just so everyone is on the same page, please feel free to add to this.
what is the point of getting a locker if you dont have the ground clearence to use it, most people really dont think this through if you hit ruts and get stuck on your diff cause someone drove through wtih 35's locker is useless cause all 4 wheels are now in the air, and thats the pointy the locker will drive you to and it wont be very far at all., if you try to take a hill in a stock standerd nav/any car with a locker whats that, no approch angle bullbar hits dirt/rocks and gets wrecked you go no where and look like an idiot cause all you have down is spin 2 wheels at the same time which would also be helped along by not having the appropriate tyres, same issue with departure angle. ok so now im going hit a set of holes with no lift and 26" tyres dw i have a locker, next min'it smashed approch, departure and also you ramp over assuming you dont have sliders which im probably right cause hey who need them you have a locker ay, youve just driven the car to the point where the flimsy step attached to the sill has just ripped a whole in your sill or bent it to the point the door will no longer close properly, from that point on forwards or backwards will cause more damage, forwards will probably end in you rolling the car. now for the beach, hmm i seem to be sinking in the sand might just flick the compressor on and hit my tracton button, wrong you dig holes till your sitting on your diffs and you then get 3 more cars bogged trying to get you outwider footprint tyres with beadlocks. oh and almost forgot mud same issue as previos gonna want some tyres with a wider footprint and beadlocks so you can run them with basically no air in them oh and your going to want a more aggressive self cleaning pattern.
locking differential is not the best way to go in most cases and alot of other factors have to come into play before there is a real need for a locker and to use it effectivly. if you believe you will hit the biggest holes and rock crawl everywhere with just a locker go nuts, i wont stop you , but i did tell you so,
90% of the time your better off with just a lift kit and a good line which maximizes your vehicles articulation capability. if you use a locker but have no articulation your vehicle will just end up on its lid.
if you want to be able to use a locker to its full potenial you must have ground clearence and traction, which means bigger tyres to increase your ground clearances and traction, but to run the tyres you will need to lift the truck to accommodate the bigger tyres which also increases ground clearance, one buy itself is borderline useless.
but if you had to pick something to start with your best off with tyres (33-35" are a really good gear ratio for d40's, in 2 box you will notice that the gears are more drawn out and first is no longer just a quick smack to second, 4l you will find that you have a good gear/torque ratio at 2g when boost comes on and mud terrains or better, the more aggreesive the more traction you will get.) and a lift kit that maximizes articulation (longer leafs with extended shackles and long travel shock, long travel coil overs with height adjustment and new uca's(or titanswap/sas) you will now have the travel and angles needed to get you through most things you come across, and you will find that your vehicle is much more responsive and better to drive on and off the road. with that being said once you have become capable with there terrains and its less challenging its now time to look at a locking differential or more articulation. although by this stage you were better off getting a coil patrol or an 80 series wagon.
oh and i had a good laugh at the tyres break cv's, inexperienced use and use in general of locking differentials is a much more common cause of broken cv's and other parts as it applys pressure to the driveline that would not usually be there. have a read through joshy's thread before he turned his d22 into a monster of a comp rig, he useto take spare cv's every trip as they would usually snap, ive also personally had to pull a vehicle half a k through the mud because there locking differential caught traction while the wheels were spinning in the mud causing it to snap internally and lock the wheel into position and the car couldnt drive home, which could of been easily solved by using the right type of tyre for the terrain. with that being said bigger tyres do add to breaking cv's but its not the leading cause,
if you have no regard for your car and wish to wreck it winch,extension and a land anchor will get you alot further then a locker by itself for 1/4 of the price.
articulation = traction
lift
lift tyres
lift tyres locker
if you have maxed out you vehicles articulation you should then look at a locking differential to gain more traction, but for this to work effectively you must use the right type of tyre
the next step from there is to go to beadlocks, reduction gears, duel transfer cases, chip/exaust/intercooler and a roll cage, 4 point harness and probably a trailer cause your not legally driving it on the road anymore.
thankyou for reading, hopefully you make the right decision, most people dont.
