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I've been watching Toyota Prado off roading videos on youtube. I've noticed their models have the ability to lock the center and or rear lockers (in addition to having CRAWL).
Just curious if anyone has added a factory or even aftermarket (ARB) rear locker to their GX460?
I'm not sure about the current GX's, but I'm sure you could find someone over the 4Runner crowd. It's the same rear diff (8.2" as I recall) as the latest 2010+ 4Runners.
I had a couple of different older 4Runners, one of them had the rear diff lock. I only used it once or twice, but it was handy. I thought that the GX had it, but later learned it does not. I've also been thinking about an electric rear locker (I like those better for my needs than an air locker).
I decided to go down this rabbit hole with an order this weekend. :-)
Just on the rear.
I now need to locate an installer in Western Washington. Already have some good leads.
ARB installers are everywhere but the Harrop Eaton ELockers are relatively new so fewer are familiar with them.
I plan to do the core electrical installation myself and use a 100 series rear diff switch mounted in area somewhere in lower left area of steering wheel as it won't fit in the remaining blank.
I think the original Eaton have been around a long time but these Harrop versions seem to have some design changes. I'll post later what I find out. The Harrops only really started getting imported in any great numbers in about 2017 or so from what I can tell on the LC forums on IH8Mud. I purchased from the original importer.
Spoke with a highly rated diff shop today but backlog is like a month or two which is fine since I need time to get the electrical done.
A few more wire pieces on order
Thinking I might just have them change everything while in there even though no issues.
This last month had some additional challenges getting up the last leg hill to my cabin which had about 2 feet of packed snow but during my ascent was 40 and top layer slushy. Frozen it was fine and easy to get up with my snow tires but wasn't quite good enough to get up the hill with all different electronic aids and didn't want to risk getting stuck just before dark. I also didn't feel like putting the chains on so walked in and got my tracked quad to pack stuff in and then waited until it got cold overnight and then painlessly brought vehicle up next morning when all was frozen. I'm thinking that a little bit more physical traction in rear could've helped or just overkill for very rare scenarios and where vehicle is normally at. No risk of going off a cliff on this hill. More aggressive off-road AT type traction tires would have probably helped but then those don't perform as well on ice or frozen surfaces which is what I am more concerned with the braking in the winter and hill descents.
I figure might be another nice option if I get it in deep mud (not likely) or sand (more likely) and also add some additional braking options that don't overwork the brakes on steep descents.
I guess just trying to add one more blade to the Swiss army knife. It does give me a little pause opening up a perfectly functional and running rear diff with no leaks, weeps or seeps. I guess I could find lots of reasons to justify the purchase in my mind anyway :-)
I will try to paraphrase what Roark @ CB mentioned to me:
These are made by Eaton here in US. Previously ...Eaton was sending blank units to Harrop to be machined for Toyota/Lexus applications. Eaton was not producing units for “imports”, even though many Toyotas are now manufactured here. Harrop was bringing blank units from Eaton down under and machining them to work on the Toyotas, incurring additional costs in manufacturing and shipping. Eaton saw the demand and realized there is a big enough market that they now make them for a number of import applications here in US.
I will pull it out tomorrow get some pictures of it.
I probably won't get to the wiring until really early May and then hopefully I can get it installed before summer.
Fun project. It'll be interesting to hear how responsive the elocker actuator performs. The OEM elockers are always slow to engage, and usually require some movement and steering to get it locked in. ARB's are super fast to engage, which is a nice advantage if you are in a pinch and need traction asap.
12-13-16, 07:01 AM
Lockers - Front & Rear Differential
