When do you use your locker?

[LINY4Runner]

I will be installing an e-locker in the rear of my truck within a week or two, and I'm wondering how you guys use your lockers?

Do you leave it open until you get stuck, or do you lock it prior to the obstacle and walk over it?

 

[Duhockey]

I will be installing an e-locker in the rear of my truck within a week or two, and I'm wondering how you guys use your lockers?

Do you leave it open until you get stuck, or do you lock it prior to the obstacle and walk over it?

I dont have a locker yet... :wink: :wink: but Im hoping someone I know can help me out with that... but as far as I know of the guys I know, they drive open diff til they absolutely need it, then engage locker. Seems to have worked pretty well so far for them.

 

[Ron Helmuth]

depends...

There are some obstacles that you can just see in advance will leave you "tilted" or off camber with one tire more loaded with weight than the other.

Others seem just fine until attempted, once the rears start to spin I simply stop and engage the locker and up I go.

Last weekend I did Mosquito Pass and accidently started following some Jeep guys on a spur trail. I thought I was still on the pass road (give me a break it has been maybe 4 or 5 years since I did this trail) but it simply dead ended at a lake.

The last 30 feet up the trail was very steep and rutted to the down hill edge. I put the locker on at the bottom of the climb and climbed on up to where they were parked. Had I realized it was simply a dead end I would have just not even gone up the final 30 feet. Coming back down that same 30 feet was a pucker upper...

Here's a terrible picture of the area. The snow was so reflective in the sunshine I failed to adjust my lens accordingly and it whited everything out...

Here I am parked at the base of the last climb. There were 2 really deep water crossings just before this section and I was glad to have had my extra inch of body lift to keep my air box up and out of the water, with my deckplate closed up.

 

[Pikeman]

The main school of though is leave it off until you need it. If you are going through a section of terrain that is going to leave you opposing all the time then turn it on before entering. If it is just a rocky section then leave it off until you cant clear the section and then engage. If you go as far as you can without it then you are still increasing your driving abilities on picking the right line and skills. If you turn it on as soon as it looks rough then you stop worrying about your line and become a sloppier driver relying on vehicle ability to save you. I know from first hand when I went to my Aussie which is full time, I just wasnt paying as much attention to my lines figuring the locker was going to make up for it. It usually did save me except for once or twice.

 

[Jordan Petry]

It depends, if I'm in a situation where I am risking getting stuck by myself I will go ahead and put her in 4L and turn the locker on. If I'm with other people I will try and get through it without the locker knowing if I get stuck there's someone to pull me out.

 

[brian2sun]

I agree with all of the above. On familiar trails, you'll know where it's needed so you'll just hit the switch before hand. On new terrain, you'll probably only use it after you tried and failed with open/open.

 

[fourwd1]

I don't use them until I'm really stuck, and then I can cruise over the obstacle.

 

[nquaint]

If I think it's possibe I'll try going over something muliple time before using the locker, I like the challange I guess. And I like telling Duhockey that I wasn't locked when he always asks me if I was after I get over an obstacle, lol.