Locker rear end

yessirree...just make sure you have all the torque specs...you want those main carrier bearing with the right preload on em. you wont be dissappointed with that locker at all...but i can imagine the chirp it'll have around turns when you hit a dry patch. hopefully the axles will hold up.

I put the same locker in my old '96 years ago. It was probably the best up grade I ever did. Only took a couple of hours and easy to do. As far as the difference it made in my truck it was like night and day. Here in Florida if you drove off the road and into some sand you were stuck. With all the weight from the Cummins in the front and nothing in the rear. With the locker it would go just about anywhere. Its like having 4 wheel drive but both drive wheels are on the same axle. The only drawback is the ratcheting noise it makes when you go around turns. If you switch to 140 weight it helps the noise some. When I ordered my '04 I sold the old '96 CTD to a guy not far from here who lives down a dirt road worse than mine and he loves it. I was talking to him the other day and he has over 250,000 on it and going strong. I think you will really like the Lock-Rite locker.

Well it's in...

During the test ride we found some piles of snow and I would nail the throttle and bingo both rears turned over not just one like before.

Report from test ride (short one)...

Rounding corners under power causing a little rear end steer effect on the front - not much though.

Rounding corners under no power - no effect felt in drivers seat.

Rounding corners with right foot firmly planted to carpet - WHOA NELLY you better be expecting the rear end to be dancing in the street

Sadly I must report that with my driving style I will need to spend more money on two items...

First being tires and secondly I will need ladder bars because the wheel hop is pretty extreme and I won't be able to smoke the tires without breaking the u-bolts or springs...

Overall my reaction at this point is

argve said:

Sadly I must report that with my driving style I will need to spend more money on two items...

First being tires and secondly I will need ladder bars because the wheel hop is pretty extreme and I won't be able to smoke the tires without breaking the u-bolts or springs...

Overall my reaction at this point is

Click to expand...

Oh goat boy......
Switch to 17" rims

Rancho used to make a torsion bar that bolted on the rear axle and the frame rails bout midship. Not sure if'n they still do but might be something similar out there for ya.
Got a set of em on the hot rod Ranger.
Keeps the tires firmly on the ground and the leaf springs in order.
Pretty cool to see the paint stress flexed on the frame rails too.






ARGHHHH.......Can't believe I was here.

I totally prefer driving a locker on the street as well. Much more traction.

Before the locker i couldnt lift the clutch without laying down a single legger in the rain, let alone in the snow.

They need lots of respect on the corners, and the occasional locker pop can get exciting, but i think all trucks with the kind of weight distribution that the diesel pickups have should have lockers.

Careful with the lockrite, you will probably be fine with the axle size you have, and considering that it is a "normal" truck. In the past i have seen a lot of lock rites snap the side gears when under a lot of stress, but that is limited to Jeeps and land cruisers with high hose power V8s, big tires and stock little axles.

When you put the lockrite in you remove the side gears.

Yep the side gears are currently laying on the work bench in the garage.

how hard was the install? Did you have to remove the carrier? Or could it be done under the truck? Thanks

Buddy did my install whilst I was at work (slave labor ya know ) but yes he did have to yank the carrier to get access to everything...

I'll be able to pretty much give you a blow by blow description myself as I will be putting the std peg leg diff back in and putting the locker on ebay here real soon (planned take out is in two weeks while I'm on vacation).

The real down side for me is I live in the city and the locking/unlocking thing gets to me because the truck never sees anything other than pavement and maybe the occasional grave drive way so I'm tired of it in parking lots when you have to make tight turns. For someone that did not live in the city and drives it everywhere (she's a grocery getter) it would be a good thing. I love the fact that it hooks up but I'm more concerned with ride quailty than I am at moving around in the wintertime... I think I'm just going to have break down and find a 4x4 as a replacement before the snow flies next year... That or just deal with not being able to get up the driveway about 5 times a year....

So if you're interested in it let me know... I paid 399 for it brand spanking new and I think I have logged less than 10k miles on it...

An ARB or similar would be much less expensive than a 4x4.......

Travis saved me some money I know I won't be running a locker in the diff of my truck.

I will say that I decided to keep it other than selling it - I had to learn to drive it in parking lots so that it would not buck and such - if you give too much go pedal in a parking lot or not enough she will buck but just a slight pressure to keep the same speed it works good.

I have had it now for quite some time and as we can see it's still alive and with my driving style that's a testoment to the durablitiy of the unit. I did pull the cover off the rear diff probably 8 months ago and everything looked great no signs of wear that I could see.

But like I said I have learned to drive in tight quarters with a locker now and it's not bad at all I get the bucking every now and again but I know how to make it stop and limit it from doing that now.

I guess after all this time my overall review is = I would buy another one if I get another truck that has a peg leg.

argve said:

But like I said I have learned to drive in tight quarters with a locker now and it's not bad at all I get the bucking every now and again but I know how to make it stop and limit it from doing that now.

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So essentially what you are saying is that you have learned how to powerslide a 95 Dodge into a parking space at the mall.

How has it worked in the snow for you? They were a decent unit for the price in Jeeps.. Wished they had something a little more positive for the 11.5AAM.. Scotty

In the snow is where it really struts it's stuff vs being a one wheel wonder. I can now navigate pretty well snowy roads the only thing is you have to keep in mind that when you do lose traction that you have lost traction on both rear wheels so don't keep pushing the go pedal you need to back off a bit and let it the tires grip again. When taking off from stop lights where you are headed up hill I have to play with the clutch a bit as so to keep the tires from spinning or I will skitter sideways a bit but with the added traction that the other tire brings to the plate I can get moving and run with traffic now. Like I said before I had to learn how to drive again because when I first got it I was slipping sideways all the time but after a period of time I'm getting along pretty well and wouldn't do without it.