To lock or not

Plumber1

Tito's, Tacos and Trails
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I thought I would throw this question out there, when do you lock up ?

Do you lock up as soon as you hit the trails or only when needed and then turn off or just leave on? when do you use the front and not the rears ?

I am not sure if this is true or not but have been told that since I have a Rubicon it's better the keep the rear locked up as it's stronger locked than unlocked. For those that know more me is this true ?

Personally I lock up the rear when I hit the trail, shift into low range, and go, I use the fronts only when I need the extra traction and then turn off the front as soon as not needed. Rarely do I use the fronts only but maybe I am missing something.
 
Since I have a Rubicon, I typically lock the rear when I shift into 4WD, but I have no idea whether the "strength issue" is really that big a deal. There are qualitative claims that it is but no quantitative data to back up those claims. It may be one of those things that has been repeated so often that it has become undisputable even when the issue is actually overblown.

Since I have a Rubicon, and won't hack up the factory switches, I cannot lock the front only. Not being able to do so has not been an issue thus far.

If truth be known, now that I have a Rubi-Crawler I find myself in 2WD mid-low much of the time (2.72:1 rather than 4.0:1), with rear locked or unlocked as appropriate, and only switch to 4WD when the situation requires (which I can do on the fly).
 
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Imagine having lockers, further more selectable ones

here I am clicking on the thread thinking you mean “when do you lock the Jeeps doors” 🤦‍♂️

long time before I get lockers, right now I’m open, might go lunchbox style sometime soon, but ARB’s/electrics are far off unless I get a gift.
 
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The Rubicon's rear locker also includes a limited slip differential and several I trust implicitly have told me i's a key cause of rear Rubicon locker problems. For that reason I tend to leave my rear locker locked, taking the LSD out of the loop, if I'm on a trail that could possibly cause rear tire spin.

I also tend to unlock the rear locker when taking tight turns, it reduces the turning radius, but always while keeping that rear Rubicon LSD and its potential problems on the trail in mind.
 
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The Rubicon's rear locker also includes a limited slip differential and several I trust implicitly have told me i's a key cause of rear Rubicon locker problems. For that reason I tend to leave my rear locker locked, taking the LSD out of the loop, if I'm on a trail that could possibly cause rear tire spin.

I also tend to unlock the rear locker when taking tight turns, it reduces the turning radius, but always while keeping that rear Rubicon LSD and its potential problems on the trail in mind.
Since I have not split the switches, yet does locking the front only help with tight turns ?
 
Since I have a Rubicon, and won't hack up the factory switches, I cannot lock the front only. Not being able to do so has not been an issue thus far.

It's good to have them separate in my opinion. Not much hacking is needed to break the multiplexed factory switch into separates. I was very conscious to retain all the factory safety settings and to have the dash lights working as they do from the factory, so I did not do what people usually do to break the switches. More details in below link. I really think this is how they should have come from factory.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/psrivats-2005-tjr-mild-build.14128/post-679580

It's very easy to return to factory switch if desired. And I have not desired 🙂 The difference in tight turns with only the front locked is noticeably better.
 
With my Rubicon I lock the rear whenever I air down and then kick it into 4WD, usually at the trailhead.

The front I don’t lock until I get to the obstacles in question, as it makes turning too difficult.
 
Imagine having lockers, further more selectable ones

here I am clicking on the thread thinking you mean “when do you lock the Jeeps doors” 🤦‍♂️

long time before I get lockers, right now I’m open, might go lunchbox style sometime soon, but ARB’s/electrics are far off unless I get a gift.
Time to start a go fund me. I have people do these for a lot dumber reasons than " hey help me out I need lockers " :ROFLMAO:
 
If I'm on a trail that I know needs lockers, I lock up pretty early on and leave them on.
 
Try just locking the front vs just the rear, turning isn’t difficult with the front locked the issue is the rear pushing you through turns.

I will try this next time. Would it benefit more to have the front locked over the rear when just going from one obstacle to the next?
 
With my Rubicon I lock the rear whenever I air down and then kick it into 4WD, usually at the trailhead.

The front I don’t lock until I get to the obstacles in question, as it makes turning too difficult.

The front locker does not affect the turning, the rear does. I used to think just what you posted above till I saw a John Currie video explaining what's happening and Blaine/jjvw's explanation. I decided to test for myself and de-multiplexed the switches. And they were right as usual.

You should consider breaking up your switches and testing for yourself.
 
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With my Rubicon I lock the rear whenever I air down and then kick it into 4WD, usually at the trailhead.

The front I don’t lock until I get to the obstacles in question, as it makes turning too difficult.

The front locker is not the locker that restricts steering.

When mine is locked up and I need to make a right turn, I unlock the rear.
 
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I will try this next time. Would it benefit more to have the front locked over the rear when just going from one obstacle to the next?

If turning radius is the only concern, I think probably. Like many have stated though, the LSD in the rubicon is weak and will fail eventually - so the less stress on it the better.
 
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If turning radius is the only concern, I think probably. Like many have stated though, the LSD in the rubicon is weak and will fail eventually - so the less stress on it the better.

Relying on the rear LSD to be an LSD is going to get people in trouble. That being said, the front is only a 2 spider gear diff. Mine has been noisy for the 7-8 years I've had it. One reason I make sure to keep the front locked is because I don't trust it to handle a lot of wheel spin.

Basically, I don't trust Rubicon lockers and I hope to get the front replaced to match the rear ARB someday soon.
 
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The one thing I miss in YJ with ARB's F&R is that with my Rubicon every time I turn off the engine the lockers turn off. Then I forget they are off until I start to get some wheel spin, this I think hey dip shit your lockers are off. So then it's a push of the button and on I go, but I miss just flipping the ARB switch and they are on till I fix the switch again.

For those of you that have split your Rubi switches do they go off or stay on when to stop and turn the engine off ?
 
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Since I have not split the switches, yet does locking the front only help with tight turns ?
Unlocking the rear, contrary to what might seem more intuitive, aids more with tight turns than unlocking the front does. John Currie did a nice video illustrating it. Leaving the rear locked through a tight turn tends to push the Jeep forward when you're trying to accomplish a tight turn.
 
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All this "locked or not locked up" talk brings back bad memories of jail. I prefer to call it using FWD, RWD or AWD on my Rubi.🤫
This thread is worthless without pics just seeing you in strips.:ROFLMAO:

mens-prisoner-uniform.jpg