I am buying a house from my sister so im getting a awsome deal on it but the drive way is just awful. Its 1/8 of a mile long and its all stone and mud. most of the year my 2wd is fine but in the winter its down right dangerous. Its on a busy road and if i get stuck with my a$$ out someone will come over the hill and split me in half. I was wondering if i could put an e-locker in my truck. I currently have an open rear end on mine.

Questions:

Will an e-locker do me any good or am i boned?

Can my little 4.2L handle an e-locker?

Is there anything else i could do to the truck to help aside from tire chains or snow tires?

I realize a locker is no substitute for 4wd but will it keep me from getting killed?

Any information would be great.

 

Yes, a locker will help out alot!

Your motor will do fine with a locker in the rearend. My work truck has the 300-6 and I have both diffs locked.

Like you said, good snow tires (a must) and also a set of chains for when the weather gets real bad. Plus put some weight in the bed of the truck, it is unreal what 800-1000lbs of ballast will do.

Even if you can't make it all the way up the driveway, with a locker, good tires and ballast you will atleast be able to make it off the road and into your driveway, and out of harms way. Then you just get a fun walk

 

+1 on the locker and putting some sand or something in the back for weight.

 

great thanks. I always put a bunch of weight in the back. I bought a 2wd cause i didn't think i would need it but oh well.

Any suggestions on what locker to get and where to have it installed. Im great with bolt on mods but putting a locker in is probably out of my league.

Also do i want an e-locker, an air locker, or a detroit locker, or what, sorry im a total boob when it comes to this stuff. Im much more of a car audio guy.

 

I would get a large out door trash can with a lid and when the snow season comes fill it with salt/ice melt and leave it at the end of the drive way.Stop and salt on the way out so the way back is melted.

 

 

You won't want a detroit as you will totally hate it when you are driving on dry pavement and the tires will wear a lot faster. So either go with an e locker or air locker.

You have the V6 so I believe you have the 8.8 rear axle (correct me if im wrong). And it looks like ARB makes an air locker for that axle. However there will be a lot of different air lines and such that will have to be run. So if you didn't want to do that you could go with an e locker. But either way with installation and everthing its gonna be 1000-1500.

 

I have a Detroit in the rear of my work truck and it work great!! I have never had any problems with it. I had mine installed at the same time as I did the gears in my truck (went from 3.08 to 4.10), for both gear sets, rebuild kits, the rear locker and installation it cost me just under $1600, actually $1583 if I remember right. For the front end I got away real cheap, the mechanic and I worked out a deal he bought and installed the posi and to frame up the walls in the basement of his house, after about 10 hours I was done. So I figured that was about $60-70/hour that I "made" that day.

 

Is there an advantage to an air locker over an e locker or the other way around? Which one requires less maintainance? I have a friend who owns a shop that will do the install for next to nothing so im not worried about that.

 

One other one- use narrow snow tires, not wide mud tires. You want narrow snow tires so they will dig in down to the pavement. Wide tires tend to float on the snow instead and can be terrible.

 

I agree, mud tires aren't real good in the Minnesota winters here. Snow will also build up in the larger treads which means you need to spin them tires all the time to clean them out.

 

A selectable locker such as the ARB, or the Elocker is a great choice! However if you cannot do a selectable locker, you are FAR better off in snow and ice with a limited slip then a locker. Lockers can, and do give a ratcheting action that can make the tail of the truck unpredictable. Better to not have it and have no traction, than have the popping cornering of a locker in snow and ice...

If it were my truck. I would go with a TrueTrac or similar limited slip instead of a full on locker.