LMTV M1079 M1078 ARB air locker group buy, we need 50 of you to make this happen.

[coachgeo]

Unless your truck has 3 axles...

Good point

 

[Hodor]

Whats the happs chaps? Im almost fully commited to picking up an m1079 for full time living with the doggo and without a mortgage and truck and trailer payments ill be needing to spend copious ammounts of money on the truck

 

[coachgeo]

Whats the happs chaps? Im almost fully commited to picking up an m1079 for full time living with the doggo and without a mortgage and truck and trailer payments ill be needing to spend copious ammounts of money on the truck

welcome. the air locker action died.. mostly cause the next person in line with interest in manufacturing them came up with a plan that solves more than one problem.

He now is making a whole set of different axles (Axletek 4000) to be direct bolt in under the LMTV that include a much better axle ratio and come with built in air lockers. Fellows name is Bryce Wasielak. He is not a member here..... can only reach him thru facebook.

UPDATE- March 2022- the axletech 4,000 route for some reason died/went on Hiatus as well.

 

[CW555]

So who wants drop in ARB air lockers for your LMTV? We need them for our M1079 thats for sure. So I talked with my contact at ARB and he said that if we get 50 units sold (deposits taken) they will make them for us.

ARB said we need to work through a dealer that can take the orders and organize this. So first step is done, I already sent my high speed gears with 3rd members to Nitro Gear in Cashmere Washington as they are a ARB dealer I have dealt with many times, I have had Nitro gears in several of my overlanding trucks and fully trust them to do any diff work I need done.

So the next step is for Nitro Gear to take apart my 3rds and send them to ARB Australia to be made. This could take a few months to complete.

I will update this post as we make progress on this. I asked what the price would be per locker and they won't be able to tell us until they get the 3rds in their hands, but they said per unit cost would be under $2000.00 per locker. Will update when I find out.

So I need a list of any of you who want ARB air lockers and can make a deposit to Nitro Gear, please PM me with your full contact info and I will add you to the list here in this post.

List of members who want air lockers and can made a deposit to Nitro Gear

1. Adventure Driven Front and Back Lockers
2. Ambeihl Rear Locker
3. Coachgeo Front Locker
4 Snowtrac Nome Rear locker
5. SHIFTPOD - Both Front and Rear - 2002 SS1078 A-1 4x4 cwATshiftpodDOTcom

 

[CW555]

Yes!! Im in! Front and rear please!

Also looking for someone near Sacramento, CA to do the installation on 3.07s and the lockers. Any references would be appreciated.

CW - 2002 SS1078A14x4

 

[CW555]

welcome. the air locker action died.. mostly cause the next person in line with interest in manufacturing them came up with a plan that solves more than one problem.

He now is making a whole set of different axles (Axletek 4000) to be direct bolt in under the LMTV that include a much better axle ratio and come with built in air lockers. Fellows name is Bryce Wasielak. He is not a member here..... can only reach him thru facebook.

UPDATE- March 2022- the axletech 4,000 route for some reason died/went on Hiatus as well.

Ahhh bummer! Thank you for the update.

 

[CW555]

So who wants drop in ARB air lockers for your LMTV? We need them for our M1079 thats for sure. So I talked with my contact at ARB and he said that if we get 50 units sold (deposits taken) they will make them for us.

ARB said we need to work through a dealer that can take the orders and organize this. So first step is done, I already sent my high speed gears with 3rd members to Nitro Gear in Cashmere Washington as they are a ARB dealer I have dealt with many times, I have had Nitro gears in several of my overlanding trucks and fully trust them to do any diff work I need done.

So the next step is for Nitro Gear to take apart my 3rds and send them to ARB Australia to be made. This could take a few months to complete.

I will update this post as we make progress on this. I asked what the price would be per locker and they won't be able to tell us until they get the 3rds in their hands, but they said per unit cost would be under $2000.00 per locker. Will update when I find out.

So I need a list of any of you who want ARB air lockers and can make a deposit to Nitro Gear, please PM me with your full contact info and I will add you to the list here in this post.

List of members who want air lockers and can made a deposit to Nitro Gear

1. Adventure Driven Front and Back Lockers
2. Ambeihl Rear Locker
3. Coachgeo Front Locker
4 Snowtrac Nome Rear locker

So I just reached (March 6 2022) out to https://www.facebook.com/Bryce-Sons-Military-Truck-Parts-335563047013755/ He says he has more 3.07s and lockers coming in in 2 weeks!

 

[coachgeo]

So I just reached (March 6 2022) out to https://www.facebook.com/Bryce-Sons-Military-Truck-Parts-335563047013755/ He says he has more 3.07s and lockers coming in in 2 weeks!

he also had/did have a LMTV with axletech axles under it for sale.

 

[Ohiobenz]

With what I know now, I wouldn't put a Detroit style locker in again. Especially never in the front.
The ARB air lockers are OK, but then again prone to issues like leakage.
I like the e-lockers the best. ARB is being built in China, if they're building air lockers, they can build e-lockers...
They're selling Eaton knockoff e-lockers right now...

 

[rollie715]

I’m not an expert about all the details needed to make a selectable locker, but couldn’t a good machine shop take an existing ARB of approximately the same size and modify it to work in an LMTV?

 

[Guruman]

I’m not an expert about all the details needed to make a selectable locker, but couldn’t a good machine shop take an existing ARB of approximately the same size and modify it to work in an LMTV?

The locker itself, probably. I'm pretty sure that's what they are doing with the Detroit units.

The question then becomes, which locker destroy in the attempt? and what about all of the lines, and fittings?

Does anyone know the application the Detroit locker design being used is from? What truck/axle?

I might risk the price of an ARB to try and make something work, if I knew which one to lay hands on. Once I swap out my gear sets, I'll have the old ones to play with.

 

[Awesomeness]

The locker itself, probably. I'm pretty sure that's what they are doing with the Detroit units.

The question then becomes, which locker destroy in the attempt? and what about all of the lines, and fittings?

Does anyone know the application the Detroit locker design being used is from? What truck/axle?

I might risk the price of an ARB to try and make something work, if I knew which one to lay hands on. Once I swap out my gear sets, I'll have the old ones to play with.

To my knowledge, these are custom made Detroit-style lockers, not a modification of an existing model.

 

[Mullaney]

What If...

The MK23 7-Ton trucks have selectable lockers in them. The Marines have made it a point over the last 40 years or so to have lockers in most vehicles that they have. The 5-Tons for sure and the 7-Ton is that way too. The MK23 has a selection on the dash to turn on the lockers "piece by piece" as the muck gets deeper...

So the question is, with all these armored seven ton trucks without a roof and without doors showing up on the auction block - with little chance of finding doors and tops - would it be worth swapping axles to get the locker features on an LMTV?

 

[Guruman]

What If...

The MK23 7-Ton trucks have selectable lockers in them. The Marines have made it a point over the last 40 years or so to have lockers in most vehicles that they have. The 5-Tons for sure and the 7-Ton is that way too. The MK23 has a selection on the dash to turn on the lockers "piece by piece" as the muck gets deeper...

So the question is, with all these armored seven ton trucks without a roof and without doors showing up on the auction block - with little chance of finding doors and tops - would it be worth swapping axles to get the locker features on an LMTV?

Having done a bunch of axle swaps on much smaller trucks and Jeeps the thought of this is a bit daunting. I know nothing of the MK23.

There's a lot of maybes there.

Maybe:

if the axles are close in width
if the spring pads/suspension brackets are similar, or the old chopped off and new welded on (which might require the housings to be steel instead of cast)
if the driveline angles can remain "ok" and the shafts/yokes can be adapted to each other
if the gear ratios are similar enough
if the steering can be sorted (I've always had trouble with this on previous axle swaps.. getting tie rods/drag links/trackbars etc to line up with geometry that's not terrible)

I'd love this to work. The lack of "real" off-road drivetrain features is a bit of a letdown considering the lmtv other great features.

 

[Guruman]

It looks like from pics I searched, that the MK23 has a front coil spring independent setup. So that's probably a no-go, at least for the front axle

 

[Third From Texas]

The lack of "real" off-road drivetrain features is a bit of a letdown considering the lmtv other great features.

Agreed. Honestly if I really wanted real 4x4, e-lockers, disc brakes, highway gears, Cummins power, etc I would simply change platforms.

 

[Guruman]

Agreed. Honestly if I really wanted real 4x4, e-lockers, disc brakes, highway gears, Cummins power, etc I would simply change platforms.

Yeah, but we're close. A Detroit locker in the rear is not a problem, but locking the front axle requires a selectable for anyone who sees slippery winter conditions.

And I swear. I read in an old thread somewhere that someone was taking a bunch of the Detroit style lockers to a machine shop to have them modified (so they would be for available for sale), but maybe I read it wrong and they were having parts fabricated instead of modified.

 

[Awesomeness]

Agreed. Honestly if I really wanted real 4x4, e-lockers, disc brakes, highway gears, Cummins power, etc I would simply change platforms.

I don't know... these trucks will go through, over, and get out of a lot of situations that would stop a Jeep/Tacoma that was all upgraded. What I find is that most of the off-road places you can go are created by Jeeps/Tacomas, and so everything is designed to "challenge" those vehicles (e.g. the size of the rocks on the trail, the width of the trail, the depth of the water crossing, etc.). The LMTV cares about none of that, but has a significant tipping issue.

I do have the rear locker installed, but I only got it because I was already changing to the 3.07:1 gears. I didn't have any big issues without it.

 

[Guruman]

I don't know... these trucks will go through, over, and get out of a lot of situations that would stop a Jeep/Tacoma that was all upgraded. What I find is that most of the off-road places you can go are created by Jeeps/Tacomas, and so everything is designed to "challenge" those vehicles (e.g. the size of the rocks on the trail, the width of the trail, the depth of the water crossing, etc.). The LMTV cares about none of that, but has a significant tipping issue.

I do have the rear locker installed, but I only got it because I was already changing to the 3.07:1 gears. I didn't have any big issues without it.

Having owned something like 23 Jeeps and various Blazers, broncos, land cruisers/rovers over the years, I'm kind of opposed to wheeling anything with open diffs anymore.

Specifically with the lmtv I worry about crossing up the axles in a trench traverse, or deep mud or loose soil.

The shear size and weight of the beast makes it hard to "finesse" your way along. the only advantage the lmtv has is the immense weight pressing down on that contact patch. The open diffs just leave half (or more) of the potential out of the equation.

It probably will never be an issue for me considering the way I hope to use this thing, but I have been in the situation in the past where my Jeep's e-lockers stood between me and a 30 mile hike through the Montana wilderness to the nearest pavement. If I can figure out a way to get the axles locked, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[Awesomeness]

Having owned something like 23 Jeeps and various Blazers, broncos, land cruisers/rovers over the years, I'm kind of opposed to wheeling anything with open diffs anymore.

Specifically with the lmtv I worry about crossing up the axles in a trench traverse, or deep mud or loose soil.

The shear size and weight of the beast makes it hard to "finesse" your way along. the only advantage the lmtv has is the immense weight pressing down on that contact patch. The open diffs just leave half (or more) of the potential out of the equation.

It probably will never be an issue for me considering the way I hope to use this thing, but I have been in the situation in the past where my Jeep's e-lockers stood between me and a 30 mile hike through the Montana wilderness to the nearest pavement. If I can figure out a way to get the axles locked, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I'm just saying "go try it". Wheeling small trucks on trails and obstacles "made for" small trucks is very different than driving the LMTV on those same things. Similarly, experience wheeling Jeeps/etc. doesn't really transfer, nor do opinions about how to set up the trucks based on that experience. Some of it will, of course, because it's just physics and mechanics in the end, but it's different.

And honestly, that's the best part. I spent 20 years wheeling K5's, Jeeps, HMMWVs, etc., and it was getting to be a bit of "been there, done that". The LMTV is a totally different beast, with totally different challenges, and it's made it all refreshingly new again. I've now taken my LMTV on everything from mountains, to sand dunes, to mud pits, to blizzards, to water crossings, and it's so much fun. This thing is seemingly unstoppable.