Why is Everyone Hot on rear Lockers?

I do a fair amount of driving on country roads and in heavy snow and ice and much prefer a real LSD. I think I used the rear lockers on my Titan once in 9 yrs and even then a traction ramp could have got me out of trouble.

 

LSDs are great. I love my Truetrac, but it's not the same as a true locker. When you need to be locked and aren't, it makes a difference. If you don't need it, don't worry about it.

 

The locker is for much different conditions than country roads and ice. They don’t work well in those conditions just like a LSD doesn’t work nearly as well as a full locker in offroad conditions when the locker is needed.

 

In my humble opinion, having owned several vehicles with dual lockers...

I'd prefer a front over a rear from the factory, and I always used them more in 4xh than 4 low. If I was crawling in one of my built jeeps, I used both. Other than that, I used the front locker much more than the rear to get out of muddy/snowy shit.

 

I've smoked 2 factory LSD's in my life. It's also not as predictable at super slow speeds.

I like clutch LSD, but a true locker is best for offroading.

Everything has pros and cons. But for "offroading" lockers are king.

 

Yeah, and not to mention you can pulse a LSD and effectively get a locked wheel effect as well.

 

ARB lockers. Enough said.

 

This ^^^^

I have Mall Control and MTS and would gladly trade both for a front locker.

The rear locker is the only thing that's ever really gotten me out of a jam. And, probably half of the times I've been stuck, or unable to get over an obstacle, a front locker might have gotten me through.

I want a front locker, but I can understand why they don't offer them from the factory. It's a good way to break stuff if you're inexperienced.

 

I would love a factory locking axle, never had a problem with the one in my 1st Gen.

way gooder

 

Itd be nice if manus would stop fucking around and make all diffs lockable (and while we're at it - large enough) from factory.

Let me force all the wheels to turn at the same time if I need to, because sometimes I need to.

 

Yea. Driving in snow, not climbing rocks, is the traction challenge here.

Did not realize so many took these trucks rock crawling.

 

ABSOLUTELY NOT. You need the new iphoneAndroid infotainment much more than you need control over what your tires are doing

 

I don't know why you would use the locker on the highway or the average forest road in the snow.

Rear locker + chains can get you a lot of places in the snow

 

Just chains will do it 99% of the time even with open diff 4wd.

 

Lockers for rocks.

 

I have gotten through stuff in 2hi locked without slipping a tire that guys with lsds or open diffs made look like a hard obstacle even in 4x4.

With the electric boosted brake simulated LSD on the TRD OR 4x4 (09+) you really have best of both worlds.

What I REALLY FUCKIN WISH the taco had was a selectable center diff tcase for awd hi lo or 4x4 hi lo... That would make it a weapon in all conditions.

 

You could swap in a Manual Transmission FJ cruiser transfercase. It's kind of an oddball with AWD. I don't believe it has AWD low though.

 

I started driving 4X4's in 1976, fifteen total. Several of them had a LSD and in my experience its usefulness was "limited". They made very little difference in mud and were a handicap in snow and ice. I didn't have anything with a locking read diff until I got my 2007 Tacoma and went through a lot of bad stuff with open diffs before getting it.

Since getting the Tacoma 16 years ago I've also owned a Wrangler and currently also own a 4X4 F150 with a locking rear diff. Being able to just lock one diff is a HUGE improvement over LSD. But even at that I've only used it a handful of times. I'm not taking a $40,000 vehicle off road and trashing it. I did plenty of that back in the 70's through the 90's. But with rigs costing $2000-$5000. If I want to do some serious off road driving now I'll take my $5000 Honda Foreman.

That said most people need neither. If you are into extreme off road driving you need it. But for the type of driving 90-95% of Tacoma drivers do they don't need it. The traction control used in most all newer vehicles is a better option for most drivers than a LSD.

That wouldn't be a bad option but would increase the cost considerably and would be something most Tacoma drivers wouldn't benefit from.

BTW, if you were buying a 4X4 truck from the mid-70's through most of the 80's that was the way most of them came. Toyota never made that an option, but you couldn't buy a GM, Dodge, or Jeep truck any other way. Ford offered both versions. But excessive costs and in an attempt to increase fuel mileage the concept was dropped by the late 80's.

 

It sounds like you don't need a locker, just a good tune.

 

Definitely not a handicap in snow and ice here. LSD in frequent use after a big storm. The lockers I used once in 9yrs. I’m pretty good at knowing how to avoid getting stuck in snow.

my favourite vehicle in snow is my brother’s Wrangler Sahara UL with LSD but with 250lbs of weight in bed my TRD sport 4x4 is not that far behind.

both run studded Hakka’s