[VermontWheeler]

I have a 98 taco regular cab. Only 'mods' are 31 inch Kuhmo M/T's and a lot of CB and Scanner stuff. I wheel at least once a week but clearance has never been a big problem. Traction, on the other hand, is. So i'm in the market for a rear locker. I was thinking Aussi or Lockrite for a while because they're cheap. I drive quite a bit on the highway and we get a ton of snow up here, and I've heard that being permanently locked in will be detrimental to both of those driving conditions. It it that bad being fully locked for daily driving and during the winter? If so, what do yall recomend?

 

[Mike]

I have a 98 taco regular cab. Only 'mods' are 31 inch Kuhmo M/T's and a lot of CB and Scanner stuff. I wheel at least once a week but clearance has never been a big problem. Traction, on the other hand, is. So i'm in the market for a rear locker. I was thinking Aussi or Lockrite for a while because they're cheap. I drive quite a bit on the highway and we get a ton of snow up here, and I've heard that being permanently locked in will be detrimental to both of those driving conditions. It it that bad being fully locked for daily driving and during the winter? If so, what do yall recomend?

I've been driving with lockrights for a long time. Cheap, easy to install, and once you get used to them it's no big deal. You just have to know what your truck is going to do in a particular situation.

Later,
....Mike

 

[98 Taco]

rear locker

I have an ARB, and other than the high inital cost, they are very reliable.
I have had mine for over two years.
I would find some fellow VT Tacoma owners and wheel with them.
Good luck!

 

[Mike]

I have an ARB, and other than the high inital cost, they are very reliable.
I have had mine for over two years.
I would find some fellow VT Tacoma owners and wheel with them.
Good luck!

Air lockers are very nice, but I have seen a few ARB complications out on the trail, some not so easily fixed. And if you lose your air source, open diff time.

I like to keep things simple.

Marlin doing ARB emergency surgery in the middle of the Rubicon trail last summer.

Later,
....Mike

 

[Janster]

Air lockers are very nice, but I have seen a few ARB complications out on the trail, some not so easily fixed. And if you lose your air source, open diff time.

Later,
....Mike

I wonder if the original installation are causing problems. I've had ours for over 3 years and the only issues are a leaky o-ring that spews oil through the air line - no biggie - locker still works fine.

I love our ARB's..... would't go with anything else.

 

[98 Taco]

that goes for me too
Mine locks up fine, but it def puffs air through the breather line

 

[hytenor]

I wonder if the original installation are causing problems. I've had ours for over 3 years and the only issues are a leaky o-ring that spews oil through the air line - no biggie - locker still works fine.

I love our ARB's..... would't go with anything else.

nope, the problem was a batch of undersized internal pistons. ARB is in the process of fixing this little problem. they have traced it to a couple of batchs of Taco rear lockers and a few other models. Both Mike's (pictured) and mine have been replaced with no further problems at all.

 

[hytenor]

I have a 98 taco regular cab. Only 'mods' are 31 inch Kuhmo M/T's and a lot of CB and Scanner stuff. I wheel at least once a week but clearance has never been a big problem. Traction, on the other hand, is. So i'm in the market for a rear locker. I was thinking Aussi or Lockrite for a while because they're cheap. I drive quite a bit on the highway and we get a ton of snow up here, and I've heard that being permanently locked in will be detrimental to both of those driving conditions. It it that bad being fully locked for daily driving and during the winter? If so, what do yall recomend?

In deep snow being locked is great but when its icy or snow on ice, forget it. It doesn't take much throttle to swing the rear end around on you. you also have to factor in extra tire wear but you can eleviate some of that with regular rotations every 2k or so.