, I used A-TRAC and never the rear locker... A-TRAC was incredible. Art has the 4WD van with lockers front and rear and agreed A-TRAC was better than lockers, as there is no problem with steering using A-TRAC and it otherwise provides the true 'all four' wheel drive that we want lockers to give us.

 

Obviously you have no experience with ATRAC, if you are under the impression it has any difficulty when 2 wheels are off the ground. A lot of the videos of ATRAC show rookies pumping the throttle, and any difficulty I've seen or experienced is driver related, and would be worse with lockers. ATRAC is more effective on hard surfaces than anything short of dual lockers that must be repeatedly disengaged to turn, among other things.

 

Well I have a good bit of very real life experiences with ATRAC and it is very good. Certainly not a replacement to a locker for a number of reasons. I am very glad that I have both. I use the locker most all of the time and I have mine set up in a manner that I can lock front or rear independently. There are many times that I want to "pull the rear end over" where I turn the wheels one way and lock the front (with the rear open).

 

Paul thinks he has experience?...... Ha! that guy is a joke.

 

Paul Rocks!