I always thought locking the front diff was overrated until I got stuck on a wet hill in Moab last spring

I spent years running open diffs front and rear on my old Tacoma, figured they were fine for most stuff. Then I took a line up a slickrock climb near Poison Spider Mesa and just sat there spinning one tire for 10 minutes while my buddy in his Jeep with a lunchbox locker crawled right past. I finally welded up a cheap Spartan locker in my front axle for like $250 and it made a huge difference on the next trip. Has anyone else had a similar moment where they finally gave in on something they thought was unnecessary?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahm3918d ago

Yo, @fiona_murphy, it was pretty much plug and play on my Tacoma since I already had the factory e-locker rear and 4.88 gears. The Spartan just drops in place of the spider gears, no carrier swap needed. I did have to watch a couple YouTube vids to get the shims right, but it took maybe two hours total. That's why it actually ended up being just $250 for me - no extra axle or gear changes.

garcia.tyler19d ago

That Spartan locker was the best $250 I ever spent on my rig man.

fiona_murphy18d ago

That "best $250 I ever spent" line got me thinking. Did you already have the right gearing and axle setup before you put it in, or did you have to swap out other stuff too? I've seen guys drop that kind of cash on a locker only to realize their carrier break is different or their axle shafts aren't strong enough to handle it. Just wondering if it was truly plug and play for you or if the real cost ended up being higher.