Models with rear locker?
- Thread starter Spish
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brian2sun
Elite Member
In the '96-98 4Runners, the lockers weren't ever standard, they just came from the factory randomly on the 4x4 V6s (SR5s and Ltds). I really doubt they were ever a dealer option because it would have required a complete rear axle swap since just retro-fitting an elocker 3rd member into a non-elocked axle is a custom only job (welding and cutting is required).
Another reason I don't think a dealer would have offered this as an option is because all 4runner elocked rear axles came with 4.30 gears. If they did swap the rear with an elocked axle, they would have had to also swap the front diff to a 4.30 geared one (or regear the front) because the front would normally have 4.10s (which came on the vast majority of non-elocked runners). After all that, they would still have had to wire the elocker into the vehicle.
I can't see a dealer going to all that work when probably only 3% of the customers even know what a locker does. And, I'm sure the dealer's labor involved to do the swap would have made it very expensive (as opposed to one that came from the factory like that).
In '99 and '00, elockers were only offered on one of the 2 4x4 Highlander/Sport trim packages and still randomly (IIRC) on the 4x4 V6 SR5s and Ltds. And '01s and '02s never had elockers.
Another reason I don't think a dealer would have offered this as an option is because all 4runner elocked rear axles came with 4.30 gears. If they did swap the rear with an elocked axle, they would have had to also swap the front diff to a 4.30 geared one (or regear the front) because the front would normally have 4.10s (which came on the vast majority of non-elocked runners). After all that, they would still have had to wire the elocker into the vehicle.
I can't see a dealer going to all that work when probably only 3% of the customers even know what a locker does. And, I'm sure the dealer's labor involved to do the swap would have made it very expensive (as opposed to one that came from the factory like that).
In '99 and '00, elockers were only offered on one of the 2 4x4 Highlander/Sport trim packages and still randomly (IIRC) on the 4x4 V6 SR5s and Ltds. And '01s and '02s never had elockers.
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