Chinese Diff-locks (RD128)

Personal experience with "steel". There are many different grades and quality of those steels. We use the only aus manufacturer of steel rope (one steel) for our cranes, several years ago some bean counter switched to a foreign(china or India) made brand that they claimed had "exactly the same grade and make". The failure rate more than doubled, as did the down time repairing faster wearing ropes . They quickly switched back to Oz made rope.
Now 2stroke it might be made of "steel" but if the chemistry is wrong( say to much carbon) it may as well be porcelein :twisted:

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Originally Posted by frantic

Personal experience with "steel". There are many different grades and quality of those steels.
Now 2stroke it might be made of "steel" but if the chemistry is wrong( say to much carbon) it may as well be porcelein :twisted:

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The steel I was referring to was the planetary thrust washers. If anything the material the locker is made of is a bit soft, suits me fine as for the Suzuki it's more likely to be a shock load kill a diff than it actually wear out.
As I said my faith in the China locker doesn't extend to putting one into the Defender. That's due to the unknown of their metallurgy only.

Just back from a week chasing Sika...so far I can report only good things. I have tried the locker a few times and it has worked flawlessly.

This will be interesting to see how it performs long term.
I am on the fence a little with cheaper production items.
Does anyone by woolworths brand foods, SCR car accessories etc?
If I buy a winch for example for the amount of use it would get I think I would buy the cheaper version and just ensure it is maintained a lot like buying a Land Rover to begin with.
Chinese / Thai / Korean manufacturing is getting much better, so may be an option.
The question I have is are ARB lockers completely 100% Australian made, not assembled but made? I doubt it. My understanding is most of the casting is done OS, someone else may be able to confirm this.
Have also seen many ARB lockers fail and as said they use fittings that are hard to replace off the shelf.
What also annoys me is it is cheaper to buy an ARB locker in the US, so how does that work if they are made here. There is no excuse for this.
Not against an ARB lockers and if I fit one would be would probably be an ARB or Ashcroft.

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Originally Posted by CraigE

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What also annoys me is it is cheaper to buy an ARB locker in the US, so how does that work if they are made here. There is no excuse for this.
Not against an ARB lockers and if I fit one would be would probably be an ARB or Ashcroft.

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My understanding would be that Economics determines this. The American population dwarfs Australia so a reduced price opeing them up to a larger market would see them still make huge profits. I asked this Question to a Billabong head honcho and this was the reasoning he gave me for comparing what we pay for an Australian brand and what they pay. $60 as opposed to $25 for the same shirt.

If this is right or not I don't know but that was the excuse I was given.

Cheers.

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Originally Posted by voltron

My understanding would be that Economics determines this. The American population dwarfs Australia so a reduced price opeing them up to a larger market would see them still make huge profits. I asked this Question to a Billabong head honcho and this was the reasoning he gave me for comparing what we pay for an Australian brand and what they pay. $60 as opposed to $25 for the same shirt.

If this is right or not I don't know but that was the excuse I was given.

Cheers.

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That comes down to were the product is made as well. Billabong has been made in China for years. Still no justification for $25 US and $60 in Australia. You can buy Billabong shorts in Thailand for around $10 genuine. I am wearing a pair atm and I have compared them to Billabong in surf shops here and they are identical. Having said that there are Thai imitations as well which while good ar not quite as bad.

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Originally Posted by Tikka7mm08

Just back from a week chasing Sika...so far I can report only good things. I have tried the locker a few times and it has worked flawlessly.

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Thanks mate, keep us updated - we'll see how your cheapies fair against my mate's genuine locker - so far you're up one nil!

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Originally Posted by Kevin B

hey all,

seeing as we are talking about Lockers, just a thought also, if your only going to install one which would you do Front or rear??

Sorry Tikka if this is a hijack let me know and ill edit it to a few Smileys :)

Kevin

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Many years ago I started looking at lockers for the 110,I could only afford to do one end of the truck. I did the front due to the fact that the front is the one that seems to do most of the work when climbing, and when in ruts, it is easier to climb the front out with the looker in the front.

[QUOTE=gromit;2106090]You also need to consider that the cheapo Chinese diff centre is in use every day you drive the vehicle.
110Kph down the freeway with your kids onboard and relying on the unknown materials used in a diff centre that was made down to a price not to a specification ?
Every time you take a corner those cast gears, possibly with incorrect backlash settings, are meshing & grinding away.....



Unknown materials, made to a price not a spec, incorrect backlash-
Sounds like you are describing a rover diff
:wasntme:

If you have a vehicle with an LSD rear fit to the front, otherwise go rear.

Rear axle has the highest traction loads when climbing.
Only when the surface becomes so loose or slippery that traction is lacking (eg bog hole) does the front come into its own and pull you forward.

Lower tyre pressure up front compared to rear also assists in these situations.