has anyone heard of or used the following locker?

https://www.4wdfactory.com/store/pro...Sterling-10.25


I drive on the beach a lot (deep sand) and think a locker would be good in a tough patch of sand. I dont want a full locker but want the traction going to the right place.

Currently have an open dif which i think sucks to the max!! WTF is wrong with Ford putting an open dif on a superduty truck??? Come on Ford!!

 

I have heard that a lot of people dont like air lockers because theres always something going on with them causing them not to work, air line, tank problems etc. your best bet would be to throw a Detroit TruTrac in it and never worry about it again Riffraff Diesel: Detroit TrueTrac Differential Ford 10.25"/ 10.5"
I talked to the guys at the Autorama in Detroit last year about air locker in the front and rear of my truck, they talked me out of it really fast. So thanks to one of the brothers here I have a Detroit Locker sitting in my garage waiting to go in. I have an open diff in my truck right now and it is horriable!!! I hate it

 

What are all the options out there for a better rear than the stock open dif that I have? Front and rear?

 

I have Detroit Lockers front and rear. They can be squirrely on icy roads. But if you're in Virginia, I don't suppose you have to contend with icy roads. And if you have manually locking front hubs, you can disengage the front axle to take the locker in the front differential out of action - which will improve steering and handling on any surface when you don't need the ultimate in traction.

There are numerous options for lockers. If you're serious about getting power to the tires with the best traction to the terrain, you won't mess around with any limited slip posi-traction units.

I have a twin air compressor setup on-board for the Firestone Airspring air bags on my truck, which could have been used to employ ARB air lockers, but I still chose to go with Detroit lockers for some of the same reasons JOHN2001 put forward. I want to know the lockers will be functional when I need them, and the Detroit seemed to be a very reliable method of ensuring the differentials would lock up when I needed them locked.

Auto lockers such as the Lock Right system are OK for light duty use, but they aren't near as strong at the Detroit, because they use the factory spyder gear cage, which is what blew out on my Dana 50 front axle. I've since gotten rid of the Dana 50 and replaced it with a Dana 60 Kingpin front axle, with the Detroit Locker. With the Detroits, the factory spyder gear cage (weak link) is removed from the differential, and the much stronger Detroit Locker takes its place.

I don't think I would install an auto locker device on the front axle if I didn't have manually operated front hubs. Then I think I'd look for a selectable locker for the front. But the Detroit on the rear is OK unless you'll be driving on icy roads. If you'll be driving on icy roads to any extent, then you'll absolutely want a selectable locker on the front or manually operated hubs to be able to disengage the locked front axle. And with any amount of time on icy roads, I think you'd be best served with a selectable locker on the rear axle also. Locked differentials on icy roads presents tricky operator challenges, even for those that get used to the locked differentials on icy roads. When locker equipped tires spin free on ice, the vehicle can side-slip out of control VERY quickly.

 

That Yukon Zip Locker looks very similar to a Detroit Locker. At least it does away with the factory spyder gear cage like the Detroit Lockers. I don't know if it's any stronger or better than the Detroits. No experience with them. Not even Forum-based experience.

 

Very few Superduties came without limited slip.

Are you going by the rear diff tag when you say you have an open diff?

 

Yes... going off the tag.. checked it like 2 yrs ago. Was pissed when i found out.

I need these tires to hook up when I'm driving on the sand.

 

What tires are you running? For sand I would recommend Intercos Trxus STSs I had a set and loved them, dont ask them to go threw DEEP mud other than that they are one of the best tires Ive had TrXus STS | Interco Tire

 

been eyeballing those tires for years.... they are freakin' expensive.. but probably worth it.

Still need the power to get to the tire with the grip!

 

$677 each for the size I need. The wear great too. I dont know how many miles were on the ones I had because the PO put them on the truck, they had about 45% tread when I got them and I racked up about 25K miles on them until I decided THATS IT, which was perfect timing for me to throw my snow tires on there. My STSs were also 36x14.5

 

In sand, good sand tires are about equally effective as a locker. Tires are typically getting a pretty good bite in sand. The value of the locker is when one tire or the other has a much better bite.

When I run tire chains in mud, I can't tell a huge difference between locked and unlocked differentials. The chains bite that well.