Great write up... in fact I thought this mod was easier than my bikini top installation the first go around... Here's a picture of my switches I put in for the lockers... they are the ones on the right.

 

those switches are pretty cool. where did you get them?

 

Bought them all at AutoZone. The rockers w/the flip up cover for the lockers made sense since I don't want anyone accidentally flicking them on. They just happened to have that black/grey checkered carbon look that matched the interior REALLY well. The other switches are just your normal switch w/a blue LED indicator light built into it.

If you use that location for your switches, just make sure you measure twice (or three times) and drill once. There are some space limiations on the back side and you need to make sure you get them in the right place.

 

Just wanted to report back in today, the locker mod has been working great so far. Right now im in the works of buying a water proof relay, that way i know ill be safe

I did however use them quite extensively today at the Okeechobee mud fest...I got stuck pretty good in 4hi, so i locked it rear first....nothing happened, and then i locked the front and really put the wellly to it....i was red lined in 2nd gear and moving ever so slowly. Even though it took me about 15 min of rocking it back and fourth to get out of this huge bog hole, i finally did it. Would never have been able to do it without this mod.

 

I am curious why a switch is needed. Couldn't you just ground the tapped wire directly to the vehicle and then be able to use the original locker switches whenever you like? What is the point of adding a switch?

Thanks,

 

because grounding the wire causes it to lock. if it was grounded all the time, they would be locked all the time - i.e. the factory switches wouldn't do anything at all because they have effectively been by-passed.
using the switch lets you turn the application of the ground on and off. this allows you to control the lockers when ever you want to. "on" position applies the ground and locks. "off" position takes away the ground and unlocks (or more precisely, does nothing, leaving the lockers in their original, oem, functionality).

if you were to read the whole thread it would make more sense.

 

Thanks for the info. I did read the whole thread, I didn't realize that the new switches would be in place of the existing ones. I just thought they tricked the existing switches into thinking the jeep was in 4low. That would be the best mod for me, because I wouldn't have to add any switches. I assume that the computer is somehow involved in letting the lockers activate in 4low and that probably makes it more complicated than doing bofers mod.

Later-

 

OK, I a dummy when it comes to wiring. (See my post about needing CB help for proof). So if I choose to use non-illuminated switches, all that is involved is running a new ground wire from the rocker relay ground wire to a switch and then from the switch to a grounding point of the vehicle. Close the switch, the relay is now grounded and the locker locks. Right?

 

This is an awesome mod idea... and when I can I’m going to do it.

I do wonder tho... can the original switch be used instead? It is a 3 way (as far as I know). You already toggle it up and down to engage the front and rear, just not in any order or when ever.

Wouldn’t it make sense to just use that same switch and wire it so that pressing it up once will engage the front, and again will disengage? And likewise for pushing it down for the rear?

to me that'd make it better, because you are limited in space for switches, and why have 2 switches for lockers?

Or would that be too complicated?



oh, and I’m assuming that the OEM locker switch still works as if nothing was wrong after doing the mod, right? I’m mostly concerned with the lights on the dash still coming on when you turn a locker on or off. I don’t want to turn one on and then forget it about it after getting off the trail. I highly doubt these lockers would stand up to 70mph for very long, unless it was a strait away…

 

That is correct