So, I was thinking about putting some rear lockers on my rig to tweak up the wonderful stock 4.88 gears. It works so well, on-road that I wanted to make sure it worked just as good off-road.

I called 4WheelFarts this morning and they said, "Oh yeah, I can get you some Detroit lockers installed for about $800." Whoa! is what I thought, and I'll call you later is what I said.

Then I called Randy's Ring and Pinion. They said, "Sorry, but since you have stock 4.88s, you need a whole new setup - new dropout, install kit, etc..."

Now, can or can't I put lockers on my stock 4.88s? If Randy's is correct, that's a crap load of $$ for lockers...not ARB even. Or, should I just zip-the-lip and be happy with my 4.88s with no lockers?

 

am not sure how lockers play into everything, but i do know there is something wierd about the stock 4.88s that make them not compatible with some 3rd member setups/carriers

 

The 4.88 gears are different than the lower ratio gears. The ring is thicker I believe and so the pinion is offset more than other gears. The third member casting itself is different. I don't know that it affects the locker or not, since the ring is going to share the same bolt pattern and the locker doesn't have any interface with the pinion gear. The axle is the same width, so I'd imagine that the splines on the axles would engage fully. I honestly don't see how it matters, but what do I know?

I would call the locker people, ARB, Detroit, etc. The ARB people have always been very helpful when I've called them to ask questions.

BTW, I just had ARBs installed front and rear and $800 for labor and parts does not sound too out of line, but worth calling around. A Truetrac is about $400 and add bearings and seals, maybe another $100. So if they are pulling the axles and dropping the third, then that's probably an hour or two extra labor over reseting the gears. So they are quoting about 3 or 4 hours labor, which is probably fair to drop a third, set-up a R&P and reinstall. In any case, I would not have 4WPW set-up my diffs, but their quote does not sound outrageous.

FWIW, I'd bet the easiest way to lock the back is a Lockright, which does not require you to change the gears at all. You pull out the old spider gears and install the locker without ever touching the backlash or pinion depth.

 

well i do know that for some reason the factory 4.88s and the aftermarket 4.88s are different and are not interchangeable

 

ARB works in the 4.88 Factory 3rd, have it in mine. Apparently the only thing "standard" on the factory 4.88 rear is the carrier.

Don't know about the others.

 

I have been running a Detroit with my stock 4.88 gears for almost 3 years now....by far the best thing I have done to my runner. Let me know if you need a part #

 

Thank everyone.

The actual tech (not sales dude) told me that the 3rd member in my 4.88 stocks cause the issues. Huh? If y'all can do it, why are these techs saying no.

The ARB is way out of my budget. Not only the locker itself, but I was told it would cost a lot for install.

Marc P, what's the part number for your locker? Any tips on install? Please help.

 

As said earlier, the standard V6 locker will work fine for you. All you have to do is measure the backlash, swap the carrier bearings over/ maintain the BL spec while cranking the bearing to about 100 ft/lbs. Done.

edit---It may require 1 thin bearing and one fat bearing but I am unsure at this point. kinda like the issue in this link http://gearinstalls.com/supralsd.htm

 

Thanks, ZUK.

I'm kinda scared to work on my gears, that's why I wanted someone more experienced to do it. If the ARBs will fit, I may just go that route instead of screwing things up.

Urrgh, decisions...decisions.

 

The only thing you CAN'T do is regear your factory 4.88 rear diff. It will always be a 4.88. the pinnion is offset in the housing so that toyota wouldn't have to make a super thick ring gear.

V6 Lockrights work in it as well as the V6 ARB and V6 detroit as stated by Zuk.

Front factory 4.88 is same-same with the rest of the 7.5 ifs stuff.