12 bolt lockers are now available

[VX1032]

Littlebeast

Our trucks came standard with 30" tires and 4.30 gears.

I would say the best thing for us would be the 4.77 gears from an 89-91 trooper with the wide tire option. I am gonna be hitting some junkyards when I get the time to look for those. That would put the 33" back to a little more then stock, which is where I want it. I would love the 5.38s for offroad, but then you can not touch the highway.

VT Maverick

The numbers are differential axle ratios. Our truck has a 4.30 in the differentials. As you get larger tires on the vehicle the truck has to do less revolutions per mile and ultimately you run less RPM on the engine. If you get a numberically higher gear in the differential, the driveshaft has to turn more times to get the wheel to do a revolution. Therefore your rpms go up. Typically, when you start putting larger tires on your truck you can eventually regear it so it drives like it did when it was stock. However, you can go beyond it and have a lot more low end power, but have no top end due to the RPMs it will run. That is the situation with 5.38 in our trucks. You can get a tire to match up to stock (36" I believe) but that is hard to fit in our wheel wells.

***edit: I know what I am talking about here, but did you get it?***

lockers are in the differential and lock each of the axle shafts together. This always provides an even 50/50 torque split on the axle. Normally axles need to move independently of each other to allow cornoring. With a locker, cornoring has a lot of stress on the axle. When they move independently the power goes to the wheel with the least resistence, so if your one wheel is in the air it will get 100% power. Not ideal for offroad driving. Our trucks all have a LSD (limited Slip Differential) which moves some power to the other wheel, but still not ideal. Locker is best.

[vt_maverick]

***edit: I know what I am talking about here, but did you get it?***

Thanks for taking the time to write the detailed explanation! I think I get most of it, but are you saying with the lockers you're literally "locking" it into 4WD ALL the time? And regardless, why are 12 bolts better than 10?

Sorry everyone, not trying to hijack the thread, just learning! -Thx

[VX1032]

With lockers you simply lock each half of the axle together. Each wheel has a axle shaft that meets at the differential. A locker goes in either the front or rear differential and locks the two axle shafts together so that each axle shaft will rotate in sync with the opposite side. You aren't locking it into 4wd, that would be the transfer case, but you are ensuring an even split of torque to each wheel on the axle.

A 12 bolt is our rear axle, a 10 bolt is our front axle. The 12 bolt is a soild axle, the 10 bolt is a IFS (independent front suspension) axle. Basically, the 12 bolt rear axle has a solid tube that houses the axle shafts. The 10 bolt uses CV axles to join the axle tube to the wheels. This allows each side to flex independent of the other wheel. Better on road ride, but weaker joints. Also, the parts of a 12 bolt axle are heavier duty than those of the 10 bolt. It is typical for the rear axle to be a heavier duty axle in vehicles beacuse it can cary the load of cargo, towing, and is usaully the main drive source.