Be good to me, as I am new to this business. Little boys never grow up, and I'm 63 and just acquired my first M35A2. I guess it has something to do with the little boy that has to have the biggest, or longest or something. You will see what I'm talking about.
This thread caught my attention vis a vis "lockers." My question(s): Is it wise to have lockers on all 3 axles? (I would like to hear "YES") There has been considerable discussion re the wisdom of air vs Detroit lockers in the front axel. Many prefer air activated because they experience something akin to understeer or a "push back" with Detroits. The con re air is "more parts" and more failures/maintenance. But my main issue is with rear lockers.
Detroit and air (when activated) apply equal torque to both wheels, on the strait. (Some have the misunderstanding that a wheel has to slip for torque to be activated). When the front wheels are turned, the outer wheel is released. But I doubt this would occur in the rear. Regardless, with the center of axis somewhere between the front axle and the front of the two rear axles, I can see that there will be some scuffing of tires on the rear two axles.
Maybe I'm wrong in the above formulation, but if correct would lockers indeed worsen this scuffing wear of the rear tires? Would the installation of locking/unlocking hubs in the front of the two rear axles help? This way we can assure that the respective wheels would turn independantly of the axle. But we are still taking a 4 wheel anatomy and rotating it ever so slightly on it's center, considering there is no steering wheel in this isolated design. I've also read that one should never put a locking/unlocking hub product in a rear axle (presumably due to increased U-joint wear since you cannot unlock the drive to a rear axle; but seemingly it would be no worse than a front axle without a locking hub, e.g., Selectro or one of the better products).
I'm sure that, assuming you have read this far, someone wants to say "geez, what a dumb s---; he should shut up. And that's OK. I have a thick skin.
But this is what I want to do and I hope there is an affirmative consensus: Detroit type lockers in both rear axles and an air locker in the front axle; locking hubs in the front axle, and ?????????? the front rear axle. I know, this seems counterintuitive to the things I've stated above, but if you say "no" I think I will pout, and possibly wet my pants just out of spite.