Lunchbox lockers locking characteristics

When stuck in the mud you sometimes have to back out. Do lunchbox lockers lock when backing up?

Yep. They work the same in reverse as they do in forward. The onlt time they unlock is when one wheel is traveling faster than the other (i.e. the outside tire when making a turn).

Small correction, They only unlock to allow a wheel to travel faster than the ring gear. Critical detail... while they are called automatic lockers, I like to think of them more as automatic unlockers.
and ditto on the answer to the question. Auto lockers are oblivious to direction of travel.

Wiley Coyote said:

Yep. They work the same in reverse as they do in forward. The onlt time they unlock is when one wheel is traveling faster than the other (i.e. the outside tire when making a turn).

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Rawbrown said:

Small correction, They only unlock to allow a wheel to travel faster than the ring gear. Critical detail...

Click to expand...

Point taken, I should have phrased that better. They are still the best bang for your buck. For $250 and an hour of your time you can have a locked axle. I don’t think that it gets much better than that. I know a couple of guys that have sold their old lunch box lockers for ~$100 when they upgraded to better axles/Detroit/ARB.

Thanks Wiley and Ryan
That’s what I’m going to get for the front, but I’m still undecided about the back. It’s a Dana 35 non C clip. I’ve debated on welding it. Then if it breaks replace with a 44 or 8.8. It’s not a DD only a hunting and trail rig. I just purchased a 16ft. trailer and thinking of turning it into a trailer queen. “Yalls” input will be graciously considered.

For the price of a lunch box locker you can buy a Ford Explorer 8.8 with disk brakes. All you have to do is cut off the old spring perches and weld on some new ones. Depending on how much lift you have you may even be able to reuse your current XJ rear drive shaft.