Front locker and snow driving

With winter rapidly approaching, I'm looking for everyones experiences dealing with a front locker and snow. After doing a bit of searching on multiple boards, it seems that about 60% say no but 40% say its fine if you drive smart. I've drove a few miles in the snow when I first put it in and it wasn't that bad....just looking to see what everyone else thinks.

 

my friend has one in the front of his pickup it makes the thing very scary at speeds over 20.

 

A jeep is scary on snow packed slippery roads without a locker....

 

I think you missed it Boyink. He is saying that a short-wheelbased JEEP is bad enough in those conditions without adding the quirks that a locker brings. So, you are in agreement after all

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've been thinking and I'm going to put the spiders back in this weekend for the winter months.

 

Ehh I was hoping a Jeep Cj5 was kinda stable and pretty much unstoppable in the snow!?!?!?
I've never driven a jeep in the snow and have no idea what to expect.
I don't want to hijact your thread so I'll start another.

 

My bad, I should have been more clear. In my opinion, CJ5, locker or no locker is scary on snow packed or slippery roads.

In the early 80s I drove a CJ7 with lockers front and rear and quadratrac. That was the best jeep I have driven on snow packed slipper stuff. But I think that was more based on tires than diff setup. The lockers were also gear drives so they take a bit longer to engage.

At the same time I had a new 86 and a 48 CJ2a with a ford 302 in it. Both of those were open front and rear. On the same day the willys came around a corner hit an ice patch, spun out of control (I wasn't driving this one) and went off the side of a cliff. The 86 with me driving, came around a corner, hit a patch of ice. I spun around out of control and took out a pole. I wasn't going over 35 and at that time would have considered myself an above average driver.

Black Jeep with swampers on it and front and rear lockers won't be seeing highway speeds on any kind of slippery roads. It is just too unsafe. The swampers just don't do well on slippery stuff.

So anyway, I guess my bottom line, CJs aren't the best of vehicles on snow packed slippery roads, especially at highway speeds. They are great in deep snow tho. I think that tire selection has more bearing on handling characteristics than locker or no locker. A locker is a plus in that it will help to get started moving by spinning both tires. A locker is a minus once your moving because it will spin both tires and cause the rear to kick sideways.

As far as playing in parking lots.... my CJ7 with front and rear lockers, it would do a constant doughnut as long as you gave it throttle and turned the wheels. Round and round ya go till the motor overheats...

 

Seem to work better if you only lock in one hub.

 

Well the spiders are back in and the locker is out. Everything went just as planned, gotta love when that happens. The locker shows very little wear, mainly on the sides where the thrust washers ride. This is after 3 years of use at Tellico, Windrock, Silver Lake, etc... I'm very happy with the unit (Aussie Locker).