Locker on the front, or a winch?

[Mundo4x4Casa]

For the biggest bang for the buck and for desert use, this is what I would recommend: This is assuming you have a Ford Dana 60 front end and locking hubs, and Ford's factory LSD for the Sterling axle.
1. a front Eaton-Detroit Tru Trac torque biasing, all gear driven, limited slip (aka: Torsen style). It seamlessly hunts for the wheel with the most traction. Over slightly undulating sandy terrain, the unit does the job transparently. As long as you don't get your axles twisted up enough to raise a wheel off the ground, buliwyf's suggestion is much more hard core than I think you need and comes with drivability issues. Here are the units for a Dana 30 (my XJ) and Dana 60/70, 35 spline front diff:




2. some kind of way to re-inflate those tires you deflated for sand. I've used a lot of plug and play 12v air compressors and price is a good guide to quality. For desert use, your ability to gauge how much air to have in the tires is most important. When in the desert with my 10K pound TC, I constantly play with the pressure to give the best compromise between lack of forward motion and floatation. A winch is definitely the 100% effort if you know how to use it in sand with no other anchor, but your ability to deflate down, not just a few obligatory pounds but with experience, way down is what will get you out of trouble when you are down on your hands and knees in blowsand/dunes. How far? You'll find out if you push the envelope. In deep sand, all the other appurtenances ignore the fact that what you really need is floatation for the moment without resorting to a lot of stuff. I know, it's not as cool as sand mats hanging on the side of your rig.
regards, as always, jefe

 

[mrfoamy]

I have used the High Lift to fill in under a tire, used it to push a Jeep sideways out of ruts, and actually used a ComeAlong to pull a 50's Power Wagon back onto the trail, but only used a winch to pull a tree from the road. (I probably should take a winch class soon). So I was thinking a locker front might be sort of cheap insurance and avoid a winch. It seems likely that the winch will never get used, or the front locker either...it's just insurance. My on-board air allows experimentation which I need to play with, but that feels like work instead of fun. I'm planning on a sand class when I visit Australia later this year - the exchange rate is superb right now so it's not expensive. The Eaton-Detroit Tru Trac looks a lot better than a locker: I'll explore that.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

mrfoamy, I'll bet all your recoverees did not drop one pound of pressure from the tires. With on board air, there is virtually nothing else to add for sand that will help you as much as the regulation of the air in those meats. It may feel like work, but no more than getting out the Max Trax or sand anchor, plus your air is 'almost' free with nothing to store. You are on the right track. The problem: 16.5K pounds of rig bogged down in blow sand: I was following the old SP narrow gauge railroad grade in the Owens Valley and ran out of roadbed:

After dropping the pressure to 18 pounds rear and 22 pounds front:

Wide patch with 15 inch wide super singles on 12 inch wide rims with about 7K pounds on the truck's rear axle with tongue weight: remember only 4 of the 8 tires touching the ground were deflated or powered.

jefe

 

[mrfoamy]

I have never needed to recover from sand yet, but those pics are pretty impressive.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

I spend a lot of time in the desert and have all of the above. LSD in the rear, lockers in both axles, big winch, OBA, Hi-Lift, Pull Pal, sand mats, Max Trax, shovel, etc. I can still get myself stuck, so I have learned to be careful. If I had to carry only one item, it would be the Max Trax. Next would be the Hi-Lift. Next would be a compressor. Those three would get me out of most situations, but not all. Need to prioritize.

 

[Superduty]

Perosnally, i would opt for the locker. Having had both for the last 30 years......I feel the locker has helped me not get stuck in many places where my winch would have been useful. I don't think I have ever used the winch for myself. That said during our last death valley trip, I did use the winch to move a large boulder out from the middle of a trail so the rest of the group could pass through the spot. The winch proved very useful in that situation. Winch is like insurance, a waste of money, until of course you need to use it. On the other hand when doing most overlanding and exploring areas like Death Valley and staying out of rock crawling areas you will likely never need a front locker. With the rear locker I rarely use 4wd on our trips in death valley and surrounding areas, I am running a larger tire than most overlanders, which helps.

FWIW, I would probably only get a selectable locker for the front of a full size truck. I have a Detroit in the front of my Jeep. In a short wheelbase lighter vehicle the front locker is manageable for steering, though still a challenge. Any time the hubs are locked you know it is there. In a full size truck I feel it will wreak a little more havoc.

What Mundo4x4Casa said above with regards to lowering air pressure in sand is gospel. Most people will hear that and still NOT listen. If you ever drive on sand or fine silt experiment for yourself, you will be amazed what lowering air pressure will do for you. I like to go to Pismo dunes a few times a year my Jeep is locked front and rear. If I lower the pressure to about 8 psi I cannot get it stuck, no matter how hard I try. Take that pressure up to 15 or 20 and I can easily get stuck.

 

[Buliwyf]

It's not noticeable in a f250 with the hubs locked in, in 2wd.

Big difference in bigger trucks. It's not bad at all. The Detroit no spin was originally for heavy military trucks and was oem option on some fullsize Fords (particularly the oem camper trucks) until people forgot how to drive and then later started driving fast in snow on the newly made highways.

I'd imagine a NASCAR type cut could make it nicer for jeeps. Then again, the newer Yukons and Softlockers are cut more like that now. We have to be careful not to compare old Detroits to new.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Personally, I would not put a non-selectable locker on the front of a 3/4-ton truck. I have not forgotten how to drive, and I don't want the front diff locking unless I tell it to. Too risky when hot footing it on pavement. Fully locked is OK, and fully open is OK, but it's got to be one way or the other for me.

 

[hemifoot]

a winch is handy for pulling a fellow traveller out.i carry 10 ft. of chain and a dozen pieces of rebar.a very cheap land anchor.

 

[Tex68w]

The obvious answer is both. If I had to chose just one though I'd opt for the winch, not so much for self-recovery as it is useful for others and moving objects in your path. I am fortunate to have both and I wouldn't want to give up one for the other but that would be my choice if I had neither with the ultimate goal to add both.

 

[mmp3823]

Just a quick question. A F250 is a big heavy truck especially loaded with gear. Will the Hi-Lift even work to winch out that kind of load? I seen it done on jeeps but those are pretty small in comparison.

 

[Buliwyf]

Sure. You might want to shovel a bit more. Although I never did that up a steep hill. I use it to go a couple feet forward on extremely slick ground.

I never had to use as much force as it takes to lift the Super Duty. And I never had much trouble with that. Just be careful going down.