Perhaps the reason the dealer put me onto Warren hubs is because I told them I wanted to be able to use the towbar and drag this behind my canyon diesel truck. I have a trailer but I just wanted that capability. I’ve been going online trying to find out what a lunchbox is and lockers etc but the jargon sites aren’t helpful.
i guess I’m not wasting money by having the Warn hubs come on my upcoming Roxor, I guess I may have to “remove them” and have some combination of lunchboxes and or lockers to put on tracks in the future????
If you know what a locked diff is vs an open diff:
The "ox" locker is selectable and a good deal more expensive. You can have open diffs until you need them locked. The advantage here is you flip a switch to gain traction and you flip the switch back off to get your turning radius back. Turning the lockers off, going back to open diff, prevents the driveline from binding while making turns.
Lunchbox is a passive device, much easier to install, much cheaper overall.
The lunchbox locks the diff when torque is applied to the driveline, when you hit the accelerator. In order to make tight turns on pavement you must accelerate, get off the throttle, then coast through the turn. If you accelerate through the turn your rig will hop skip and bounce around because the wheels are all going the same speed.
In normal turning, the inner wheel is going slower than the outer wheel because it has less distance to travel, it makes a smaller circle. The open diff allows one side to slip (the side with more traction) and the other side gets all the power.
An open diff rig, with one front wheel off the ground and one rear wheel off the ground WILL NOT MOVE AN INCH.
A 2wd truck with three wheels on dry pavement and one rear wheel on ice, with open diffs, is stuck and will require assistance to move.
A selectable locker requires a new carrier, and a diff tech to set up proper lashing. Do it wrong and you're buying a new ring and pinion and paying for more labor. For reference, regearing my 4runner with nitro gears and adding ARB air lockers installed at nitro gears HQ in cashmere Washington cost me $10k.
Lunchbox probably would have been less than a grand, but I'd still have had to regear that rig(3.73:1 to 4.88:1)so I said screw it and paid up. It's also a highway star.
2020 roxor comes with 5.38:1 gear ratio. If I put a locker in it'll be a front lunchbox with manual hubs. Cheap and effective, still has good road manners in 2wd mode.
Bonus of manual front hubs is the ability to drive in 2wd LO.
