I would definitely agree with Scott on this. I have yet to drive in any snow with them, but as I have said before, they can be tricky when it's wet, even on pavement. Even dry pavement, get on the gas thru a corner, and the inside tire is breaking loose almost immeadiately. The torwue bias on them compared to other limited slips is much greater, I think they are 3:1, where most are around 2:1.
Front lockers
- Thread starter lionsbreath
- Start date
crawler#976
Expedition Leader
ARB
Do it once, do it right. My experiance with front lockers is heavily biased towards hard core crawlin', but is tempered by driving a fully locked rig over 45,000 miles of combined street and trail use. It is currently spooled front and rear.
One of the biggest regrets I have is how much money I spent on two broken Detroits, and the current front spool in the BPOS trail rig. An ARB is the best solution for a front locker. Believe it or not, I could have payed for front and rear ARB's in just the cost savings in tires alone over a 4 year period. Rear spools EAT tires, front lockers aren't as much of a factor in tire wear.
One thing I will add is that a spooled front end, and no matter how you look at it, an ARB is a spool when engaged, will dramatically decrease turning radius, and increase steering effort 10 fold. It is very hard on stock steering compontents, and I found i need to change out power steering fluid on an annual basis. I have seen situations when an ARB will not disengage due to being bound up, so throwing the switch may not offer relief. And there may be situations where you REALLY don't want to be unlocked.
You mention snow and a front locker. In ice they suck, in deep snow they rock. I'm kinda wierd - I prefer to drive my spooled truck in crappy snow/ice conditions over the Taco, but then again, I'm very familiar with it's quirks.
Mark
Do it once, do it right. My experiance with front lockers is heavily biased towards hard core crawlin', but is tempered by driving a fully locked rig over 45,000 miles of combined street and trail use. It is currently spooled front and rear.
One of the biggest regrets I have is how much money I spent on two broken Detroits, and the current front spool in the BPOS trail rig. An ARB is the best solution for a front locker. Believe it or not, I could have payed for front and rear ARB's in just the cost savings in tires alone over a 4 year period. Rear spools EAT tires, front lockers aren't as much of a factor in tire wear.
One thing I will add is that a spooled front end, and no matter how you look at it, an ARB is a spool when engaged, will dramatically decrease turning radius, and increase steering effort 10 fold. It is very hard on stock steering compontents, and I found i need to change out power steering fluid on an annual basis. I have seen situations when an ARB will not disengage due to being bound up, so throwing the switch may not offer relief. And there may be situations where you REALLY don't want to be unlocked.
You mention snow and a front locker. In ice they suck, in deep snow they rock. I'm kinda wierd - I prefer to drive my spooled truck in crappy snow/ice conditions over the Taco, but then again, I'm very familiar with it's quirks.
Mark
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p1michaud
Expedition Leader
Information and opinions
Thanks for all the replies. My reasoning for this post was two fold. First, it was a bit of a challenge to find as much relevant information (i.e. Tacoma specific) for the True Track so I figured the information may help other members who are considering this option. The second was to get some feedback from people who have either locker in their Tacoma.
Cheer :beer:,
P
Great point, but you know how it is, I want it now! :violent-smiley-031:
I do have a winch and as I mentioned the winter driving was a major concern as well as potential bearing issues as outlined in the TTORA thread I linked to in my previous post. The brake, pedal and clutch trick is indeed a challenge!
Agreed, I have pretty much convinced myself to go the ARB route by the time I was done writing my previous post. Good work on the successful recoveries.
Winter driving on snow and ice is just a fact of life here so you can’t avoid it unless you stay home! That would be nice.
Erin, thanks again for answering all my questions. I appreciate your feedback. Real world experience is what I was looking for.
:iagree:
I could not agree more. I’ve been down that route with my suspension set up rev 3 up front and rev. 4 at the back and still not done!
I have not tried to contact TJM about their Pro-locker. I’m going to stick with ARB because they have been tried and tested. I’m not saying that TJM makes inferior products. In fact I have one of their front bumpers and really like it.
Thanks for all the replies. My reasoning for this post was two fold. First, it was a bit of a challenge to find as much relevant information (i.e. Tacoma specific) for the True Track so I figured the information may help other members who are considering this option. The second was to get some feedback from people who have either locker in their Tacoma.
Cheer :beer:,
P
DaveInDenver said:
Great point, but you know how it is, I want it now! :violent-smiley-031:
BajaTaco said:
I do have a winch and as I mentioned the winter driving was a major concern as well as potential bearing issues as outlined in the TTORA thread I linked to in my previous post. The brake, pedal and clutch trick is indeed a challenge!
Nullifier said:
Agreed, I have pretty much convinced myself to go the ARB route by the time I was done writing my previous post. Good work on the successful recoveries.
expeditionswest said:
Winter driving on snow and ice is just a fact of life here so you can’t avoid it unless you stay home! That would be nice.
erin said:
Erin, thanks again for answering all my questions. I appreciate your feedback. Real world experience is what I was looking for.
crawler#976 said:
:iagree:
I could not agree more. I’ve been down that route with my suspension set up rev 3 up front and rev. 4 at the back and still not done!
Redback said:
I have not tried to contact TJM about their Pro-locker. I’m going to stick with ARB because they have been tried and tested. I’m not saying that TJM makes inferior products. In fact I have one of their front bumpers and really like it.
Brian894x4
Explorer
In front of my rig, I've run a TrueTrac, a Lockrite and now an ARB.
With the Truetrac, my take on it was that it was better than nothing, probably better than most limited slips, but I always felt like it was never engaging when I wanted it to and it was when I didn't. For example, when I was stuck in snow, I could never seem to get it to work, but when I was driving on ice, I might as well have spools front and rear, which was pretty dangerous. Sent to me to the ditch one time.
I like to drive around with the hubs locked in 4WD on gravel roads for safety reasons. The steering was heavier and noticable, but not bad.
With the Lockrite, it literally was spools front and rear most of the time and I didn't even attempt to drive in ice and snow. I absolutely hated how it drove in 4WD. The steering was very heavy and unpredictable. After almost driving off a cliff, because I couldn't get the steering to turn fast enough, I said screw it and went with an ARB.
It was spendy as heck and yes, I hardly use it, but I haven't looked back since. I wish I would have done it in the first place. I wouldn't go any other way up front, except if an ARB wasn't in my budget, I'd probably leave the front open and stock.
With the Truetrac, my take on it was that it was better than nothing, probably better than most limited slips, but I always felt like it was never engaging when I wanted it to and it was when I didn't. For example, when I was stuck in snow, I could never seem to get it to work, but when I was driving on ice, I might as well have spools front and rear, which was pretty dangerous. Sent to me to the ditch one time.
I like to drive around with the hubs locked in 4WD on gravel roads for safety reasons. The steering was heavier and noticable, but not bad.
With the Lockrite, it literally was spools front and rear most of the time and I didn't even attempt to drive in ice and snow. I absolutely hated how it drove in 4WD. The steering was very heavy and unpredictable. After almost driving off a cliff, because I couldn't get the steering to turn fast enough, I said screw it and went with an ARB.
It was spendy as heck and yes, I hardly use it, but I haven't looked back since. I wish I would have done it in the first place. I wouldn't go any other way up front, except if an ARB wasn't in my budget, I'd probably leave the front open and stock.