Re: Lockers $???


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Posted by MoparNorm on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 at 9:03AM :

In Reply to: Re: Lockers $??? posted by Texas Matt on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 at 0:15AM :

Hi Matt,
Most of the info not answered by Dan is at his "Locker Link" under his post. To answer your #1 Question, A 2WD vehicle is actually 1 wheel drive because of the design of the standard 'compensating' differential. In order to negotiate corners, the outside wheel must turn faster than the inside wheel, it works great on the street but is less than perfect off road since that same compensating effect allows a wheel without traction to spin freely while the wheel with traction remains stationary. 4WD was invented to overcome this problem off road. However because both front and rear differentials are compensating or open, a 4WD vehicle is actually only 2 wheel drive, one in the front and one in the rear. This works great, until the vehicle is in a low traction situation or crossing a ditch or obstacle at an angle other than 90 degrees, the open effect of the differential and the loading and unloading of the wheels caused by the suspension usually results in loss of traction as the torque is applied through the open differential to the wheel with the least resistance. It's not uncommon to see a 4WD vehicle with one tire in the rear and one tire in the front spinning furiously with the vehicle going nowhere. That prompted a solution to a mechanical locker which solidly, by gear or clutch packs, locked both axle sides together, they are available for both front a rear axles and make a 4WD vehicle virtually unstoppable. The problem is however that a rear locker soons wears out tires and drivetrains and the handling characteristics are very poor, in fact a front locker makes a vehicle nearly unstearable. Enter the "selectable" locker by ARB Corp. Because this locker is operated by the driver, you can select when and where to be fully locked at both the rear and front axles, it is virtually bullet proof and saves wear and tear on driveline components while allowing amazing traction potential.
The problem is, Dodge Power Wagons were designed in the 1930's and no selectable locker exists for them. Dan has spent countless hours working with ARB to bring the Power Wagon locker to market. ARB has the reputation as being one of the first and arguably the best true selectable locker on the aftermarket. It is 100% open or 100% locked on driver demand and I have run one for over a decade in my Jeep with great results.
MN



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