Thread: detroit for rear of 110

2.3 ncop differentials must not be locked unless controllable from driving position. Auto lockers can not be controlled fullstop. I have no objection to someone using one as my truck is barely legal but i know alot of aulro dads army freak out if you don't roll with 31 inch tires

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I could certainly be wrong, but doesn't that just mean that fitting an auto locker doesn't require certification. That's not saying its illegal. Or am I wrong?

Another issue from that document is on page 4 part 5 where it says that bypassing an EGR does require certification, so I assume that means anyone who blocks their EGR or installs tuning to cause the EGR to stay shut must get that modification certified for it to be legal. That should affect a large number of people on this forum with Defenders with bypassed or blocked EGRs, which would be illegal unless certified, I assume. If a vehicle has an unapproved modification, doesn't that make it unroadworthy? Would that affect their registration and/or insurance?

Hey Mick,if you want to get anal about roadworthy you could be done for not having the correct air pressure in your tyres,worn wiper blades,faded blinker covers etc etc. Pat

Originally Posted by defmec

2.3 ncop differentials must not be locked unless controllable from driving position. Auto lockers can not be controlled fullstop. I have no objection to someone using one as my truck is barely legal but i know alot of aulro dads army freak out if you don't roll with 31 inch tires

Where is this written? So you can't have an autolocker in the front of a part time 4wd?

My experiences with the Detroit over the last 10 years has been 95 percent positive.
I have fitted 2 in the rear of constant 4wd system vehicles and both vehicles driven hard over many different surfaces and towing heavy loads ect at times as well.
The 80 series landcruiser has at many times had different drivers, all fail to pick up it has a Detroit on or off road, roundabouts,clay surfaces....the lot.
The driver of that vehicle always get praise for good driving off road, most people not realising it is locked at the rear.
My 101 Landrover, as stated before should be the worse case for a Detroit for its short wheel base,manual steering, large muddies, large off road towing capacity and a payload as well of over 1200 kg legal.
The Detroit has never had a problem with driveablity.
The Detroit has transformed a average off road vehicle with a extremely stiff suspension that picked up wheels and lost traction all the time to a good one.
My 101 Landrover greatly depends on its Detroit in the rear off and in some cases on road wise.
If you own a 101 Landrover , it is a pure work horse and many times at the farm( high rain fall area, semi rain forest, high elevation mountain country) I often load it to capacity with wood, or tow over very slippery, steep muddy paddocks and tracks.
The 101 has fantastic ground clearance,so playing on the rock ledges at Yalwal is often on the cards....No problem
Towing 2.5 tonnes of boat on wet tarred roads (early in the peace with standard bar treads) or around sleep tight hair pins....no problem.
(ever driven a old 2 series Landrover on a wet tarred road with bar treads.....it opens a whole new world in driver skills and brown marks in the undies.).
If you think I am a fan of the Detroit you are right.....and rightly so.

In NSW about the 50 percent of the Rural fire service vehicles are Isuzu medium trucks,always kept loaded with water ,grossing about 13 tonnes.
most are fitted with detroits in the rear on a part time system.
Ask a RFS driver if there Isuzu cat 1 tanker is fitted with a Detroit and they wouldn't know....because they cannot tell the difference.
101 land rover runs 5.58 to 1 diffs and high uni joint angles, what that means is the front tailshaft has a hard life and many a time I have driven home only on the rear diff, again with no problems.
Only on a part time system in the rear and if the vehicle does daily work in city peak hour traffic would I not recommend a Detroit.
Then there the old stories of having a Detroit fitted and the vehicle was a hand full......well its like this, fit one in the front wheel drive Mini minor and yes you are going to get problems.
Yes the non Detroit knock offs are not where as good as is the earlier detroits.
The newer Detroit soft locker series are much improved.

Then the stories of the Detroit making your vehicle go sideways on a slippery hill or siding side ways going across a side slope.
If you drive across a side slope with the vehicle near tipping over sideways with open diffs the wheels with the less traction of the up hill side with lose grip and the vehicle will stop moving .
If fitted with a locker and the vehicle will keep going to the tip over point or in a lot of cases the locked axle will slip and the vehicle will go sideways.
( it has already driven pass the point it would have done with a open diff.)
If you are going up a sleep clay hill with a open diff one rear wheel will loose traction and the other rear wheel is stationary,,,,,the spining wheel has no grip while spining in any direction and the stationary wheel stops the vehicle moving sideways off the track.
With a locker when both rear wheels spin together in the same situation, the vehicle has travelled up the hill much further than with a open diff and only then with the rear wheels spining because there is nothing to grip on the vehicle may go side ways........the locker gets the blame for this after it has gone further than a open diff.

The landy parked on ice.

Parked in Snow with a tonne of fire wood in the trailer.

Towing the 2.5 tonnes of boat.

Towing again



And the landcruiser I fitted the Detroit to, doesn't get a easy life as the following pic shows