Time marches on. Hindsight being 20/20, none of us set up our axles like we used to.

Front Auto Locker, Rear Selectable, is the highest performance setup.

Steers fine. All these years, it was the rear diff holding us back, not the front. And maybe bad tires. Most of my wheelin is with the rear diff open, and the front autolocker dragging the truck along.

Too much for snowy roads? I just shift back to 2wd once past 25mph. Drives like OEM, with the rear diff open.

Old vid, but you get the idea.
https://youtu.be/k5t5NEBV6_I

 

You left out the most important information.. What is your mission? sounded like maybe it’s primarily snow. Are you on the road a lot? Rock crawling? Rocky trailing? Muddy farm roads? Knowing]g that will help the reader help you best.

 

Farm truck. Camp truck. Snow belt. Washed out flooded dirt roads. Practical stuf, not wheeling in circles.

But we're switching to the same setup for jeeps and rock crawlers too.

4wd with the rear open, and the front autolocker locker towing, gives great steering and grip. Lock the rear only as needed. Havin a blast with this setup.

 

The vast majority of my wheeling has been like yours. Over fifty years of practical 4 wheeling. In the mud when duck hunting on the Red River, Making it through the pastures and across pipeline cuts in my pastures, through the mud doing my volunteer disaster relief which is normally very soon after Hurricanes, Tornado’s and floods, Making it through the national forest trails which are normally not brutal four wheeling. Until I bought my Jeep and started rock crawling, I never did much of anything that didn’t involve mud,

For rock crawling I use an E-lockers in rear and a True Trac Torsen in front. For my truck which is now set up for two purposes, long highway drives to the disaster area and getting out of the mud once there. That led me to a Truetrac Torsen in the rear for the pavement and a Spartan locker in front. For crawling an automatic locker in front will take on a mind of its own and sometimes not let you steer, for the only purpose being to get out of the mud, it serves the purpose well. And BTW, I use Mud Terrain tires with all this. The Yokohama Geolander M/T G003 wear well on the pavement and grip well in the mud. They have a compound that is too brittle for rocks and tend to chunk out, but since they only see mud and pavement, the are long lasting.

I deal with very little snow here, but when it does come, I am in my All Wheel Drive SUV which makes child’s play out of the snow.

 

Ive been runnning Kenda Klever RT's. A half way mud tire, like most new "Rugged Terrains". My spare is an Kenda Mt2, because the spare is a cheap OEM wheel too skinny for a 35x12.5r18 RT So its a 35x10r17, which was only available in MT2

Mostly because milder tires seem to hold up better on our gravel and dirt roads. And MT's were no match for chains or truck claws. My Cooper STT's were a bit mid. Next time I see 18x9 +20mm wheels on sale, I may get a set for Kenda Klever MT2's.

In the winter, once Im up to 25mph, theres no need for 4wd, and the rear elocker is priceless then. Drives like a regular truck when unlocked.

 

Rear always gets an auto locker for me, front either gets an auto locker, Truetrac, or selectable depending on the application.