Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I am only a few days away from purchasing a front lokka for my troopy and decided to go to a local 4x4 shop to see weather he stocked them (to buy local) and I got told from him that "I wont stock them"
His aparent reason for this is because he had a 60 series with mechanical kockers front and rear and he reckons he broke a front cv ( which I believe can and will happen with or without a locker) and the bit than actually concerned me a little bit was with the rear diff he reckons that the lokka caused him to break the bolts that hold the axles in (forgoten what they are called ) may I add that he had arb products comming out of his wazu and happily gave me a price on an air locker.
I have been rechearching lokkas for weeks now and havent heard any complaints about this, does this sound common? Im going the front 1st but I will like to lock the rear soon (after I get a winch)
I dont want this to be an arb vs lokka thread either, I have already decided to go lokka. So the point of this thread is has anyone had problems with breaking their axle bolts? ( a mate did in a 60 series with an open diff )

I have broken the axle studs on my troopy before i had a lokka in the rear and continued to break them after trying genuine and aftermarket studs.The only way that fixed the problem was to upgrade them to 100 series 10mm studs and modified new hubs.This was done several years ago just after the 100 series came out and even after fitting a rear lokka and running 35 in muddies i have not broken a single stud but have managed to snap an axle.I have no complaints with how the lokka has stood up to the abuse it has recieved and hasnt really affected rear tyre life and works well in a troopy because it has enough weight over the rear axle to make it unlock even on wet bitumen and gravel.

The axel studs on the earlyer cruisers (anything before the 100 series/late modle 79 series before the new body shape) are a known weak point. As troopy94 said it's a common upgrade to go for 100 series studs. Ive broken a few sets of standard studs front and rear (once with my old auto locker, once with air lockers engauged and once with the diffs open (due to loose studs)). The auto lockers will stress your axel studds a bit more but if thats the only thing your worryed about with going auto lockers dont let it bother you. Just dont be suprised if you break studs/CVs/free wheeling hubs etc.

hey mate i had a hilux with front and rear lokka's in a V8 hilux. Broke one cv but it was been abused. I now have an 80 series with a front lokka and 35's. I reckon the lokka's are good value. But

When in front definalty cause understeer, gressy steep down hills tend to get a bet scary! sort of get use to it.

Put extra strain of things in the 80 (bit heavier than the lux) crushed pionion shaft spacer (pionion came lose) all diff centre bolts came lose.

Also make sure you set the diff up properly. right spacers and new pionion gear shaft. Tells you how in instruction.

I reckon the most likely thing to brake would be diff hemi -sphere as it an open centre all the stress from lokka is on pionion gear shaft. you'll probably see what i mean when you have it in front of you

A mate of mine put lockrights in his 75s and has been through heaps of studs genuine non genuine keeps on busting them on the rear
you can hear the tyres churping on tight bitumin when putting power down i use the word power losely as it has a 2h in it

he has also broken a cv while reversing because he was unable to turn the diff lock off

in palm creek cape york it took 2 hours to hand winch the truck out because the other truck was behined it and the 75 had no steering due to the failure and was blocking the track stranded in the dark in the end
fun fun
then a 5 hr trip to get a cv and swivle hub kit with the other truck while the 75 sat at the side of the track the whole next day

that all happend soon after he got them

also he finds it hard to turn when driving on sand and will quite often bog due to front locker stopping him turning sharply

he has had them for three years when he first got them he thought they were great but the number of times he has had to go home early due to axle studs broken he has had enough
plus the uncontrollable side slips when going down steep cross slopes
now he wants them out

He is saving up for the real thing

I think lockrite s may be ok in the rear of a hilux because it can just skip the tyres
in a heaver truck like a cruiser dont bother you will break stuff and wreck tyres

I have switchable lockers gone everywhere he has but never broken a rear stud
i have broken front cvs and studs but this is under power when the wheels are doing about 80kph and grab a good rock in the mud
plus I have 4 times the power of my mate

saving money not in the long term

thrashlux

O.K, after all my research I have had a sudden change of direction.
I sat down and thought hard about how i am goin to use the troopy and decided its going to be mainly for travelling around and seeing our beautiful country and taking the family into the bush for as many camping trips as possible with the occasional dedicated day to pushing the rigs limits.
So on the advice of a mate I think a winch would be more bennificial to me at this stage, also more bennificial to others who tag along, considering I have already been saving for a winch the money I was going to spend on lokkers can now go on other recovery gear (stauns, exhaust jack ect) But I may get the rear lsd tightened a little if the funds allow me.

And just quietly I may start a savings fund to get one of thse air operated things so its only locked when I want it