ARB Trail Use Advice

[ccbruin]

I am about to pick up a TJ that has front and rear ARB's. Coming from a YJ with an open front and detroit in the rear, I have no idea on the basic when to engage/disengage the ARB on the trail. I have heard that with the front engaged, you can't even turn. Before I get on the trails, maybe some of you can help with some pointers on pretty much how to use these things the right way!

Thanks

[Chris]

You'll have a great setup, the front on will make turning hard and you'll probably use it only when the rear doesn't do enough. The rear will do most of what you need and being able to turn it on and off will be perfect. Basically turn the rear on when needed and if that's not enough turn on the front.

[ccbruin]

Thanks Chris! Yea it's a pretty well built rig. I am excited. I will release the details once i actually own it :)

[Chris]

Pics too of course! :thumb:

[Brody]

Depending on what axles I have under my heap, I either have an ARB front and rear or a spool in the rear (currently) with the same ARB front. If I have a choice to lock the back or not, I will lock the back up on harder/muddier trail 90% of the time. I save the front ARB for the harder of the obstacles, so I run the front 'open' except when I really need it.

As to how well it turns with the front locked in, you are fighting the front wheels turning at the same rate of speed, no matter what, and that puts a huge amount of force on the whole steering/turning thing. If it is really muddy, loose or icy, it's not too much of a big deal, but if you are getting good traction, then the wheels are going to want to stay straight. Having the selectable locker, like the ARB, in the front lets you play with that as you can turn on/turn off the locker as needed to get around the turn. Sometimes you have the option, sometimes not, but I find that I will engage the front at the start of an obstacle and if I have to turn in the middle for some reason, let both the obstacle and how hard the steering is to turn dictate whether I turn it on or off. Sometimes I have turned the ARB off in the front simply to crank the wheels over, then turned it back on.

A couple of things you may want to do with the front ARB is to plumb in a power steering cooler and run a better power steering fluid like Royal Purple as your fluid is going to want to heat up forcing the wheels to turn with the front locked. The Jeep PS pushes a lot of fluid and volume which is good (and better than the stock Yota pumps by far), the trick is going to be keeping it cool enough so that it doesn't air up.

One thing to keep in mind when you engage the front locker is where your wheels are turned on an obstacle when it is engaged and how much skinny pedal to give it. If the wheels are cranked way over AND locked AND you are giving it gas, you are going to find that the u joint is going to be the weak link and will probably break...not a fun trail fix. That is just something to keep in the back of your mind. Better to take another look and try a slightly different line in that situation.

As far as regular trail use, you will find that with just the back locked, it will make short work of trails that you had to engage 4WD on before. There is nothing like traction. Do a few trail runs ...or start a few trail runs with just the back locker engaged in 2WD and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. If it is a snow run, don't assume that having locker F/R is the ideal ticket. A lot of times you will find that engaging or disengaging the front or rear locker is going to work better.

It will take a little getting used to, but not a lot. Just have fun practicing. I have run lockers on all the 4x4s I have ever had since 67-68, many of which were locked in the front. Most of the front lockers I had were pre ARB, so were either an Easy Locker, Detroit or Lincoln locked. These went straight when they were locked. Having the ability to select whether they are or are not locked is a blessing.

Hope that this helped.

[ccbruin]

Awesome! Does the compressor need to be running while it is locked?

[4Runninfun]

yes you should have your compressor ON while you want to use the lockers. I have an ARB in the back of my 4Runner, works fantastic!

[Brody]

Awesome! Does the compressor need to be running while it is locked?

What Jon said.

The compressor will cycle as it keeps pressure in the lines/lockers. This is an on/off cycling, so one of the things you need to keep an ear on is if it doesn't shut off. Signs of some trouble which may be minor on up.

Forgot to mention that when you look at the rig, turn the ARB compressor on and then both axle lockers. Find the breather for each diff, follow the tube from the breather if the PO has run an extended line and make sure that you don't hear or feel air coming from that. That is a sure sign that something is wrong with the ARB for that axle, probably a blown O ring. Also take note of the fact that ARBs are sensitive to having the right amount of diff oil in the diffs. They don't like too little, but like too much even less.

I stuck in a fair amount of stuff in the TECH section on ARBs, too, so you may want to look through some of that.

[Beefy]

I think Pete just about covered it. Don't lock it when the wheels are spinning either. I love my ARBs!

I typically run open/open until I need the lockers. I like to try many of the obstacles open first, but there have definitely been times when I've locked beforehand. Spring Creek was a trail where I basically left the rear locked almost the entire time and used the front a few times as well. Get over the obstacle and unlock the front, then continue on. 99% of the time, the rear locker alone takes care of it in my experiences so far.