Lockers: Electric, Air, or Mechanical?

[webehillbilly]

My next big investment is for gears/lockers/axles. I want the most reliable one to use. Most of my wheeling will be in underbrush and mud/clay with obstructions under. Some water crossings that are not too radical. Not a rock crawler per say. I am worried about air lines, electrical and mechanical. Air may not get fixed on trail as easy as electric. Mechanical I know nothing about only heard about. I am 63 and disabled, passing this down to my kids maybe. LOL Just want good advice for the next 5 grand.

Oh yeah, it is a 99 Wrangler Sport with 44 in the rear and 30 up front. 4.0 Auto. Going to run 4:88 for gears.

 

[Chris]

Can't go wrong with ARB air lockers. Eaton E-Lockers would be my second choice.

 

[ColoJeep]

I would lean towards the Eaton E-Locker , only because mine has been trouble free since 2013. But either are a great choice.

 

[jjvw]

.... I am worried about air lines, electrical and mechanical. Air may not get fixed on trail as easy as electric. Mechanical I know nothing about only heard about. ...

Air and electrical lines for lockers fail or get damaged almost exclusively due to poor installation.

 

[rasband]

I wouldn't hesitate to run ARB or E Lockers - the only bias I have toward e-lockers is they only require a 12v connection rather than a separate unit to function. Regardless, when I buy I will likely be doing ARB anyway.

 

[Irun]

Sometimes folks focus on the simplicity of an e locker and overlook the utility of an air locker. I run an ARB compressor to activate the rear locker. I've installed a simple switch that allows the locker to be run, or, with the flip of a toggle switch, a compressor to air up tires.

 

[alittleoff]

My ARB's are 24 years old with the Dana 60/44 combo that I have. The only thing that I've replaced is the blue plastic air lines with steel braided brake lines 23 years ago. I used the lockers 2 weeks ago blasting through 3-4' snow drifts in my neighbors pasture.

 

[John’o]

The only thing I didn’t listen to Jerry @Jerry Bransford was on Air vs. E lockers. Sigh… Jerry was right. Go E-lockers. If you don’t, that’s fine. I went air. But man are E lockers more reliable and simpler.

 

[NskLJ]

The only thing I didn’t listen to Jerry @Jerry Bransford was on Air vs. E lockers. Sigh… Jerry was right. Go E-lockers. If you don’t, that’s fine. I went air. But man are E lockers more reliable and simpler.

Don’t know how they are more reliable, I’ve had front and rear ARB’s in my Jeep for over 5 years now. I have not touched them since they were installed.
I use the air compressor to air up my 35’s when I come off the trail.

 

[Strizzo]

As long as the shop you have setting them up is very experienced in setting them up, air lockers are fine. I've heard of a lot of people having a hard time getting them set up to where they are reliable, and if you're not the one pulling and reinstalling the carrier when things don't work right, it could get spendy quick.

I've run an oem elocker in my 2010 xterra (in a dana44 variant built for nissan) as well as in my current 2022 bronco (f/r). I have been happy with them and their reliability in those applications, and I just had eaton elockers installed along with 5.13 gears installed in my TJ.

I carry a portable viair compressor in the rig but it is worth noting that installing an onboard compressor and running elockers are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

 

[Rubiconned]

I have factory air lockers. I figure if the air pumps fail I can use aquarium pumps from Wal-Mart.

 

[tworley]

Almost 10 years with a rear ARB, and maybe 8 years with a front ARB.

I had a pressure switch fail on me. Not a big enough issue to sway me at all from ARB. Also had a journal oring fail, but I am not blaming that on anything but myself. The seal housing had been removed many times in that 10 years for 3 different regears.

 

[MikeE024]

Been very happy with my Eaton elockers.

That said, regarding ARB versus Eaton elocker, get whichever one you want since they both seem to work great for folks.

 

[BlueC]

Eaton E-Lockers

 

[Zorba]

Ox