If you're buying to install a full mechanical front end locker....the answer is yes it makes steering harder (even an ARB becomes more difficult to handle). In fact, off road the front end will tend to want to steer itself....so you'll be wrestling it when off road. If you ever have used your 4X4 stock Taco for street use, like in the rain or snow, you'll find you can no longer lock up the front end and drive safely on the street....if you do you'll probably end up breaking something in the front end...if not running into something you didn't intend to hit.! Full front end lockers are not a cool factor issue...they really are for very serious off road use only. I don't know if there is a limited slip front end application availabel for your truck....but that would be a much more beneficial expenditure then the full locker.....that is unless your planning on turning your Taco into a serious off road machine....IT THAT'S THE CASE....THEN GO FOR IT.turbo4door said:
You ask...how the hell does he know.....I've done it to two trucks in the past. First an '84 Bronco 4X4 running B.W. 4 speed manual with a built inline 6 (300), full locking rear end and limited slip front. Loved that truck and wish to this day I'd never sold it (the limited slip front end made it easy when off roading...and the sixer wound out like a freight train). In '93 I got a Ford F250H.D. 4X4 with ZF 5speed and 5.8 V8, spent over $60 grand on that truck and ended up with full detroit lockers front and rear (that was hard to do with a Dana 50 front end too). After all the mods were done, it ran liked a raped ape....but was it a chore when off roading....the front end would get away from you if your weren't paying attention and I could never lock the front end on the street...unless I was intending to go absolutely straight with no turns at all. I was literally wrung out after a day of bouncing around and wrestling the front end. I imagine the Taco wouldn't be as tiring as a big old behemouth like my old 250....but I suspect that unless your really going for serious off road competition, you'd be better off with either leaving it open or going to a limited slip (if one's availlable).
