Cutting brakes?

I am considering installing cutting brakes for the front end rather than a locker. The idea sounds like a good one but I would like to know if anyone here has tried it. Most of the compitition buggies run cutting brakes and I like the idea of keeping the front open.
with the cutting brakes I can slow the spinning wheel and get traction with both, seems like it might be better on axle shafts as well?
Anybody done this?

http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/wheels/131_0707_cutting_brakes/index.html

I have 6-7" of lift with 34's soon to be 35 or 36's. The rear 9" has been spooled. Most of what I will be doing is trails and rocks a little snow maybe once a year but in SoCal... I have the HP D30 with stock shafts till they break (already have 4340's in garage).

1) change the shafts now. When they brake, they can take out balljoints and knuckles with them.

2) brakes are no replacement for a locker. Pony up the $250 for an Aussie.

Sounds like a decent idea to me... Might run you more than a locker, but still pretty interesting.

ty20404 said:

Sounds like a decent idea to me... Might run you more than a locker, but still pretty interesting.

Click to expand...

Applying front brakes while attempting to gain forward momentum up a rock obstacle sounds like a decent idea to you?

It's possible... But you will destroy your spider gears, theres a thread on here.. Breaking for traction I believe. If you have a discoed 30 then you can run a spool up front and it will act like it's open when not in 4wd cause the wheels wont be connected, then once your shift fork locks the axle shafts togthers you're locked. Thats what I would do, if you use the cutters often enough you'll eventually break your spiders and you'll have to replace it all anyway so do it right the first time.

Not to mention that in four inches of movement your loose wheel will start to get traction again and drag..

What if you're trying to turn at the same time?

Climb a waterfall?

A sand hill?