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Flat towing with spartan lockers

DEKirk2

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So I have flat towed my Roxor 500 or so miles warn hubs in 4x2 transfer case in neutral and the trans in 1st gear with no problems. I would now like to put spartan lockers in the rear and perhaps the front. Will I still be able to flat tow? What say you Roxor gurus?
 
B

Bister

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I don't see why not. The front will still be fully disengaged if you are putting on hubs and the back will just do its thing. I don't have any experience towing with lockers, but I'm thinking if you couldn't tow with lockers installed, it would be mentioned in the accessory information about the lockers to in the manual under flat towing. I'm thinking lots of other vehicles with lockers have been towed over the years. I wouldn't be scared to tow mine. I have fronts and rears with the front hubs.
 

DEKirk2

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Thanks Bister that is what I was thinking as well but figured I’d put it out for other opinions locker goes in next week,
 

Uncle Chuck

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Hi guys!
I have a 1964 CJ5 with a Dana 44 rear axle. (Same as the Roxor, although the Roxor axle isn’t actually made by Dana, it is a clone and Dana 44 parts will bolt right in.) I found a guy who sells a “free-floating” kit for the Jeep. It allowed me to put locking hubs on my REAR axle. With this setup, I can just disengage the hubs and tow it at any speed, for any distance, and the rear wheels just spin like it was a trailer axle. No movement of the diff gears or drive shafts. There’s a free-float kit available for the Roxor, but you’ll have to change some more internal parts to accommodate the change in spline count.
I’m planning to do this and add a Tru-trac locker. Eventually. Here’s the link for the Roxor kit.

5E18B523-30C9-4AB3-889E-E273F58DA926.png
 
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Flat towing with a front or rear lunchbox locker would essentially be the same as flat towing with a front or rear open differential, you will be speed limited. On the front if you have unlocking hubs just unlock them as Bister stated and your front axles and driveshaft will not be rotating, but you will still be speed limited by the rear axle. Like Uncle Chuck stated the rear axle free float kit can eliminate the speed restrictions, but I would not do it, as I have seen too many free floated rear hubs on CJs disintegrate on the trail. I just don't think the hubs are strong enough to take the torque applied to the rear wheels. Understand the CJs were not running Dana 44s, and I have found the Dana 44s, even with Lock Rite lunchbox lockers installed to be near bullet proof, I think the locking/unlocking hubs to be the weakest link.
 

Uncle Chuck

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As per Hummingbird Ranch, I am inclined to agree about the locking hubs being the weakest link. I haven't had any issues (yet), but I carry one of the original hubs (non-locking) that came with the free-float kit just in case.
On a different note, I'm not really happy with the Grizzly Locker that was installed in the rear axle. I frequently hear popping sounds that sound like gears breaking and it concerns me. One of these days soon, I'll take it back to the outfit that installed it and have them change it out. Thinking about an E-locker, where I can just throw a switch and go. Second choice would be a lunchbox locker, but I do a fair amount of driving on the pavement, so I'm really reluctant to go that route. I figure I'll probably end up with the same situation as with the Grizzly.
Input anyone?????
 
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My personal experience was only with the Lock-Rite lunchbox lockers I installed in the factory Dana 44 carriers. I loved them and they were flawless and bullet proof. My weakest link was a custom double cardan u-joint made for me by Arizona Driveline, that I broke when I had my front wheels turned pretty good and gave it too much throttle trying to climb out of a bunch of tall rocks. I chose the lock-Rite because back in the 90's when I was looking for lockers for my Dana 44 axles in my modified 88 Grand Wag, I was able to speak with a Jeep engineer who was working on their "new" at the time factory automatic locker. I was trying to see if I could get my hands on a couple, he told me they still had bugs in them and they would not slip properly in tight turns like in grocery store parking lots, and the tires would hop and chirp. He said they had tested many different lockers. He was also an off road enthusiast and had the Lock-Rites installed in his Jeep with Dana 44s, and recommended the Lock-Rite, as they were cheap, easy to install, and worked beautifully, and would handle anything that a Dana 44 could handle. I took his advice and loved them. Assuming you install them properly, which as I remember, was very easy. I installed mine with the carrier still installed. They performed beautifully both on road and off road. On road I had my front hubs opened with my Warn hubs so the front was never an issue. I could easily turn on pavement in a parking lot with wheels turned against the stops. The key is to unload the drive shaft when you want the locker to ratchet, and load the driveshaft when you want the locker to lock up. I would simply idle (automatic transmission) thru the turns in the parking lot and the rear locker would smoothly ratchet, sounded like your old craftsman 1/2 drive ratchet. I would not touch the throttle until I had come out the turn and the locker would instantly lock up. I never had any wheel hops or tire chirps. If you crowd it in a turn and force it to lock, then you will be binding the axles and get the wheel hops tire chirps. They also performed flawlessly off road in the rocks and in the mud, using the same technique to unload the driveshafts by idling thru sharp turns on hard ground where the tires could not simply slip. With a manual transmission you would simply roll into the turn, and depress the clutch thru the turn, and release the clutch after you came out of the turn. I considered the E-lockers, pneumatic lockers, and cable actuated lockers, but they all have one weakness, they rely on actuating a fork to engage/disengage the locker. I saw many folks using those, and they worked well until the cable, wire harness, or pneumatic line got snagged on some brush and was pulled loose, or the electric solenoid in the E-locker *hit out, or bellows or piston leaked on the pneumatic lockers. Also all of those replace your current open carrier, which means now you have to make a set of set-up bearings and trial and error the shim stack on each side of the new carrier while using Prussian Blue to get the contact pattern just right between the ring and pinion gears. I never had one bit of trouble with my Lock-Rites in my 88 Grand wag with Dana 44s. I don't know if they make any that will fit the 10 spline Roxor axles. I have already decided that if I have to put lockers in my 23 HDUV, it will be Lock-Rite, even if I have to upgrade the axles to 30 spline, which is probably a good idea anyway. Regardless of which locker you choose, as they all have their pros and cons, getting the installation right is critical for any of them to function properly. Most shops just don't give a *hit like you would, and will never perform multiple setups to get the contact patch correct. You would be lucky if they put the shims in the same place they found them from the factory. The best advice is do the install yourself and check the contact patch on your factory setup first to verify that it is right and you will at least have a place to start with the shim stack.
 
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