Lockers and QT- Good or bad

[MtnNate]

Who runs lockers with thier QT. I have heard all kinds of BS one way or the other. I need somwone who really runs a locker with the QT that has experience.
I want to buy a Lock Rite/EZ Locker for the Rear end. :confused: :rolleyes:

[River Beast]

you won't have any problems running a locker in the rear it's the front that you shouldn't run the locker in with a QT equipped vehicle.. it destroys the center diff...

[MtnNate]

Right on. Thanks!

[Bombadier]

If running with the locks on on the front wheels destroys the center differential, then why does my Chero w/QT have front lockers but none on the back??????(I'm thinking of the hub locks, correct me if i'm wrong)

[Joe's 89]

I think he means differential locker-like a Detroit locker or something similar. Are you talking about the hubs? (the "switches" on the wheels you turn for four wheel drive)? I'm not quadratrac guru, but I wouldn't think free wheeling hubs would NOT be a problem (but I could be wrong!)

[ December 18, 2001: Message edited by: Joe's 89 ]

[jeepbob]

You should not have lock outs on a BW1335 0r BW1339 Q/trac unit. These were used on 74 to 79 auto tranny rigs. There were later rigs with quadratracs but they were not the same. The quadratrac name is still used today on grand cherokees.

[Marvin Gates]

I made the mistake of putting locking hubs on the front of my wag (before I understood how the quadra trac works) I thought I might pick up some gas mileage. But if you unlock the hubs the Wag won't move. So that was a waste of $60. Does anyone know if it will hurt anything by running it this way? Thanks!

[Crazy_Jeepman]

It will be fine as long as both hubs remain locked. ;)

[bentpushrod]

Marvin, I wouldn't run it with the hubs unlocked. You might tear up the viscous coupling in your transfer case. I think you can run it in emergency drive with your hubs unlocked. I'm not real sure, think this issue has been discussed before. smile.gif

More snow! waiting for the call to go back out.

[Marvin Gates]

Hey J I've been running them this way since a year ago july, if anything was going to take a dump it probably would have by now.
Thanks for the reply Crazy_Jeepman.
We got about 6 to 8 inches of snow here at the house, I was thinking of you on the way home, I figured you will be out plowing your butt off again.

[Bombadier]

I was told by a local chevy rigdriver that if i ran with my front wheelhubs locked, i'd burn up my coupling (or diff, or something).........however, he scratched his head when he saw the QT emergencydrive switch in my glovecompartment.........couldn't tell my then for sure if it was ok to run with my hubs locked or unlocked.........anyways, i got just plain confused.........so anyways, i got a automatic tranny, QT, etc in my Cherokee, era '77.......and i've heard a bunch of different stories on whether it's ok to run hubs locked or unlocked........which is it?!??! :confused:

[oldyellowwagoneer]

Leave the hubs locked!However since you have hubs this might help you:if/when you break an axle or gears in your front diff you can get home without any further damage by UN-locking your hubs,REMOVING your front driveline,and LOCKING the emergency drive.
DENNIS

[waggin'ear]

Has the PO put in a part-time conversion kit?
That seems to me like the only good reason to have locking hubs on a QT.

[River Beast]

Hubs have to remain locked to not destroy the center diff IF is has not been converted to p/t.

If you have a QT equipped vehicle there are 2 ways you can run with the hubs...

This is for the umodified QT (no P/T kit)

1. UNLOCKED- Must be in E-Drive... this still spins everything from the QT down to the stubshafts but the wheels are not engaged. Doesn't save you anything noticeable...

2. LOCKED- normal mode for the QT... it came factory with auto-locked hubs where you can't disengage them.

If a P/T kit was installed... you can tell easliy by:

1. ensure the E-Drive switch IS NOT engaged 2. hubs unlocked
3. you can freely spin the front shaft by hand with a little pressure due you turning the R&P and axle shafts...

Check it.... ;)

[Marvin Gates]

RB, thanks for the answer, I put the hubs on before I had talked to anyone about it. If I had been aware of this forum I could have saved myself some time and money. This forum is keeping me from doing dumb things in the future. My thanks goes out to everyone here, I do a lot of reading of all the post and its amazing what great idea's are here, that you would normally not think of without someone clicking your brain in gear.

[Bombadier]

i gotta agree with m.gates......that particular question has been bugging me since i got my Chero........and since i've come to this board, i've gotten a LOT of very decent info, including answers to questions i hadn't even thought of asking yet!........thanx to 'Beast, Scoutgrl, reddog and the rest of the crew here. :D

[Red78j10]

River beast I was wonder if you could explain how a front locker would destroy the QT. I have been try to work it out in my head. But it seems to me that the diff in the QT would diffrentate any of, "how would you say" the different speeds between the front and rear drive shafts. I would think even with a front and rear locker, the QT would still do its job. I guess what I am getting at is, no matter if there is a locker or not, that still is not going to change the speed of the drive shaft, RIGHT?
I must be missing something. If you had lockers in both front and rear the the QT would take care of the different speeds of the front and rear drive shaft. I know this has been beaten like a stray dog in our garbage. I just keep trying to work it out in my head, and it seem like it would work. Thanks

[River Beast]

Red78j10,

Lets see if I could put this in a way that I don't confuse anybody....

The QT center diff is like an LSD diff for and axle...believe it or not... power will go to the place the the least amount of traction... that's why if you remove the front shaft or install manual hubs, it won't move... all power is beinf transferred to the front ouput which starts to destroy the front brakcone of the center diff. Remember the center diff and brakeconses are metal-to-metal (no clutch plates) so when they go , they go.. with no new replacements...sorry got off on a tangent there...

The front locker in a QT equipped vehicle causes a two-fold problem.... one being steering....the front wheels need to be turning at different speeds in a corner.. I know.. Detroits are autolockers that are 'SUPPOSED' to unlock in corners, I have both in the front and rear (no front shaft yet)..they do unlock, but can be a learning experience.... too much pedal and they lock right back up again! :eek:. This would be a definite drawback for an umodified QT unit. No control is a bad thing ;)

The center diff starts to rapidly deteriorate in this situation because the front locker would not let the front wheels difereniate between themselves all the time in a corner (we do alot of cornering if you think about daily driving)... thus forcing the front brakecone to 'slip' causing unwanted wear. With and open diff in the front axle, the wheels differentiate enough in corners not to cause the type of wear that the lockers do...

If you ever got your vehicle in a sticky spot that the wheels would spin (off -road, of course)... you would feel and hear what a slipping brakecone in the center diff is like...NOT PRETTY!!!! This is why the E-Drive sticker states to engage in when you are in a wheel-spin situation...to stop tearing up the brakecones...and to get traction to the wheels that will pull you out... ;)

IF you want to see some pics of destroyed brakecones...go to my site, link near the bottom of the left frame labeled 'QT info' (http://home.earthlink.net/~riverbeast)

I have detailed photos that shows a lot of damage to the brakecones

I tried my best.. I hope 'cleared the fog' somewhat for you..... :D

[ December 20, 2001: Message edited by: River Beast ]

[Red78j10]

Thanks for the explination, it helped. I guess the only way to do it is. lock it in E-Drive and lock in a ARB or ox locker. Thanks again