Can Rear locker be engaged in 2WD?

[S JEEPN]

Having the rear axle locked helps tremendously in loose sand, especially when I need the full articulation of the front wheels to navigate tight turns on desert trails. I get really leery about steering out to full lock using 4x4 on hairpins and switchbacks, so the rear locker only is a perfect solution.

That is interesting It is just my opinion from my limited experience offroad and my understanding of differential, axle and drivetrain components I have only ever engaged a selectable locker for slick mud or when i am going to have a tire either in the air or with so little force pushing down it breaks loose and does not produce forward progress. I would not hesitate to momentarily lock a rear, front or both diffs if a tire spins to continue movement and then unlock it after getting past. I rarely run street tire pressure offroad since i try to avoid using momentum to traverse trails unless it is the only option and would be concerned with the lowered pressure there would not be enough tire slippage to prevent something acting as the fuse in the system. As long as tires are lowered to appropriate inflation levels for conditions an unlocked rear differential will allow the tires to turn at different speeds side to side allowing tighter turns without having to induce slippage to prevent the differential binding or having excessive forces on the carrier, axles etc.
In the dunes a locked rear axle could be beneficial in 2WD high as long as you have the tires, adequate power, and the single axle and other components can handle taking all the force as opposed to having it divided among both axles the reason they have it disconnect at such a low speed from the factory may be due to the concern of shock load breaking things even in 4wd.

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[Stan H]

Dad, just use your Tazer to enable it on the fly, or Jscan/AlfaOBD if you have that.



While true, I think there's plenty of people who don't do things "correctly" anyways. Like the guys who own a Rubicon and have never once engaged their lockers in 80k miles then wonder why they don't work (met a JK owner in this exact scenario).

Do you suppose they just never take the jeep in places where they are useful or the all mall crawlers or just live in areas with little to no exciting terrain. ??

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

Do you suppose they just never take the jeep in places where they are useful or the all mall crawlers or just live in areas with little to no exciting terrain. ??

I understand where you’re going with that, but it’s a known thing with all lockers that if you don’t maintain or occasionally engage them, they WILL have issues later.

Doesn’t matter if you’re actually off-road, you can still verify function in your driveway or at the park in gravel, then go back to mall crawler mode lol

 

[Stan H]

I understand where you’re going with that, but it’s a known thing with all lockers that if you don’t maintain or occasionally engage them, they WILL have issues later.

Doesn’t matter if you’re actually off-road, you can still verify function in your driveway or at the park in gravel, then go back to mall crawler mode lol

Yeah even with use ,as I have used mine many times. They still will collect super fine metal dust on that magnet and sensor combo. And require cleaning . I had to do the rear one on mine.

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