Kaiser lockers? Anybody heard of them before?

Actually Keithy. I have a Kaiser rear diff locker on my Jimny. One thing the suppliers do not tell you about the locker, but has been confirmed by Kaiser to me, is that when you go around a corner and decelerate or press in the clutch, the locker begins to bang loudly and the Jimny begins to jump around. Really not too good for the ears, vehicle or safety.

If you accelerate or do not depress the clutch around a corner, then it is relatively quite and behaves itself.

I am really annoyed that this has not been made public knowledge as I would have spent a few extra and purchased a locker that I could take off line at will.

My mechanic has told me that he would never drive a vehicle like this.

This glaring problem needs to be sorted out by Kaiser as a matter of urgency. It's a design defect that is inherent in the locker at the moment.

They are just a tarted up locktight they put shock loading on shafts and diffs and simply not worth the extra money.
My advise if you want a lockright then buy a lockright ! If you want a better alternative then add a bit more for an arb.

It's beyond me why arb lockers are so expensive in the UK.

In continental Europe they're much cheaper. I'm guessing cheaper than those Kaiser ones.

I understand people want to support locals suppliers and stores. But not at any cost.. right

It's not hard finding them cheaper.

But traction4x4 is a good place to start

Well I went for ARB's in the end with the twin compressor, 1L air tank and tyre inflation kit (I post this as I originated the thread). Too many drawbacks to the permanently locked ideas and a LSD needs a bit of winding up to work.

Having had them in for about 9 months now I can say that im glad I went the extra £ for them. On road you wouldnt know they are there, off-road its a flick of a switch and instant traction. The tyre inflation is mega fast as well. It can even run air tools (when i get round to fitting the tank somewhere).

I have had a couple of occasions where the rear locker has made the compressor run on endlessly. Both when it was really cold and had been plunging though frozen puddles and cross-axle flex action. All back to normal later, but i need to have a check of it all. I believe Dave (S200KYS) had a similar problem and needed to have the rear shafts shortened slightly (TG HD shafts).

Riccy.

Reading this entire discussion gave me an idea to start off a wiki article about differential lockers.


Anyone with more knowledge and experience is welcome to expand onto the embryo which I wrote there.

I think you should erase that thing about calling the lockright dangerous. All things are dangerous if you don't know what you're dealing with. Cars in general are potentially dangerous, but still sells in millions every year

Good work Bosanek!

I would agree that saying 'dangerous' about anything could be a risky thing to say (I can hear a lawyer rubbing their hands somewhere?!).

From a user of ARB lockers i can say they are convenient to use, but much harder to install than just a lockrite or kaiser. They require drilling & taping in air lines, fitting a compressor, running wiring and airlines, fitting switches somewhere. All this as well as the tools, time and skill to install it all. Another annoyance for Europeans is all the fittings are imperial/american threads and sizes. This makes buying the correct tap tool a pain and the airline fittings are incompatible with European fittings.

In use you must engage it before its needed ideally. on the fly is possible but not the best practice. The wiring loom defaults it so that the rear must be engaged before the front will work (this can be changed for preference when installing). The airline kit is a worthwhile bonus for inflating tyres after an outing.

Occasionally i get the compressor running endlessly (really cold weather or mega axle twisting) when using the rear locker. This may be due to the trailgear rear HD shafts which i believe Dave (S200KYS) had the same problem and needed the shafts shortened a little.

You have a certain point on the dangerous statement. Every vehicle without ESC/ECP could be considered dangerous nowadays.
Also, every vehicle with ABS could be considered dangerous as well, because ABS actually extends braking distance on loose gravel and on a not so well packed snow.

Therefore I modified the statement to point out the real point.


Like Martin said, you are all more than welcome to edit all Wiki articles yourselves and contribute your knowledge and experience there.
I neither know everything, nor have all the time in this world just to gather all the information dispersed troughout this forum and elsewhere in the wiki.

I took some time this morning and incorporated those comments about ARB lockers too.

However, if many others contributed just a little bit (not just about the diff lockers but in general), but just the info which they are acquainted with the best, it would make a grand packet of contributions in the total volume.