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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:10 pm 
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I don’t have an ARB in the front of my X, but I do have a Lokka mechanical locker in the front. If it’s in 4WD it’s on. Some have the theory that their rear e-locker needs to be locked to protect the front driveline. I get the reasoning. If the rear is unlocked and completely looses traction, 100% of the torque and weight is on the front. I find I like the rear unlocked on trails with a lot of S curves. Especially if it is rocky or hardpack. The rear just doesn’t seem to respond as well as the front in turns. This may be unique to the mechanically locked front, as the outside wheel is supposed to unlock in a turn. The ARB wouldn’t do this.

On a side note, the Rubicons locked axle options are 1. Front open, Rear locked 2. Front locked, Rear locked 3. Both open. No option for locked front only. I’d like to think the engineers behind this decision had good reasons. I’m not aware of any other vehicles come from the factory with a front and rear locked option.

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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:19 pm 
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murphy wrote:
I’m not aware of any other vehicles come from the factory with a front and rear locked option.


Although hardly in the same price bracket as Rubicons, the Mercedes Benz G Wagon actually has three lockers and requires that they be activated in sequence (center, rear, front)


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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:38 pm 
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murphy wrote:
I don’t have an ARB in the front of my X, but I do have a Lokka mechanical locker in the front. If it’s in 4WD it’s on. Some have the theory that their rear e-locker needs to be locked to protect the front driveline. I get the reasoning. If the rear is unlocked and completely looses traction, 100% of the torque and weight is on the front. I find I like the rear unlocked on trails with a lot of S curves. Especially if it is rocky or hardpack. The rear just doesn’t seem to respond as well as the front in turns. This may be unique to the mechanically locked front, as the outside wheel is supposed to unlock in a turn. The ARB wouldn’t do this.

On a side note, the Rubicons locked axle options are 1. Front open, Rear locked 2. Front locked, Rear locked 3. Both open. No option for locked front only. I’d like to think the engineers behind this decision had good reasons. I’m not aware of any other vehicles come from the factory with a front and rear locked option.


The ARB Air locker wiring harness makes you lock the rear for the front to be locked. Obviously there are ways to bypass this but it seems that it is like that for a reason.


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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:03 pm 
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Yeah. What I’m asking is if there is a reason to bypass it? In what type of situation would it be useful to have the front locked and the back open?


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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:38 pm 
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This thread prompted me to do some research of my own on lockers in general. There doesn’t seem to be any info out there concerning having both lockers available, but only engaging one.

Most articles or forum threads seem to focus on if you can only have one, which should you get first. Seems like the opinions are split and both have valid reasons. None really apply in your situation.

Seems like you would want to either be all locked or all open. I could only think of a single reason you would only want the front locked.

If you loose the rear driveshaft, you would want the rear open, so it could follow you out of a jam with the least amount of resistance. It could just passively follow the front.

Chances of this being an issue is slight to none. Besides, if defeating ARB’s locking order will void the warranty, or even cause grounds for them to bring your setup into question, I’d say leave it as ARB intended.

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Leyden, MA.
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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:43 pm 
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Bklyn.X wrote:
Yeah. What I’m asking is if there is a reason to bypass it? In what type of situation would it be useful to have the front locked and the back open?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


oops. I missed your previous post...
:cheers:


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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:22 pm 
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So, I don’t want to leave this thread with an unanswered question…

I had an ARB Locker in my H233b (rear) and D44 (front). Following the wiring instructions from ARB I have them wired so that front locker can be actuated only if rear locker is already on. ARB say this is done “for safety reasons” and I understand the safety concern plus I was worried about running the front alone with my fragile IFS.

I’ve never had a situation arise when I thought “I wish I had rewired these lockers independently” and could not think of when I would possibly need the front locker alone. I did not want to re wire if it was unnecessary.

Someone on another board answered;
granitex wrote:
There are more times than you would think that it is great to have the rear open and the front locked. It can help the rear track more straight instead of crab walking into deep ruts. it also makes steering a lot easier, the rear wants to push you in a straight line,


Image

His post about the rear tracking straight makes perfect sense.

It reminded me of a time at Rausch when the rear "crabbed" off a boulder I was descending into a left-hand turn and almost flipped the truck. I had to get the others with me to pull my winch line and hook it up as I sat teetering, so I could pull the front end down while I moved forward. If only the front was locked the rear would have followed, both wheels "falling" off the boulder at the same time rather than "crabbing" the passenger side off first. Yikes!

I re-wired it this past weekend.

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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:54 pm 
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Thanks for the update. The only thing I could think of was if you lost your rear driveshaft. Having the front locked for traction and the rear open could be helpful. So the rear just follows along with less resistance than if it was locked.

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Leyden, MA.
TheNewX. ClubFrontier. NEA4WD Delegate.
My X. http://www.nexterra.org/forums/viewtopi ... =71&t=9534


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 Post subject: Re: Differential explained
PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 8:09 am 
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Wow!! Thanks for the thread revival bc this was so informative and easy to understand!!! I have never had a locker till my X and when to use it I just sorta thought if it looks like it will be hard to go through I turn it on prior. I have had it on for a while and turned it off to feel the difference and I don’t use it all the time. I do use it on hard obstacles automatically. I just have to stock rear. They definitely make a difference!!
Once my X isn’t in the DD then I’ll probably lock the front and change the rear locker too. Everyone seems to like and works best with the ARB. I saw a YouTube video on the different types awhile back and learned a lot from that one too.

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