Hi,I have 98 v6 4runner with 33' tire, and in 2month i am planning to get 4:88 gear and now comfuse with locker, is detroit locker for rear and trutrac for front, and i off road every 3 month is this locker alway lock or is only lock when i put in 4wheel drive cuz i daily drive to work everyday. All i want to know is only lock when u put in 4wd rite or is alway lock.
Detroit locker rear and truetrac front
- Thread starter mory
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steezemcqueen
Moderator
Uh... not trying to be a dbag or anything..but do me a favor. Copy your post and paste it into MS Word. Press F7 to do spelling and grammar check and then repost the results.
kthxbye
kthxbye
JWaldz
Moderator
:lmao:
why would you need a locker or lockers on your daily driver in which you don't wheel but a couple times every few months. To me that's pointless and a waste of money. Do your research first. There is tons of info out there regarding the very questions your asking. I could fill this whole page with links with the amount of information there is for lockers in 3rd gens.
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the great him
Elite Member
ill save you a lot of time MORY, just put in true tracs front and rear, dont bother with the full locker in the rear, it will always be locked, not matter what, even in 2wd hi. and your truck will drive like sh*t. you will be very unhappy with it as a DD.
the great him
Elite Member
im not saying that the detroit locker is a bad locker, im just saying(guessing) mory will be unhappy with they way his runner drives with it in there. if he is asking this question my guess is that he has no idea how a detroit will act in the truck and has probably never driven one with a ratcheting locker, at least not on the road. as it WILL change the driving mannerisms of the runner, yes you CAN adjust your driving habits/style to compensate for it but yeah... easier said than done lol. there is no need to have a full time locker like that in a daily driver, the truetrac will give you even full power all the time until you pick one tire up off the ground, but will allow for the minimal slippage needed to make turns with out tire scuffing or chirp and the "bang, bang, bang" noise that accompanies a ratcheting locker.
Thank, now i going with truetrac front and rear with 4:88 yukon. Yes is true, I never driven a 4runner with rear detroit locker,
Singtoe
New member
Not that it is any of my business but i think that is a bad idea. The idea of regearing and installing a limited slip verses a full locker is a waste of money.
The cost of the truetrac is like ~ $500
The cost of an Air locker is ~$800
Get some air lockers and call it a day.
LINY4Runner
New member
:bigok::lmao::iagree::bravo::snacker::lol::banana::hatsoff::hungry::biggrin2::cheers:
That's how much I like this post.
I have a Tru-Trac in the front and I think it's great. Not enough full lock to sh!t CVs but enough to get you where you want to go. In the rear go selectable locker, though. An LSD in the rear will leave something to be desired.
J-money$$$
New member
spending all that money on f+r tru tacs is a total waste!. I daily drove a locked vehicle and its not bad. I think (guessing) The Kid doesnt have any real life experience with a locked 4runner, Save your money or get real lockers
the great him
Elite Member
actually i do, this is my second 3rd gen, my first one had ARBs f+r and it was great off road and i loved it until it got totaled and insurance wouldn't pay for it(flopped it off road). i also have two 85 pickups one has a spool in the back and truetrac up front and the other is locked all around as well. my pickup with the spool in the back is fine for a daily driver cause there is no weight in the back so for pulling out of a parking lot onto a busy street i would always have "one tire fire" and go no where fast, once i installed the spool sure, i had scuffing and chirp in parking lots but my tires actually lasted longer cause i wasn't burning them every time i took off from a stop(as stated above). driving my first runner around with the rear locked was just a waste, they are heavy enough that there is no problem with "one tire fire" when left open. but the use of the ARB in snow and ice at any speed kinda made driving it sketchy, if it wasn't for the fact that i wheeled it a lot then i would of hated the locker. i think mory will find he likes the truetrac better for his desired application, he is not a hard core wheeler and will be using his truck as a daily driver. the advantages that the truetrac will give him in that setting will imo far out-weigh the advantage of the locker in offroading. again he is not a hard core wheeler so how often will he be taking his rig out and flexing it out so much to be picking up 2 tires, where he would NEED the locker? the truetracs will give him plenty of added traction offroad when and where he needs it with out him noticing any difference in vehicle mannerisms while driving it, bar the improved capabilities.
not trying to be an A hole or argue, but ive been around the block a few times, im 27, and have been wheeling sence i was 12 or 13, ive been over the rubicon in a stock toyota pickup with 31 tires(granted it was 6 years ago). ive been to two different driving schools, was a driving instructor for the military training troops to drive and recover there vehicles, and been deployed twice with the army. i am not saying that i am an expert or the expert but i have some knowledge and wisdom in a few areas.
J-money$$$
New member
See you said it your self you have had a SPOOL. And or and arb which is a SPOOL when locked. Way different that a Detroit. And even more different that the lock right. I'm just sayin you can drive a truck with a LOCKER and not notice it. I'm not arguing, just saying that I daily drvo a 4runner with a rear lock right and a 5spd to make it worse and it is barley noticeable
Tru trac f-r seems to be a waste. You want a real locker in the rear at least.
Tru trac f-r seems to be a waste. You want a real locker in the rear at least.
brian2sun
Elite Member
I also think dual Truetracs would be kind of a waste. I hear what the kid is saying about the driveability of an LSD, but if the guy isn't going to do a lot of wheeling anyways, just leaving it open/open is a better choice IMO. No need to mess with it if it's 98% a DD. The money it would cost for 2 Truetracs installed just wouldn't be worth the traction he probably won't need or use very much anyways. Stock 4x4 is still pretty darn good.
If he was going to wheel it a good amount, I'd personally rather have a rear locker/open front than dual LSDs anyways, but it's all a matter of opinion. I'm not a big fan of LSDs generally for off road because that's where you do lift tires off the ground and that's when the LSD won't help you - when you need traction the most. I think for our trucks, a locker (not a full-time spool though) in the rear and a Truetrac up front is a good combo for off roading - especially to help save CVs.
If he was going to wheel it a good amount, I'd personally rather have a rear locker/open front than dual LSDs anyways, but it's all a matter of opinion. I'm not a big fan of LSDs generally for off road because that's where you do lift tires off the ground and that's when the LSD won't help you - when you need traction the most. I think for our trucks, a locker (not a full-time spool though) in the rear and a Truetrac up front is a good combo for off roading - especially to help save CVs.
the great him
Elite Member
i also have a 83 chevy k30 cucv which has a detroit in it. i know what a ratcheting locker is like to drive, and thats why i wont ever drive that truck on the road, if i had/needed to i would, but its just not the nicest to drive, yes you can drive it and not notice it, but it takes some thought and getting used to. i understand what you guys are saying about lockers, i like them and they have their use and they do out perform a lsd hands down, but sense he is already in the the diff whit re-gearing it, and it sounds like to me that he wants more traction but still keeping it manageable to drive and have a nice riding rig then the truetrac is your option. i would take a truetrac hands down over a locker in snow or ice driving ore even wet roads. yes if you wheel your runner and lift a tire, then sure the locker will be better than an lsd, but you can compensate for that, let off the throttle some, and pull the e-brake up a bit. sure it wont be the same as a locker but its darn close and you have less wear and tear on things. also take into account, is he gonna be the only one driving this? or will his wife/girlfriend, or if he has kids will they be driving it? sure he could get used to how the detroit feels and works, but would they? i know my wife would hate it and complain about it every day to me even if she knew it was there, she hates the hulk -my cucv.
ultimately its up to you mory, if you feel that in the future you will wheel it more or would like to at some point, you may want to put in a full locker or auto locker or selectable locker, but if its gonna stay the family/weekend warrior/road trip/daily driver then i suggest putting in the truetrac if you want increased traction at all corners in 95% of conditions
ultimately its up to you mory, if you feel that in the future you will wheel it more or would like to at some point, you may want to put in a full locker or auto locker or selectable locker, but if its gonna stay the family/weekend warrior/road trip/daily driver then i suggest putting in the truetrac if you want increased traction at all corners in 95% of conditions
LINY4Runner
New member
Great combo! :cheers:
the great him
Elite Member
what are you going to use it for primarily? i would lean towards the ARB, just cause you dont have the front to help pull you through, so you would want as much traction as possible
Singtoe
New member
I would get and retrofit a toyota e-locker. Same feature as the tacoma pre-runner trd.
maclean216
Member
What type of wheeling do you do?
If you are just bombing around on forest service roads a TruTrac front and rear would be ok. If you plan on doing any rock crawling you will be disapointed you didn't get a locker in the rear. I only have experience with the Detroit locker, but once you adjust your driving style it will become transparent.
One big positive for the detroit is that it just works. No electronics to fail or air lines to leak. Not saying that is common with the other options but it is a occurrence.
If you are just bombing around on forest service roads a TruTrac front and rear would be ok. If you plan on doing any rock crawling you will be disapointed you didn't get a locker in the rear. I only have experience with the Detroit locker, but once you adjust your driving style it will become transparent.
One big positive for the detroit is that it just works. No electronics to fail or air lines to leak. Not saying that is common with the other options but it is a occurrence.
Garage Guy
New member
Trutracs front and rear is a good setup for mud, sand or snow. Crawling, not so much. Though you can sometimes do OK with two wheels off the ground by riding the brakes a bit; the torque multiplying feature of a geared LSD like the Trutrac will drive the down wheels to some extent in that situation. (This can sometimes work with ordinary open diffs too BTW because in practice they have some friction and binding and don't perfectly balance torque left to right. But don't count on it.)
Those who say a full Detroit Locker is transparent on the street... well. They are designed to unlock the wheel that is turning faster. This is almost always the right thing to do offroad... the faster wheel is losing traction and spinning, so unlock it and drive the other one. But it is exactly the wrong thing to do when cornering on dry pavement... there the faster wheel is faster because it's on the outside of the turn. And because it's on the outside of the turn, weight transfer is giving it more traction than the inside wheel. So you should unlock the slower wheel and drive the faster one, but a ratcheting locker does exactly the opposite.
Back in the day, I put a full Detroit in the rear axle of our '85 4Runner and drove it for six months. Fantastic offroad, and a pita on the street. Yes you can "get used to it", you can get used to pretty much any kind of crap. So I swapped it out for an ARB Airlocker. Much much better.
For the front, we've got a Trutrac and it's OK. It's easy on the birfields, and the brake tapping trick does work if you need a little more pull when you lift a front tire, though with the rear locked you don't need to very often. Steering is heavier when the hubs are locked than with an open diff up front. I have thought about going ARB in the front too, but places I've gone, I've never got stuck because the front wasn't fully locked, so what's the point.
Those who say a full Detroit Locker is transparent on the street... well. They are designed to unlock the wheel that is turning faster. This is almost always the right thing to do offroad... the faster wheel is losing traction and spinning, so unlock it and drive the other one. But it is exactly the wrong thing to do when cornering on dry pavement... there the faster wheel is faster because it's on the outside of the turn. And because it's on the outside of the turn, weight transfer is giving it more traction than the inside wheel. So you should unlock the slower wheel and drive the faster one, but a ratcheting locker does exactly the opposite.
Back in the day, I put a full Detroit in the rear axle of our '85 4Runner and drove it for six months. Fantastic offroad, and a pita on the street. Yes you can "get used to it", you can get used to pretty much any kind of crap. So I swapped it out for an ARB Airlocker. Much much better.
For the front, we've got a Trutrac and it's OK. It's easy on the birfields, and the brake tapping trick does work if you need a little more pull when you lift a front tire, though with the rear locked you don't need to very often. Steering is heavier when the hubs are locked than with an open diff up front. I have thought about going ARB in the front too, but places I've gone, I've never got stuck because the front wasn't fully locked, so what's the point.
