Trucks.

[bodywhomper]

OEM rear lockers on my 99 land cruiser do not instantly engage. Maybe it’s an issue with the truck, but I usually need to drive a few feet for them to engage. Approaching a situation where I think they’ll help (e.g., steep slippery exit from a creek crossing), I’ll engage them before I enter the situation. But high center in snow or something where one rear wheel is on pavement/snow and the other is in the air, I’m SOL trying to engage the rear lockers.

When my gravel road got 2’ of Sierra cement last year, they helped a lot for establishing a compacted route for my neighbors and I to access the zone that a plow would reach, but I did not try to ascent or descend the off-camber steep hill portion of my road with the lockers engaged.

[Name Redacted]

If he doesn't want it, can I have it? The "4X4" sticker fell off one side of my GMC. I'll happily TRD-ify that side.

Yes.

That would be funny. But honestly saving him thousands of dollars would be even funnier.

[MakersTeleMark]

IMHO factory limited slip diffs are generally worthless.

I still maintain lockers are for wheeling. Boat ramps, grass, and parking lots?

I've got a track-loc in my dana 60 up front and it works really well.
I've also got a detroit in the rear corporate 14 bolt that performs as expected.

[EWG]

Also the one that's probably most applicable for mini-EWG: getting out of an LCC parking spot after it dumps all day. I've definitely used my rear locker to get out of the plow drift a few times. Its definitely saved me significant shoveling. Its also got me closer to being *really* stuck, so I guess there's that too.

This is exactly the use case I'm thinking of. Per El Chup, below, I wouldn't want the locker on for general snow driving. Good way to break your traction. But for very specific traction issues, like snow drifts, locker can get you out of some issues. But again, in those circumstances you can usually traction pad or shovel your way out, and a guy with strength and limitless energy like young mini-EWG should be ok digging, pushing and getting pulled by another rig, right?

A pair of amazon traction pads and a shovel are far cheaper than upgrading to an Off-Road.

Also, cool on the sticker offer but it's not a big deal to him. He's cool with the SR5 or TRD-Sport. He just wanted to not make a short sighted decision. Plus, it may take him a month or two to actually buy a damn truck.

A locker is not useful in snow or ice. It just makes that axle go downhill sideways. If you (or he) us thinking that in deep snow you would want to lock the rear axle and drive on snow covered pavement, that is not going to end well.

Lockers are strictly off road use, like when you have one wheel off the ground and need to put power to the other wheel on that axle. That's it. Very useful in that situation, but really it's just for 4-wheeling, tough trail use.

The white rim trail does not require lockers anywhere. It's all driveable in 2WD with high clearance.

[basinbeater]

I had a 4runner when I was younger, did tons of wheeling with it, no locker. A locker probably would have made it so I got into more trouble. Did things like elephant hill, white rim, and tons of other stuff. I've had several land cruisers, and my favorite 80 series one had no locker. Never needed it. Just would crawl right through stuff.
If I was broke and borrowing to the hilt to get a truck I would save the money from the sticker and the locker. You usually find some bro selling perfectly good trd suspension for a few hundred bucks and get most of the good stuff for cheap.

[basinbeater]

Oh, and stay away from installing an auto locker on a truck that gets driven around in 2wd. On an older full time 4wd cruiser, yeah sure, but on a daily driven in 2wd, they can cause headaches.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

IMHO factory limited slip diffs are generally worthless.

I still maintain lockers are for wheeling. Boat ramps, grass, and parking lots?

Idk, the Trac Lok in my ‘76 Power Wagon seems to be great.


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[El Chupacabra]

Oh, and stay away from installing an auto locker on a truck that gets driven around in 2wd. On an older full time 4wd cruiser, yeah sure, but on a daily driven in 2wd, they can cause headaches.

I put a Detroit in the rear of my XJ Cherokee, which had a manual transmission. Do not recommend.

It made for plenty of loud banging clanking snapping sounds in parking lots, and winter driving got unnecessarily exciting.

You guys with Trac Loc diffs - - you sure that's what you have? Trac Locs (widely described as "trash locs" by Jeepers, for how well they perform) are one of the weakest LSDs, unless you custom add more clutch plates. They wear out fast and provide very little torque transfer.

Tru Trac and Torsen geared LSDs work well. Everything clutch based is pretty useless off-road. GM gov lock works well until it explodes... then if you have a 14 bolt, you can drop in a Detroit.

[supermodel159]

OEM rear lockers on my 99 land cruiser do not instantly engage. Maybe it’s an issue with the truck, but I usually need to drive a few feet for them to engage. Approaching a situation where I think they’ll help (e.g., steep slippery exit from a creek crossing), I’ll engage them before I enter the situation. But high center in snow or something where one rear wheel is on pavement/snow and the other is in the air, I’m SOL trying to engage the rear lockers.

When my gravel road got 2’ of Sierra cement last year, they helped a lot for establishing a compacted route for my neighbors and I to access the zone that a plow would reach, but I did not try to ascent or descend the off-camber steep hill portion of my road with the lockers engaged.

Not an issue, that is similar to the locker engagement on my truck.

[frorider]

Tru Trac and Torsen geared LSDs work well. Everything clutch based is pretty useless off-road.

This.

A lot of people are driving around on clutched LSDs not realizing it’s degraded to the point that it’s basically an open diff. The mfgers usually suggest replacing the plates after 30k miles but few actually do this.

[anotherVTskibum]

This.

A lot of people are driving around on clutched LSDs not realizing it’s degraded to the point that it’s basically an open diff. The mfgers usually suggest replacing the plates after 30k miles but few actually do this.

I was fairly convinced that the only thing the factory limited slip in my Xterra did was make more noise than a normal diff. No idea if that was a feature of the type of diff or particular to mine, as I got it with over 200k on it.

[criscam]

is this the "What truck should i buy?" thread?

i might be going on my companies vrp (vehicle reimbursement program) and need to decide on a new truck. have had a 2014 f-150 for several years now. also have a new f-150 company truck and our fleet has always been ford. i like the f-150's (i'm not super picky) but some friends/coworkers have complaints about them recently (like most trucks i guess) and figured i'd at least look at some others before deciding. was eyeing a tundra but 5 seats vs 6 might be a deal breaker between carpools, shuttles and fam visits. i know i just need to go look/test drive but i'm not really a car/truck guy and hoping for some opinions first.

my only needs/wants are:
a decent cab for the kids/dog
something that'll tow our hybrid trailer easily.
msrp in the $50k's as this is kind of the programs minmum and i don't want to go over $60k really.
also needs to be a '23 or 24' ideally.

what else should i look at?

[AdironRider]

Any modern pickup will meet those needs in spades. Since you aren't paying for it and will be able to swap out before any major problems just get the one you like the best aesthetically / ergonomically and enjoy.

[nickwm21]

Can you stay out of the VRP and stay in the fleet program? At the company I work for (and I believe most companies) the fleet program is better on the wallet (main reasons - your taxed less and they cover all maintenance, fuel, & insurance).

The move is to keep the company rig, report all miles as work or commuting (no personal), and have a “fun” cheaper personal car like a beater 4x4 or a older Japanese sports sedan.


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[criscam]

Can you stay out of the VRP and stay in the fleet program? At the company I work for (and I believe most companies) the fleet program is better on the wallet (main reasons - your taxed less and they cover all maintenance, fuel, & insurance).

The move is to keep the company rig, report all miles as work or commuting (no personal), and have a “fun” cheaper personal car like a beater 4x4 or a older Japanese sports sedan.


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i can choose either and am still a little on the fence. thing is, if i stay on the fleet program i still need to at least upgrade my current truck as there are some issues coming up (mainly rust that i posted in another thread). i wouldn't/couldn't buy new if i went this route so was half thinking i'd use the opportunity to go on the vrp.
def pros and cons to both. one con to the fleet truck is not having the flexibility to use it for non-work business like picking up kids or going skiing/biking before/after work. would need to plan accordingly and take my personal vehicle those days.

[nickwm21]

That must be a corporate rule or something defined by your company’s auto insurance. I can use my company truck for personal use…

The IRS taxes you differently (more) if you use it as personal but allows you to count errands to/from work as commuting miles, not personal. I pick up my daughter on my way home from work most days; I call than an errand and count it as commuting miles, certainly legit. “This guy I know” sometimes takes his truck to the trailhead for a ride on his way home from work; and I think he might call that an errand and count it as commuting, who knows I don’t remember…


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[nickwm21]

Your VRP is likely taxed as income….

[criscam]

we used to be able to use our tucks for personal use but a few people ruined it for us. ??????

i believe it is taxed as income. would also need to up my insurance some.

i "roughly" penciled it out and w the trade in i'd get for my current truck it's prob be sixes give or take a couple hudo/month but i get a new truck w more flexibility so kinda leaning that way.

[XXX-er]

The mother corp used to reimburse quite generously but it was the gov who tightened things up so an acounting firm was consulted to figure out how to reimburse the drivers, the goal being to pay for 60% of our vehical so we got expense $ which we had to claim as income then claim operating expenses, loan payments, insurance, fuel, repairs, write the vehical down, claim CCA

I used to buy a new vehical low money down and pay it off from the expense $ I think if you keep it reasonable the IRS/ CRA is probably not gona check how much personal driving you do

we didnt need trucks so everbuddy who was a road warrior ended up driving a VW TDi cuz it got 64mpg and at the time Diesel was always cheaper

[bodywhomper]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8GsrMNx...Q1ZGUxMzBkMA==

[XXX-er]

its 29 yrs old, does it come with a Japanese mechanic & parts dept ?

[bodywhomper]

It’s a hidden fee

[Touring_Sedan]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8GsrMNx...Q1ZGUxMzBkMA==

That interior looks like it has 164,000mi not 64,000kms.

[bodywhomper]

I noticed a hershey streak in the front middle seat. Are there even rules about turning back the odometer on imported vehicles like this?

[Touring_Sedan]

Tell me that looks like 64,000kms. There's more cheese on that dash than in the Costco.