Posted by Clint Dixon on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 13:47:25 :
In Reply to: Re: Tim.. posted by Clint Dixon on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 13:42:22 :
The positive lockers known as: the Lock Right, as well as its predecessor the All-Trac (originally known as the LA-Locker), and also the Detroit Locker (know by various other names), all cause both axles to be locked fully solid to the case driven by the ring gear, as long as the vehicle is being driven in a straight line. If the vehicle is turned in either direction from a straight line, the “positive locker” is forced to let the wheel to the outside of the turn "unlock" due to that wheel being forced to rotate faster than the inside wheel.
This action works similar in concept to an overrunning clutch arrangement in the PTO line on a piece of farm equipment. (By “overrunning clutch”, I am not implying that there are friction clutches or plates used in the “positive lockers”. This action is fully mechanical. The action takes place with dog clutches [aka – toothed clutches, similar to mating teeth between two gears]). In these instances of turning, the wheel to the inside of the turn will remain "locked" to the case driven by the ring gear and will continue to drive the vehicle. If it looses traction, it will slip until it catches up to the speed of the wheel on the outside of the turn, at which time both will again be locked together to the ring gear driven case and will be driven at equal speeds. The outside wheel during a turn can always rotate faster than the inside wheel (not driven faster by the ring gear driven case, but turned faster by contact with the ground and action of the vehicle turning) because of the overrunning feature. It can never rotate slower than the inside wheel. Which means that one wheel can not spin out and rotate faster than the other.
The driver of the vehicle does not decide whether the differential is “locked” or “unlocked” the action is fully automatic. With the ARB, the driver has complete control over whether the differential is locked or unlocked. During the “locked” condition, the outside wheel during a turn is still locked at the same rotational speed as the inside wheel.
I don’t mean to take anything away from Dan by providing this explanation. He is providing a much needed service to the Power-Wagon community. But there seems to be a lot of confusion on this subject. If I can be of any help to clear it up, people can make better educated decisions about which is best for them and hopefully not be surprised after the fact.
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