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Locker Options Front vs rear

One of the tires will just slip.

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231 is cheaper. no additional diff in the case.

from what I understand (i'm in texas) you don't want a rear locked vehicle on icy roads.

For a while, I ran just the rear locker. I liked it so much I installed another in the front just for the hell of it. I may have had 2 trips on the rear locker alone. I do some fairly long hill climbs and can really feel the rear is solid and pushing me up a hill. I don't drive mine on the road much, but really noticed a difference with the rear locked. If you're doing a good bit of road time, do front first as you wouldn't notice it. other than some ratcheting, you don't notice either honestly, once you learn to keep off the power in corners.

Regarding the rear locker, I live in the mountains, and so I'm pretty much always either going uphill or downhill, and rarely in a straight line, and so keeping off the power in corners would be impossible for me to do, depending upon what is meant by "keeping off the power".
Is this accurate: In my situation, the outside rear wheel will still be able to ratchet, even under hard acceleration while turning uphill, but most likely I would wear out the teeth on the cam/axle quickly because I would be frequently requiring it to ratchet while fully engaged?
 
Both of my XJs are drivers and I have tried several difference combinations of traction devices, now preferring a Truetrac in the rear and a selectable locker in the front.
The Truetrac is invisible in day to day driving, only engaging in low traction situations.
A selectable front locker is nice, it doesn't mess with the steering until turned on, it can be hard to steer when the front axle locks up.
 
If you drive in Sunny California, or other warm/dry states, a front locker is nearly invisible in 2wd. If you drive anywhere there is snow and ice on the pavement, you will hate your front locker 2wd and 4wd. For snowy/icy pavement, an open differential, a TrueTrac limited slip, or a selectable locker is the best choice for the front axle. In the rear axle, most lockers pretty much behaves the same a factory installed TracLok Limited Slip.

If your budget only allows for one locker, lock the rear axle first. The Cherokee will have better traction on and off-road, and good pavement manners summer and winter. A TrueTrac limited slip is also a good choice, it will behave better than a locker on pavement, but will not have as much traction off-road.
 
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If you drive in Sunny California, a front locker is nearly invisible in 2wd. If you drive anywhere there is snow and ice on the pavement, you will hate your front locker 2wd and 4wd. For snowy/icy pavement, an open differential, a TrueTrac limited slip, or a selectable locker is the best choice for the front axle. In the rear axle, most lockers pretty much behaves the same a factory installed Limited Slip.



If your budget only allows for one locker, lock the rear axle first. The Cherokee will have better traction on and off-road, and good pavement manners summer and winter. A TrueTrac limited slip is also a good choice, it will behave better than a locker on pavement, but will not have as much traction off-road.
Ive driven in icy conditions with a front auto locker. It was still invisible in 2wd.

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Regarding the rear locker, I live in the mountains, and so I'm pretty much always either going uphill or downhill, and rarely in a straight line, and so keeping off the power in corners would be impossible for me to do, depending upon what is meant by "keeping off the power".

Is this accurate: In my situation, the outside rear wheel will still be able to ratchet, even under hard acceleration while turning uphill, but most likely I would wear out the teeth on the cam/axle quickly because I would be frequently requiring it to ratchet while fully engaged?



That’s not accurate. With a rear auto locker, if you accelerate around a corner the rear axles will lock together causing the inside tire to scuff/spin a little. If you coast around a corner the locker will ratchet allowing the rear axles to spin at different speeds.
 
Regarding the rear locker, I live in the mountains, and so I'm pretty much always either going uphill or downhill, and rarely in a straight line, and so keeping off the power in corners would be impossible for me to do, depending upon what is meant by "keeping off the power".
Is this accurate: In my situation, the outside rear wheel will still be able to ratchet, even under hard acceleration while turning uphill, but most likely I would wear out the teeth on the cam/axle quickly because I would be frequently requiring it to ratchet while fully engaged?

The only time some slight coasting, or a neutral gas pedal input, is necessary is during sharp turns at low speeds, such as city streets or parking lots. Drive normally otherwise. It is pretty much impossible that the locker will experience excessive wear when driven on pavement.
 
yes, only need to worry about it when making 90° turns at low speeds. at higher speeds, not a problem.
 
I
I don't understand why so many XJ's were sold with the 231 instead of the 242...were they that much cheaper, or are they that much stronger, or were all of the people buying the 231's planning on lifting their XJ's, or what? I can see not worrying about binding if you never have to deal with alternating icy/dry roads (or alternating paved/dirt roads), but otherwise it would seem that the 242 would be the better choice.

My 97 XJ has a 242 and it's fun to drive in time mode when it is raining or in the snow. It has a Truetrac in the rear.
On dry pavement, the rocking of the steering wheel, when turning, is very annoying so I leave it in 2WD most of the time.
I have thought about replacing the front axles with RCV axles, eliminating the rocking and enabling the more frequent use of all-wheel drive mode.
If I lived in a rainy or snowy climate, I definitely would do this.

https://www.rcvperformance.com/ultimate-dana-30-cv-axle-set-for-jeep-wrangler-yj-tj-lj-xj-zj.html
 
Regarding the rear locker, I live in the mountains, and so I'm pretty much always either going uphill or downhill, and rarely in a straight line, and so keeping off the power in corners would be impossible for me to do, depending upon what is meant by "keeping off the power".
Is this accurate: In my situation, the outside rear wheel will still be able to ratchet, even under hard acceleration while turning uphill, but most likely I would wear out the teeth on the cam/axle quickly because I would be frequently requiring it to ratchet while fully engaged?

You'll mainly notice it on mountain roads when you transition on/off power as the front tires will start/stop fighting the locker in the rear and put you off course a little. It's not terrible, just different.

I've got auto-lockers front/rear. Work great for super hard trails, not the best on pavement or easier stuff where 4LO is useful to keep load off the engine. The crunching noises, occasional loud bangs/pops, etc make it annoying. On the trail, 90% of the time I need 4LO, I don't need the front locker but it's on anyway. I've taken to contrast painting the caps on my U-joints so I can tell when they've spun and need to be inspected, I added a power steering cooler to keep the fluid alive, and I'm THIS close to getting the 2LO conversion kit because I usually don't need 4WD, just the gear reduction.

If I could do it over, I'd get a selectable for the front and an auto for the rear, but I don't live where ice is a problem.
 
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