Grizzly Lockers

FWIW...I've had my jeep for over 20 years now, stock, and it's been super capable of everything my area has to offer. Unless hard-core wheeling is being done, I consider lockers an extravagant purchase. Not trying to talk you out of it, but unless they are really needed, your jeep is capable already

 

Lunch box lockers front and rear came in the USMC M38A1. It takes a lot of room to turn around because I haven't installed locking hubs yet, but it seems to work well. I'll have to paint up a set of locking hubs so they won't be too noticeable. Not a daily driver and haven't taken it off road, but driving around at 35 - 40 max, haven't noticed any ill effects.
I would love to take it off road and test it out sometime. Nothing too extreme, I don't want any damage. We took my son's TJ to Uwharrie and it did fine without lockers. Did put a dent in the fuel tank and one in the transfer skid plate. I used 4 lo on the USMC M38A1 to pull grape vines out of the trees on the vacant lot we cleaned up. That was fun. The nylon rope would break before it would spin.
Test drove a YJ with Detroit lockers front and rear and it made a lot of noises, and you could feel it locking and un-locking, but I haven't noticed any strange on road manners with the lock rites, but it's not a daily driver.

Dave

 

That is the spirit.

 

TM- I wasn’t trying to scare you off lockrights. I had the same thoughts you do on the lockrights when I started my Jeep 10+ years ago. My Jeep had open diffs and got stuck way easier that I had built up in my mind due to loose climbs I have in my area. The lockrights were within my budget and easy to put in and a great way for me to get my hands dirty on the Jeep. Traction was great. Eventually my budget increased, and I wanted better manners than pure traction.

My rear failed because the cross shaft got loose and the set pin got loose and everything started wallowing out and the gears started chewing on the cross shaft.

You could do a lockright in the front and drive it around and do the rear later after you get a feel for it?

 

My pal installed a rear LockRite in his CJ8 about 10 years ago. On our first outing in Utah we immediately started calling it LurchRite.It pretty much went everywhere we wanted in 4Lo with hubs unlocked. It's still working fine and he loves it, except in snow.

 

Powr-Loks (limited slip) are readily available for D27 and 19 spline D44 diffs. These could have come as an option when your Tux was new. For light trails, even to moderate offroad work, these are excellent and highly recommended for what you are looking for. Post up a WTB in the classified section.
-Donny

 

Jw60, you mentioned “more or less bite” in general terms how is that done and what are the pros and cons.

 

There is a clutch pack with a couple special shims inside a powerlok that can be rearranged to adjust how aggressive or mild you want the limited slip action to be. There used to be a chart on this site that shows the different ways to arrange the clutch pack.

Edit: here is a picture of the power lok manual
https://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/powerlok-limited-slip-in-dana-25_topic43805_page3.html

 

I'll rarely if ever be driving it in the winter. I won't have any time for winter wheeling for a couple of years anyways.


From I've read, Herm the Overdrive Guy is a good place to get professionally (re)built Powr Loks online. Base pricing there is the same as a lunchbox, but there are options for new/used parts that I wont get with a lunchbox. In the end the choice will come down to how hard it is to replace the carrier, and how many things an inexperienced person like myself can mess up. If I can do a Powr Lok without spending a week working on it only to grenade the axle, then I'll go with that. The lunchbox definitely has the advantage of a simple install.

 

Be very careful with herm, some have good luck some don't. Note his buisness practice puts your money in his pocket before any work is done or shipped, and you will not be able to get it back if there is an issue. Review recent "work" he has done for people here. Some have paid for rebuilt products and received junk full of rust. The 3b on the web page is a member's here. The jeep doesn't have anything from herm and the pictures were lifted from posts on the cj forums without any sort of permission.

 

Alright. Thank you. I'll shop around some more if I go with the LSD.

 

Stay away from Herm. Its been almost 1 year since i called for a price and lead time on an OD shift linkage kit. He said 2-3 weeks so i sent him a check. He cashed it a week later and has had nothing but excuses since. At this point i know im never going to get the parts i ordered or my money back. I bet he stopped taking paypal and credit cards because of the charge backs.

 

Found a “limited slip diff fluid only” stamped steel tag on the rear cover. I’ve heard that some LSDs are good and some are bad. What’s the scenario if it’s a stock LSD? I still need to crack it open, but if that tag is there, it seems likely that it’s stock in there.

 

A 67 with 19 spline tapered axles would be a Powr-Lok. One of the best limited slips ever made. I think clutches and the like are still available to rebuild it if it's worn out.

 

Thanks. That’s good to hear.
My CJ was built in Feb. of ‘66 according to the serial. Does that change anything?

 

If I were a betting man, I think you VERY likely had a PowrLok already with that tag on the rear cover.
-Donny

 

Should still be a Powr-Lok.

 

Some people have all the luck...

 

Sweet. I’ll get the covers cracked sometime this week, hopefully tomorrow, and see what’s in there and what kind of shape it’s in. The only reason I have doubts is that a previous owner was offroading it hard enough to seriously mess up the bumpstops, and I don’t think it beyond possibility that that owner changed out the rear end. Although that is still quite unlikely, because why would the tag still be there if it was re-built or changed.