Do NOT do ECTEDs front and rear- you get a locking effect. This is what I have now. It sucks- hard steering. It's due to the limited slip effect. Not as bad as having a locked axle, but damn near- Mark W.
Because of your location and my experience I would recommend an Aussie locker in the front and an ARB for the rear. This would give you the ease of operation and great off-road trail master effectiveness. The Aussie doesn't do anything but click when you are in tight turns when you are not in 4wd. Put the transfer case in 4wd and you have a great locker that will allow turning but just climbs over everything. This is perfect for the Dana 30. The only thing I might not recommend the Aussie for is when you live up north and use your 4wd on the streets with snow. I have used mine in snow with care and it's fine, but the turning is more difficult in that situation. The ARB in the rear will give you the daily driving ease that most folks want with trail traction that is worth the money.
Just the Aussie in the front has allowed me to tackle trails with confidence. This is the second Aussie I have installed and used in Jeeps. The Aussie locker can be installed in the garage in 3 hours easily. No gear set or rebuild kits. Just oil and seal for the diff cover.
I will probrably go with aussie front, and arb rear when I do mine! Had an aussie in the rear of my 94 yota pickup, and it was a little tough to drive in the snow especially with the light ass back end, For shits and giggles, I may even try aussies front and rear, first to see if it is managable. My only concern is my wife drives the jeep in shitty weather:devil:
how far would the aussie up front and just the limited slip in the rear get ya? and it was mentioned it took about 3 hours, how about the novice (retarded) mechanic?
I am not sure everyone is up to date. ECTED is a new design, just out for a month or two. Its internals are almost identical to ARB now just using a magnet instead of air to slide the teeth together. The older ECTEDs were crap, I agree. The new ones are pretty stout.
Your opinion is yours, just trying to clarify between new and old.
The unit does not ever 'lock' as it is using additional pressure of the LSD clutch pack to 'lock'. With enough resistance the unit will slip. While this unit is better than the older model, it still uses clutches to 'lock'. When the clutches wear you can't lock. The unit cannot be rebuilt after you wear the clutches and the exchange warranty only extends 4 years.
The new Ected 35 spline JK Rubicon replacement locker is indeed a 4 pinion design (all the diagrams available show a 2 pinion design) but it still has clutches.
I have an Aussie up front and the facotry limited slip in the rear. I love the set up. I plan to add some sort of locker in the rear, but for now it has worked flawlessly for me. I wouldn't recommend trying to do the install of the Aussie yourself if you aren't mechanically inclined, especially if you have to swap out for a new carrier. I had to because my JK cam geared with 3.21s when stock. The Aussie needs a JK carrier for 3.73 and up.
Thx to everyone for posts. Need to read more about lockers for sure. Will be switching out my 373s for 513s and puting on 35s. Right now based on what I read I am going with with ARBs front and back.
Just got ARBs installed last week and wheeled it on Saturday. They performed great! Don't have experience with other lockers but from all the threads I read they seemed to be the top choice. I am very satirize with them
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