Front and rear Diff locks for RFSV

[3lud13]

Doing some research for a potential future mod I would like front and rear lockers still not convinced I need them but also still not convinced I don't need them. I have the RFSV which has the stronger front diff if I am correct 4 pinion instead of 2pinion personally I am thinking I would prefer harrop elockers due to not being a big fan of filling my diffs with compressed air to run arb lockers and well out in the field its much easier to repair an electrical wire than a air hose should you have to.
Harrop only seem to have 2 lockers suitable for land rovers one being for a  v8 salsbury rear the other being discovery defender front and rear discovery defender front and rear
I'm taking a guess here and saying the second one would be the one that fits but when in doubt its best to ask I think

[BEARMAN]

The first one will fit the rear Salisbury and the second will fit the front, but personally I wouldn't fit a locker as such to the front as you will have steering issues if you forget to unlock it and are driving on a hard surface with possible catastrophic result (like running into a tree or off the road. A Trutrac or Ashcroft or Quaife ATB would be more suitable.

[Hot Rover]

You will need to upgrade the axles as well. It is pointless worrying about the diff being different to a standard diff because the bits that are different will be replaced when you install the locker. How much extreme 4x4 do you want to do? Most people that install lockers never use them, I could think of better things to spend money on as these vehicles are very capable as they are.
Cheers
Rod

[asmit]

I've also been considering rear diff lock the first logical serious upgrade for my perentie too. Having guaranteed traction in the rear is what I need to go past when I've been stuck now. The tyres are already big enough, and suspension is reasonable... more traction is what we want. The front axel in the RFSV is from the 6x6's so isn't it already super strong?

[3lud13]

I've also been considering rear diff lock the first logical serious upgrade for my perentie too. Having guaranteed traction in the rear is what I need to go past when I've been stuck now. The tyres are already big enough, and suspension is reasonable... more traction is what we want. The front axel in the RFSV is from the 6x6's so isn't it already super strong?

I agree totally went out on a nice adventure on the weekend and I think if I had at least a rear locker the winch would not have been required half as much, plus better traction means less time doing recoveries less right foot meaning less ruts for others behind you realistically better for all involved I think.

Most of my recoveries were due to a wheel being of the ground or limited traction and therefor recieving majority of the power and spinning a locker would limit this sure it could be argued better wheel placement or choose a different path or whatever and sure quite possibly someone who has been 4wd for a few years would probably not have been stuck as myself either but we all gotta start somewhere.

As my mate put it it was a weekend of trial and oops get the winch

[Phil B]

Detroit auto lockers for the Salisbury rear are available for just over $1k at the moment ex Sydney on Ebay.
They have had some very good reviews and are fully automatic.

Phil.

[rovernut]

Detroit auto lockers for the Salisbury rear are available for just over $1k at the moment ex Sydney on Ebay.
They have had some very good reviews and are fully automatic.

Phil.

Detroit lockers do not act like other lockers. They are basically locked normally. When one wheel is being driven faster than the other (e.g. going around a corner), it disconnects the axle being driven faster. At which point it puts all the drive through the other wheel. This can cause some weird handling in going around corners on wet sealed roads.
With other diff locks, they act like a normal diff when disengaged. They continue to drive both wheels where the Detroit is only driving one.

[fc101]

This can cause some weird handling in going around corners on wet sealed roads.
With other diff locks, they act like a normal diff when disengaged. They continue to drive both wheels where the Detroit is only driving one.

The weird handling only manifests itself in part time 4wds when in 2wd.  In AWD vehicles like we have the detroit feels fine in all conditions.  The front wheels driving counteracts and weird aspects of the diff lock.

The diff lock only unlocks one click (dog teeth in the diff) at a time, if the wheel speed differences (grip) differences are great enough when tight cornering on hard surfaces are great enough it will then unlock one further click and so on until wheel speeds match each other.  Mine never clicks on the road, even when going around corners or roundabouts - the small differences in wheel speed is taken up in tyre flex (maybe not in an old perentie but does in my fat BFG MTs).  The only time my diff lock equalises (clicks) is on steering lock type turns on hard surfaces where differential wheel speed is great.  If doing the same on the grass the diff lock does not unlock and the tyres have to slip and this rips up the grass.

A Detroit in the rear is a great addition with virtually no down sides.

Garry 

[BadCo.]

When you say 'click' how audible is it when it does click?

[rovernut]

When you say 'click' how audible is it when it does click?

It should not actually click. When the wheel is in overrun (it being driven faster than the other) the splines actually disengaged as per the photos below.

[fc101]

When you say 'click' how audible is it when it does click?

You only hear it when slow maneuvering in steering lock situations on hard surfaces - in normal use you hear nothing and would never know the diff lock is there.

[rovernut]

The noise you get is the teeth being lifted up and down. The picture below is a broken Detroit, but if you look at it, the raised sections towards the outside are the drive teeth. The raised sections near the centre are the lugs that lift the drive plate up to disengage the drive. So as it lifts up and down by going over each of the inner lugs, it may make some noise like a tappet.