I am getting a locker for my Sahara. This is my daily driver and I do a lot of interstate driving. Should I lock the front or back and why?

 

You have a D30 up front
You have a D44 in back

Can you guess which one I would pick to lock?

(and even if you had a 44 up front, I would still lock the rear first)

 

This is an argument for the ages. Many people say rear. And some trucks come stock with rear. Never front.

That being said. I did the front and like it. I get over an obstacle and then pull my way up with both front tires working.

The front cost me $300 and a night in the garage.

You can't beat that price. My d30 is stock and holding up fine.

I do want a rear locker. But I feel paying for labor, I also want to re gear. But I don't want to re gear the front, I don't want to spend any major money on the d30. So I want a pro rock front, re gear, and rear locker.

So my rear locker looks like it gunna cost me 7k or more..: with the PR, 2 lockers, re gear and labor. Sucks. Shoulda got a Rubi haha

 

Get a rear ARB, thats what i did. Not keeping my dana 30 long term, no sense pouring money into it.

 

I did front. I had always heard that the front does the bulk of the work lifting your Jeep up and over rocks... dunnu, just what I heard

Either way, I can't seem to argue. The difference has been night & day.

 

Could that be any more confusing?

You think a front locker is better, so you got one
But you left your front axle stock
Which isn't stock, since you put a locker in it
And you don't want to regear the front
But you do want to regear the rear
And you want a rear locker
But not until you regear
And you won't regear the back because you want a stock front
Which isn't stock because it has a locker

My head hurts...

 

if you reagear one without regearing the other you can't put it in 4wd

 

Don't want to regear but I do think I an going to lock he front first I have no plans on getting a D44 in the front any time soon.

 

Yeah, it's a must to re gear both axles. And a locker in a stock d30 is asking for trouble.

 

There are basically two types of lockers. "lunchbox" style lockers which reuse your existing carrier, and those that have their own carrier (like ARB, etc).

If you go with a lunchbox this is basically a DIY job and as long as you putting everything back the way you found it, you should be good.

However, if you go with a selectable locker (like an ARB) you will (so I've heard) have to mess with the shims and worry about getting the specs of your diff just right. It's for this reason that most people suggestion putting off a locker until you regear so you don't pay for the same labor twice.