I'm curious about the benefits of lockers and how they work. I mean if the jeeps are four wheel drive aren't all the wheels receiving power? How do the lockers work and do you need to have both front and rear lockers installed. The reason I ask is because the shop that is going to do my gears said it would be the time to do it because they will already have the axles apart and it will only cost me the parts.

 

Do you know how a differential works? That's the place to start. If you don't know how open differentials work, it's going to be a long, long explanation.

Long story short, a locker ensures that both of the wheels on an axle turn at the same speed. This is helpful when only one of the wheels has traction, ensuring that the power being sent to the axle is not wasted on the wheel that doesn't have traction.

 

Yeah, it could turn into a pretty long discussion here when a little Googling on your own could help out a bunch. A while back, though, I saw an episode of Truck U that talked about Eaton lockers in a JK. Go here, then scroll down and launch the video link under the picture of the Eaton locker:

h t t p://www.truckutv.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151:e pisode-702-eaton-proving-ground&catid=40:season-7&Itemid=76

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxNCTOYBvG4 Having front lockers would have helped this JK get over this rock.

 

Check these out they were very helpful.


http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-tech/d...ts-lockers-101

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-tech/j...er-axle-basics

 

Thanks, I guess I'll have to do some research to see if it would be worth it to me. I'm thinking it might be good because if I want them down the road it will cost me all the labor too.

 

If they are not actived by air or electronically and you got stuck in say mud, would you have to get out and under your rig and lock them? Seems like it would not be practical if you were stuck in a mudhole.

 

Edit. ........

 

Locking hubs is a thing of the past. There is air and electric like you said. There are also lunchbox lockers which work mechanically...

 

I do not know of ANY lockers that require you to throw a switch or anything of the sort on the differential. Unless of course you have an OX locker and break the cable.

All of the selectable lockers that I am aware of for the JK are activated from inside the cab. All of the non-selectable options activate themselves based on difference in speed between the wheels (or are always on like a spool)

Please don't bring locking hubs into this. That is a completely different topic, and you will just confuse the OP.