Detroit locker for hilux

Joined: 01 May 2005 Location: Tamworth

just wondering what anyones ideas or opinions are on this locker for my hilux???i know ppl will probably say get a arb but i cant afford that.Just wondering if anyone has had troubles and how they are on the road??it is my understanding they still corner good due to one wheel spinning faster????thanks

Detroit Locker
These Eaton Detroit Lockers are designed to maximize traction by delivering 100 percent of the torque and power to both drive wheels. Detroit Lockers offer full and positive traction for serious rock crawling. Detroit lockers work like a ratchet wrench, allowing one wheel to spin faster as needed for going around corners but does not allow either wheel to go slower than the drive speed. Totally automatic with no buttons to press. Solid reliability!

Joined: 20 Nov 2003 Location: Bathurst NSW

I have run a detroit in the rear of all my cars, till now (arb). I find them at first hard to get use to but after a while you learn.
They are extreamly good for loose dirt roads and i guess thats why I like them so much. pure off road i prefere the arb. I would never run detriot in the front again mated with detroit rear as they lock each other up in a turn.

my thoughts

Chad

Joined: 01 May 2005 Location: Tamworth

thanks for that chad.i would like to wait longer and go a arb but i cant do it much longer Cool

Well i will have a think about it,so basically it will be fine on road???wont chew my tires will it??as long as its better than my CIG in the rear of the zook

Joined: 01 Jul 2007 Location: On the Trail

I run a Detroit in the front of mine. It takes a bit of time to get use to when the front hubs are locked in. Instead of making sharp turns you may need to do a two point turn. But its never hindered my driving. My rig is off-road only.
I've run Lock Rights in the rear of some of my daily driver/trail rigs before. Again I had to adjust my driving style to go around slippery corners. But once you have that mastered that its all good.
I've run ARB's but only in the front. I've had trouble with them a few years ago and stopped running them. Blowing seals, lines and not engaging. But I am in the process of putting another on in the front. Most of the people I wheel with have them in the front and don't have any issues with them. So I will try it again.

Jason

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Location: Ipswich

Turbo Tonka wrote:

wont chew my tires will it??

I would say it would quicker then if it was unlocked. I have them in the front and rear and you can hear the rear tyres scrub on a tight turn. you would have to alter your driving style a bit but you get used to them. Just have to be smooth with the accelerator and you don't notice it to much on the road.

I would definitely prefer a air locker in the front because it does affect your steering off road. But as Jason said with the detroit it just means you have make two or three point turns sometimes.

Ben

Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Location: South Australia

hilux79 wrote:

Turbo Tonka wrote:

wont chew my tires will it??

I would say it would quicker then if it was unlocked. I have them in the front and rear and you can hear the rear tyres scrub on a tight turn. you would have to alter your driving style a bit but you get used to them. Just have to be smooth with the accelerator and you don't notice it to much on the road.

I would definitely prefer a air locker in the front because it does affect your steering off road. But as Jason said with the detroit it just means you have make two or three point turns sometimes.

Ben

are you talking about a DETROIT locker? or a lockright/lokka/other auto locker (lunchbox lockers)???

the full replacement carrier detroits are much smoother in operation than the "lunchbox lockers" due to their clutch pack arrangements etc.

i've driven both in the rear of the same rig, and the detroit is much smoother. it only ever chirps if you get on the go pedal too early mid corner (driving like a tool).

however, i wouldn't choose a detroit for "cost effectiveness", as they are generally as much as an ARB locker, and you really should get a pro to set them up, as the backlash is critical in making sure they behave. a well set up detroit handles much better than an open diff or a LSD, or a full locked (spooled, welded, arb when on)

Detroits are also known to be stronger than standard diff centres, and many people say they are stronger than ARB's.

for the rear, no question, i'd run a detroit. front, i'd toss up between an auto and a selectable... many pro's and cons for each.

Joined: 01 May 2005 Location: Tamworth

thanks locktup,ben and bad gu

my truck doesnt get driven on road much but id like to know that when i am it will be ok....And i mean the full replacement one like in the pic above not a ez locker or lokka,loc rite etc.Well i drive reasonably steady and only run 32s so for now i dont see strength as a problem.Thanks again,maybe with this and later on a air locker up front ill be right

Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Location: here

...

Joined: 21 Oct 2002 Location: Brisbane

Detroit was the first locker I bought, loved it.
Then I got a pair of air locks cheap, put 1 in the front.
then thought since I was doing 60,000kms a year in the hilux and was wearing tyres too quickly I decided to put the other air lock in the rear. Once I had the air lock in the rear I noticed just how badly the hilux used to be to drive with the detroit in it.

I am currently back running the detroit in the rear of the hilux as I want the air lock that was in it to go in the front of our 80 series. If I was still driving the hilux everyday I`d have gone and spent $1050 - $1100 and got another air lock for the rear again.

Basicly if its an every day driven rig I wouldn`t put a detroit in it.

Oh another thing I noticed with the detroit is they tend to chew diff gears out alot quicker then airlocks or open diffs.

Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Location: South Australia

Guts wrote:

Detroit was the first locker I bought, loved it.
Then I got a pair of air locks cheap, put 1 in the front.
then thought since I was doing 60,000kms a year in the hilux and was wearing tyres too quickly I decided to put the other air lock in the rear. Once I had the air lock in the rear I noticed just how badly the hilux used to be to drive with the detroit in it.

I am currently back running the detroit in the rear of the hilux as I want the air lock that was in it to go in the front of our 80 series. If I was still driving the hilux everyday I`d have gone and spent $1050 - $1100 and got another air lock for the rear again.

Basicly if its an every day driven rig I wouldn`t put a detroit in it.

Oh another thing I noticed with the detroit is they tend to chew diff gears out alot quicker then airlocks or open diffs.

2 questions. how old is the detroit? the newer ones are improved apon aparently.

and the other... have you have the diff checked that the backlash etc are in spec?

Joined: 21 Oct 2002 Location: Brisbane

Its a soft lock.
Infact its the same as yours and was bought only about 6 months before yours was (thinking you have daz`s old detroit).

Adam, trust me they wear gears more and its NOT from set up. I`ve done over 150,000kms of driving WITH a detroit in the rear of my hilux. In that time it had 3 rear diffs. NONE of them were busted, they all let go from wear. I know heeps of people that have had the exact same thing. Every time you change diff oil you will get silver frosting on the oil in the bucket.

Anybody that thinks detroits are good in everyday driven rigs hasn`t done years in and out with it in there and then changed to either open diff or a air lock (this is when you truely notice the differance). Now when I say daily driven I`m talking 1100kms per week, week in week out.

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Location: Ipswich

bad_religion_au wrote:

hilux79 wrote:

Turbo Tonka wrote:

wont chew my tires will it??

I would say it would quicker then if it was unlocked. I have them in the front and rear and you can hear the rear tyres scrub on a tight turn. you would have to alter your driving style a bit but you get used to them. Just have to be smooth with the accelerator and you don't notice it to much on the road.

I would definitely prefer a air locker in the front because it does affect your steering off road. But as Jason said with the detroit it just means you have make two or three point turns sometimes.

Ben

are you talking about a DETROIT locker? or a lockright/lokka/other auto locker (lunchbox lockers)???

the full replacement carrier detroits are much smoother in operation than the "lunchbox lockers" due to their clutch pack arrangements etc.

i've driven both in the rear of the same rig, and the detroit is much smoother. it only ever chirps if you get on the go pedal too early mid corner (driving like a tool).

however, i wouldn't choose a detroit for "cost effectiveness", as they are generally as much as an ARB locker, and you really should get a pro to set them up, as the backlash is critical in making sure they behave. a well set up detroit handles much better than an open diff or a LSD, or a full locked (spooled, welded, arb when on)

Detroits are also known to be stronger than standard diff centres, and many people say they are stronger than ARB's.

for the rear, no question, i'd run a detroit. front, i'd toss up between an auto and a selectable... many pro's and cons for each.

Yes they are detroits. I agrea they are alot smoother then a lockright or other cheaper brand but they still scrub on tighter turns eg. greater than 90 degea. I'm not saying it is bad like a locked diff ie. spooled or welded, just that I feel it will wear tyres quicker than a open or lsd diff.

Also you don't need to be driving like a tool to get them to chirp. It just needs to be under load and tight turn, like turning from a stop sign.

Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Location: South Australia

Guts wrote:

Its a soft lock.
Infact its the same as yours and was bought only about 6 months before yours was (thinking you have daz`s old detroit).

dunno if it's daz's old one, i got it off a guy on ebay.

i've done about 40 tho on mine, and hated the open when i put it back in after snapping the pinion on the detroit.

i agree with ya about the silver flakes tho. it'd be a worry if i wasn't already snapping pinions left right and centre.

only reason i mentioned setup is that mine acted like sh!t when my crush spacer on my pinion got so bad that my backlash was miles out.

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Location: Ipswich

Turbo Tonka wrote:

thanks locktup,ben and bad gu

my truck doesnt get driven on road much but id like to know that when i am it will be ok....And i mean the full replacement one like in the pic above not a ez locker or lokka,loc rite etc.Well i drive reasonably steady and only run 32s so for now i dont see strength as a problem.Thanks again,maybe with this and later on a air locker up front ill be right

If your not driving it every day and you don't have the money for air lockers in my opinion it's your best bet. On the road you just have to be aware that it's fitted and drive smoothly. I drive mine every day and find them easy enough to live with but I don't live to far from work. My main reason for preferring air lockers is better steering off road and the ability to attempt something unlocked for more of a challenge first before doing it locked if you can't get passed it. But like I said above if your budget only allows for detroits I would go with it.

Joined: 21 Oct 2002 Location: Brisbane

bad_religion_au wrote:

dunno if it's daz's old one, i got it off a guy on ebay.

i've done about 40 tho on mine, and hated the open when i put it back in after snapping the pinion on the detroit.

i agree with ya about the silver flakes tho. it'd be a worry if i wasn't already snapping pinions left right and centre.

only reason i mentioned setup is that mine acted like sh!t when my crush spacer on my pinion got so bad that my backlash was miles out.

Thought you got it off Daz obviously not.

Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Location: South Australia

Guts wrote:

Thought you got it off Daz obviously not.

nah, the guy i got it off, daz knew, and had sold some parts to before, so there's an outside chance it was his.

Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Location: Canberra

I've just fitted a detroit to the rear of my 4Runner, is it supposed to clunk repeatedly during slow cornering or just the once to unlock?

Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Location: Ipswich

a-frame81 wrote:

I've just fitted a detroit to the rear of my 4Runner, is it supposed to clunk repeatedly during slow cornering or just the once to unlock?

Mine hardly ever clunks and never repeatedly.

Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Location: Canberra

The mechanics just put it in, it was 2nd hand though. Any known problems with them?

Is there a particular oil that should be used with them?

Joined: 21 Oct 2002 Location: Brisbane

Some will click and clang and BANG more then others.

Joined: 24 Dec 2002 Location: South Australia

a-frame81 wrote:

The mechanics just put it in, it was 2nd hand though. Any known problems with them?

Is there a particular oil that should be used with them?

regular oil. i've heard of people running slightly thicker to try to quieten them down.

mine clunked alot on tight corners when the backlash was out.