"Lockers" in a Rubi .. ?

I am still getting used to my Rubi. I have read the manual, although probably not closely enough.

A few other Rubi owners have mentioned the lockers that come with the Rubi..

could you pleaseh help a newbie by answering a few questions ? ...

  1. what are lockers ?
  2. how are they set on my Rubi

I will reread my manual when I have a chance but I don't remember reading anything about "lockers" and how to set them..

davez

Reply to
dave
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The lockers are for off road use. If you know what limited slip is or Posi traction then you will figure out what lockers are. Your lockers can be turned off and on. Do you plan on taking this Rubi off road? Join a group or club so you can learn from some experienced people. Dont try it alone. KH

Reply to
Kevin in San Diego

To make it very clear - DO NOT DRIVE WITH THEM ENGAGED ON TARMAC !

Reply to
Dave Milne

I second what Kevin said, see if you can get with a club and ask for a easy or beginners trail ride, and go with some others. But to try to answer your questions, a locker will "lock" your left and right tires together so both will always be turning and both will always be getting power. Works great for additional traction ( for many reason ) however when it is time to turn a even a little you will find your vehicle will drive very different to what you are use to.

Reply to
Fletcher

Kevin. I do have the switch that is labeled trac lock.. and there are multiple settings for that but I was told there were also "lockers" are these manually set then ?

..and in no way will ever think just because I have a Rubi I am a "trail god" now. (haha) I do intend on starting out on basic level trails and working my way up. I don't think I will ever want to climb rocks but everything else will be cool. This is my first Jeep but not my first offroading experience.

I will try and find a club locally..

thx! dave

Reply to
dave

A rear locker is also called a 'low side finder' because on snow/slippery roads, both tires slip and lose forward traction, so gravity takes over. With an open diff, one wheel is tracking and the other is pushing, so you don't slide sideways so fast.

A front locker is a good way to drive in a straight line on a snow/slippery road. No matter that you really 'want' to turn, it don't care, it will keep you going straight.

When you turn, one wheel has to move faster than the other so when locked, both wheels scuff and ride on top of the snow. It will act like the front brakes are locked as far as steering goes.

For that matter, regular 4x4 and open diffs can do that. One front tire still has to scuff, because the fronts and rears are locked together. This makes for severe under steer in slush or ice.

In the winter when I use 4x4 and get those conditions, I drop to 2 wheel drive at intersections to turn, then just shift back to 4 high once around the turn.

You can shift in and out of 4 high at any legal speed. I just treat it like any other shift. See snow coming, hit 4x4, come back to dry and go back to 2.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Fletcher wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

Or 4 wheel drive, for that matter. You will break things and they will be expensive things. This is a bad thing. :-)

Reply to
TJim

Dave, learn to use your vehicle without the lockers for a while. You will learn the advantages and disadvantages of lockers (yes, there are disadvantages in some conditions). Get hooked up with a club that is family oriented and tolerant of new guys (some aren't). Have fun and don't sweat the little stuff. :-)

Reply to
TJim

Your rear differential is limited slip by default. that mode is for most all driving. When you press the button it locks the diff and makes it a "no slip" No slip or "locked" is for extreme traction needs. KH

Reply to
Kevin in San Diego

Your new Rubicon has what we call Manual Lockers. There is another type called an Automatic Locker.

A "normal" differential will deliver equal torque (power) to each of the tires on the axle, UNTIL one of them begins to spin. It the differential is an Open Diff, then the spinning tire will get all of the power that is delivered from themotor, if the differential is a Limited Slip variety, then the spinning wheel will get less of the available torque, and the tire that still has grip will get more. If the differential is a locking differential, then both tires on the axle will get equal torque under any and all ocnditions, not matter what. If one tire has lost traction, the other tire will still get its normal torque and speed from the motor. The obvious advantage is that the vehicle will continue moving even if only one tire has traction. (This is a theoretical possibility, reality is quite different most of the time.)

Whether a locker is an automatic or manual one is a bit of a misnomer, the terms automatic and manual refver to the locker's ability to unlock. Since the axle is locked from left to right at the differential in the middle, and the vehicle is going around a corner, the tires have to be able to turn at different speeds to cover different amounts of ground in the same amount of time, and the locked axles can't do this. The tires have to slip on the ground in order to avoid building up stresses that can cause damage, or the locker has to momentarily unlock itself, or the driver has to switch it off. Manual lockers have an advantage on the trail because there are times when auto locker gets in the way, and if you could turn it off for a few minutes, then life would be vastly better, but if you forget the locker is ON, and you get onto a surface where the tires can't slip, then the stresses can cause damage to the differential(s).

You have Manual Lockers on your Rubicon. They are normally set to OFF, and should remain OFF until you anticipate a need to turn them ON. If you plan ahead and turn them ON before you actually need them, you should be better off most of the time. If you wait until you are stuck before turning the lockers ON, you might still be stuck.

Reply to
CRWLR

Reply to
twaldron

Reply to
twaldron

That's because it IS confusing, David! Lockers and trac-lock are

-different- systems. My 99 Sahara had factory trac-lock but no lockers. You couldn't get factory lockers on a Wrangler until the Rubicon came out. Remember, that dash switch is for LOCKERS, not TRAC-LOCK.

The Rubicon has the ultimate combination of "drive" wheels (1-4). Remember, the Jeep really has FOUR axles, one per wheel, that meet at the differentials. In 2WD, with lockers off, you essentially only have ONE drive wheel active...the right rear. In this mode, you would get stuck very quickly offroad, so the Rubi has options. If you put it into

4WD (without the lockers engaged) you have two "drive" wheels. One in front, one in the rear. If you are in 4WD and you "lock" your rear axle, you have 3 drive wheels. If you additionally lock your front axle, you have all 4 wheels powered.

- Lockers physically LOCK both axles (both sides of the differential) so both wheels spin equally (both become "drive" wheels). You do this with the switch on the dash. There is a switch position for just the rear, or the rear and front. DO NOT USE THESE UNLESS YOU ARE OFFROAD!!! Something WILL break.

- Trac-lock is an automatically engaged clutched system where, when engaged, it lessens the power to the spinning (stuck) wheel to try and gain traction by allowing the unstuck wheel to have more power. This is done automatically and there is no switch for it. It is the hardest to explain (obviously, for me anyway), but the good part is...you don't have to use a switch and it's virtually invisible to the driver.

Understand the lockers before you use them. There was a guy (different forum, I believe) who had his lockers engaged, offroad. He was doing a 3 point turn on the trail and broke something. Now, if you don't need the lockers, leave them disengaged! Heavy, tight turning is the most problematic for your locker setup. The guy got his Rubi fixed under warranty, went out and DID THE SAME THING!! Guess what? It broke again and he was pissed because the dealer wouldn't fix it.

Z > well I was just a bit confused.. are my lockers and and the trac-lock one > in the same ? I thought, from the way you were describing it.. that I had > one device controlled by the switch on the inside..and some external, > manually activated locks on the wheels or something ? I'll do more reading. > thanks! > dave >

Reply to
twaldron

The Rubicon's rear diff is a limited slip (but not Trac Loc) in it's unlocked state. Jeep made a good decision to inhibit locker engagement in 2 and 4wd hi, which is where inadvertent (or even intentional) on-road engagement would be unsafe. One of the Jeep mags had an article on how to defeat the inhibit circuit so they could be engaged in 2 & 4wd hi range, probably not a good idea for the general public.

Reply to
Gerald G. McGeorge

Reply to
twaldron

  • * * Matt Macchiarolo
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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Reply to
twaldron

SNIP

Another way to say this is: don't use the lockers under high traction situations where the tires cannot easily slip to remove drivetrain stresses. Oversized tires with agressive tread makes this even more important.

3 point turns take some forethought since a locker won't disengage under load - you have to give it a little time to unlock before initiating the turn. Maybe even back down the trail a bit to get it to unlock before turning.

John Davies Spokane WA USA

Reply to
John Davies

whoops.. yer right ! damn, now I ~have~ to read the manual again ; )

Reply to
dave

I can see the need to inhibit the locker selection in 2WD, but not in 4HI. There are many occasions where the Detroit Locker in my CJ is very useful in

4HI. I think the engineers would have better served its customers by making the Lockers work in 4WD, regardless of HI or LO range. They could/should disengage the lockers automatically by shifting out of 4WD.
Reply to
CRWLR

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