Tyres Vs Lockers, You Decide

[Brendan-s]

hard call for me to make. my old MQ diesel had open diffs and cooper st's and i reckon it would go almost as far as my rear air locked diesel MQ with it's balding highway terrains.

the old one went better in mud, this one is better at climbing. it doesn't matter if all four wheels are spinning in mud, unless they have traction you ain't gettin anywhere.

[TYLER]

i say tyres, even though u can still lose traction with an agressieve tyre i still believe that little factors come in like flex and torque so that u dont breake traction, hav found that one guy with 32's and a 4" spring lift and twin lockers couldnt go the same places as me mate wit 33's and a 2" spring lift and no lockers, also comes down to your driveing style and ability to pick a good line some people r just brain dead!!!

[Hoonz]

i have had airlockers for 6 years now in my GQ ute
every time i go out i find i don't use then ... i find it more fun to try and
do stuff unlocked untill im hopelessly stuck ehehehe

so im all for a decent set of tyres

edit

Im all for learning to drive on decent supension and tyres before getting
lockers as other people have said .... having lockers u have to learn
all over again as having all that traction will put you on your lid quick smart

[JemmyBubbles]

its like saying boobs or vag tyres get looks vag gets you off!

Guess someone's never had a tittyf*ck then

Front Lock + Slightly better Tyres - Same cost as 2 lockers...

Other wise lockers front and rear. If there is any traction to be had why not gaurantee it gets had..

In saying this I have seen vehicles bogged to pumpkins with all 4 spining going nowhere.

As for what maggot4x4 was saying he expierienced.. I installed my rear locker first. I found it didn't make that much difference - Especially when wheeling with other unlocked patrollers (does that even exist as a word).
Other than I liked to fishtail/bounce a little when moving forward in etchy situations. A front locker would help this..

[GASDRX]

What an easy one, Tyres.
With tyres you can at least go up most very rocky tracks but when a little bit of mud is around crap tyres (HT, AT) will not have a chance. Side slopes with lockers and crap tyres a no no, tracks with big ruts no chance if tyres are not touching the ground, going down muddy hills is like speed slide and then imagine trying to turn your rig up a little slippery hill with both lockers and ATs.
Plus the Look Factor go the tyres.
I would buy a rear locker and tyres for the price of two lockers.

[88pajero]

I have a shimmed LSD in the rear + open front, when I had 7.50 16 hts my brother inlaws lux with 31" cooper st's and an lsd couldnt keep up in mud, rock ruts etc. Now that I have 33" mongrels he just sits back and watches as I kill him everywhere...
Another friend has a 60 series with open diffs and 33" mudzillars and im forever getting phone calls asking me to snatch him out of bog holes.

It is a hard one to answer, I dont have a lokka but even the shimmed lsd seems to go far. Im going for lokkas, although the tyres make a huge difference

[bigbluemav]

i have had airlockers for 6 years now in my GQ ute
every time i go out i find i don't use then ... i find it more fun to try and
do stuff unlocked untill im hopelessly stuck ehehehe

so im all for a decent set of tyres

edit

Im all for learning to drive on decent supension and tyres before getting
lockers as other people have said .... having lockers u have to learn
all over again as having all that traction will put you on your lid quick smart

Agree. And I also think that most of us have bought decent tyres first, before buying lockers. I know I did. I had to learn to drive without lockers (both with 31's crap tyres and 35" MT/R's). Then I bought the lockers and had to learn again.

Lockers (decent suspension, crawler gears and tyres) make wheeling safer and less expensive. Instead of having to rev the crap out of the motor and hitting that hill/rockface at high speed, the good gear means you can attack it at a lower speed that is safer and cheaper for everyone.

Whilst it looks less spectacular, I'd assert that it takes more skill than hitting everything at high speed and hoping for the best.


Regards

[Rasman]

[ some people r just brain dead!!![/quote]


Well said...... picking the right line and the placement of the tyres are always important but if you have been out on H/T's and got no traction then went into your loacal 4wd shop and said i wasnt getting any traction the first thing they will try and sell you on is lockers instead of putting on a more aggressive tyre not so much a mud tyre but a good intermediate tyre like the Cooper S/T or even the BFG AT, still giving good traction better than a H/T. And then if you find yourself needing more traction over ruts and rocks where you have two tyres off the ground at once then i would look into getting lockers.

Tyres are a must have purchase you cant drive around without them buying a good set will solve most of peoples traction woes. Lockers are for extreme traction and when abused can damage your vehicle (C.V's) and tear lugs off tyres. Both have there pros and cons. Thats my 2c

[Utemad]

I have a 1997 Rodeo and live in Qld.

I used to have 29in BFG A/Ts and when I drove the rocky terrain up here I found I was constantly running out of clearance as well as approach, rampover and departure angle. When I drove up steep hills I could literally smoke both rear tyres on the smooth rock. You could smell the burning rubber.
I ended up buying 31in MT/Rs and now I have more clearance and all of the angles. I can also drive those same steep hills without any wheel spin. I find that if I drive a line that lifts wheels and stops me I can usually get around that by picking another line.
If I bought a rear locker it would have just kept smoking those rear tyres. I don't know what would have happened with a front locker but I can't get an ARB front for my Rodeo.

My Rodeo is for sale and I will soon be buying a series 1 Disco. I have seen what they can do with and without lockers and/or tyres. Depending on the tyres it comes with I will be buying twin lockers as the unlocked ones seem to blow their diffs. I will however get a set of offroad tyres either later or earlier if I go 2nd hand.

So having said all that, my tyres made a huge difference to my capabilty. I believe more than lockers would have.

[Busiboy]

tyres until you lift a couple of wheels, I think you can avoid getting stuck if you can steer around stuff rather than slide into trouble.

[Busiboy]

Lockers are for extreme traction and when abused can damage your vehicle (C.V's) and tear lugs off tyres. Both have there pros and cons. Thats my 2c

Drivers do the damage not the lockers, you sit there spinning tyres on hard surfaces then the above will happen, just drivers tend to do this more when they have lockers. the lockers do thier job.

[bogged]

Whilst it looks less spectacular, I'd assert that it takes more skill than hitting everything at high speed and hoping for the best.

100% correct.. I agree totally.

[HotFourOk]

if you have been out on H/T's and got no traction then went into your loacal 4wd shop and said i wasnt getting any traction the first thing they will try and sell you on is lockers instead of putting on a more aggressive tyre

They would say why did you go 4wding with highway tyres up here
And also because they usually dont sell tyres.. they sell lockers...
So sending you somewhere else to get tyres is going to get them $0.

If you went to a tyre shop and asked the same question... what would they say??

Putting traction issues aside... there is no other way to lift your standard diff higher off the deck than larger tyres

[jeep97tj]

If your driving flat surfaces like the beach or bush tracks then u would go tyres,
If u are going rocks then u would go lockers due to wheels constantly coming of the ground,
If u are driving rutts which are usuall always up hill, loose or slippery ground, with other ruts crossing over them, then Im afraied u really need both.

[pongo]

Having only 31's and on a MK SWB its pretty sad. But since i welded up the front its a million times better. so maybe buy some better tyres and weld up the front untill you can afford an air locker. I just run one hub unlocked and only lock it in when i need the extra traction.

At the end of the day, You can only do what you can afford and not what your mates/others run.

Cheers

[InSanE]

my mate has a 60 series with rear locker and 33" mongrels and i have GQ with rear lsd that needs refreshing and 34 JT2's and i leave him for dead offroad im allways snatching him out

[bad_religion_au]

there is no other way to lift your standard diff higher off the deck than larger tyres

erm shave the housing?

[3.0td]

My opinion is a locker. I have 32" MT/R 2" lift in my 2003 hilux and last week at LCMP my friend with H/T's and a lock right in an auto surf got further than me. for IFS, nothing beats a front locker. just my experience

[HotFourOk]

there is no other way to lift your standard diff higher off the deck than larger tyres

erm shave the housing?

haha.. there's always one... I even put in standard diff coz i thought someone would bring up portals or sum garbage

[chevJ40]

wheres the V8 grunt over both choice

[Beastmavster]

wheres the V8 grunt over both choice

Bogged 200 metres back down the track

[chimpboy]

wheres the V8 grunt over both choice

I seriously can't imagine anyone voting for that, can you?

[Rainbow Warrior]

wheres the V8 grunt over both choice

I seriously can't imagine anyone voting for that, can you?

Yeah actually , my stocko petrol Patrol went many places before the front lsd & rear locker, just with more right foot usage, where stock diesel/turbo/diesels couldn't make it.

Diesel with muddies or lockers would bore me to tears.

[cutfenders]

How about some ATs, lockers and some chains .........................................Sorry!

[bad_religion_au]

there is no other way to lift your standard diff higher off the deck than larger tyres

erm shave the housing?

haha.. there's always one... I even put in standard diff coz i thought someone would bring up portals or sum garbage

sorry i read that as "standard height" as in the height it came out of the factory with...

but it's true, shaving the housing can work

[superzuki]

good tyres an maybe front locker. my patrol has a awsome limo in da rear it still drives with a rear wheel off the ground in most situations

[MUD80D]

Tyres and driver skill