Thread: What is an Air Locker??

Im not experienced in this field; but my understanding is that a Diff Locker locks the 2 wheels on a diff. So they both have the same amount of power. So if one wheel was off the ground it would spin at the same rate as the one on the ground.

The standard diff lock on a Defender locks the centre diff, thus sending equal power to both front and rear axles.

ARB Lockers are designed so there is no noticable difference on the road, they just act like a normal diff.

Think to have one fitted and everything they are worth about $1800 for just a rear (dont quote me on that)

Thats my understanding of them. I only have one because it came with the car, if your into serious 4wding then they are a good idea. A standard Defender setup is still pretty good though

Pretty sure this is all right, but I stand to be corrected

Originally Posted by mike_ie

This may be a silly question, but I was looking at an ad for a Landy recently and it states that it comes with ARB Air Lockers on the front and rear diff. I understand the basic principle - that the diff acts like an open differential until it is actuated by compressed air.

Can anyone tell me the advantages/disadvantages of this system? What it means for driving on the open road as well as off roading? How does this differ from the diff lock that comes in a standard defender?? Is it somethign worth having, or more trouble than it's worth?

Thanks!

Hi Mike
An ARB air locker replaces the standard diff centre, and can be locked via a switch on the dash or similar, once locked you get 100% drive to all wheels (if you have them in the front and rear) They are alot stronger than the standard centre and yes they are worth getting if you want to go places off road

CHEERS TIM.

$4K plus to have them fitted, as the others have mention you have drive to all four wheels

Thanks for the information guys - that clarifies everything.

To generalize a splined sleeve slides from one axle across to the other in the diff so the two axles become one giving you max traction. Pat

So would the lockers be better then traction control? Why?

Originally Posted by catch-22

So would the lockers be better then traction control? Why?

The locker is hard locked and so as positive as it can be. The traction control has a degree of slip and wont pass the full amount of torque through to each wheel unlike the locker.

That said... I think that in some situations the ETC does work better than lockers, and my hot tip is that as ETC continues to develop that with smart software they will be able to in the future produce an ETC that performs better than lockers.

I tend to think that Disco2 ETC is better than a single rear locker when all 4 wheels are on the ground, but if you lift a wheel then a single rear locker is better.

a diff lock and traction control a two completely different beasties.
neither one is a substitute for the other.
traction control works by the ABS system applying the brakes to stop a particular wheel spinning faster than the others.
this has the effect of putting power to the wheel that is not spinning, which would be the one on the ground.
this is great if you are on a hard surface, but if you are on something like sand, where your momentum is integral in keeping you moving, some wheel spin is normal as you keep the power on and the loose material moves under your tyres. traction control will keep grabbing those spinning wheels effectively washing off your momentum, and pretty-well leaving you stuck.
a locker will stop one wheel spinning faster than another by locking the drive to both axles (left and right), thus allowing momuntum to be maintained by one, the other or both wheels. having them on both axles can improve this effect, but a front locker will adversely affect your ability to steer as well and should really only be used to get out of a sticky situation like the one you got into by driving with the rear diff locked in all of the time.