by Jon A » Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:14 am
Sorry for being absent so long guys, too many boards to keep up with....
Anyway, the locker has been working perfectly all this time. I can't imagine not having it. I've spent a fair amount of time in nasty mud and a ton of time with it in snow--both on and off road--and the difference in traction is something I just wouldn't want to be without. It makes a huge difference.
That's for offroad (or low speed roads), for snowy/icy highways it is more of a hindrance than a help. It's not as bad as many say (using it at highway speeds is suicide!), but it does require you to be on the ball a bit more. If you're mainly concerned with highway use, the benefits of the extra traction really aren't needed so it's not worth the trouble. But for offroad use it rules.
Durability-wise, it has been perfect. I haven't had to touch a thing in the front end (except lower control arm bushings, but that's completely unrelated) since I put it in--though pretty much everything had been recently replaced when I did so. When I put it in, I think many just expected that aluminum case to explode the first time a front wheel ran into any resistance. I think we can all say now that's just not likely to happen. I think we all owe Fishsticks a debt of gratitude for really testing the strength of all the parts in the front end. And the results of that is the front diff, even with the locker, is probably the strongest part in the whole front end.
Some other things I did that I think have kept me from breaking anything else:
When setting up my lift for the last time, I did lengthen the shock shaft with washers. But I did it several times meticulously identifying the exact point at which the halfshaft would bind and shortened a washer or two from there ensuring it never would. I also have always run with the front swaybar in place. This means when you pull one front it will not go to full droop--about the only time you can do that is when both fronts are in the air (jumping!). I don't care what the obstacle is, if the goal is to get over it I'd much rather have a locker with the bar attached than a little bit more articulation without a locker--no contest.
Don't get me wrong, while I do beat on it pretty hard offroad, I haven't done the extremely rough rock/crawling/jumping the Fishsticks has done. I can't guarantee I wouldn't have broken anything doing that. Even in lesser situations, I really do try and limit the sum of steering angle and throttle. I am planning to do the HD tierod upgrade as soon as I get a chance (thanks again to Fishsticks!) as I think they're probably the biggest liability.
In short, I'm extremely glad I did the modification and would highly recommend it to anybody to spends much time going through difficult stuff offroad.
about dropping one in
