Hey all, New guy here. Been reading on this site and have become confused. I have a 1996 Jimmy. It has the 3 button 4x switch. My confusion comes from reading about these rear lockers. I thought this truck was a 4x4. The more i read it seems these are not. In 4wheel drive i thought all four wheels would lock and pull together. After reading about the locker rears it seems that the factory setup will split the traction. Can someone explain this to me. This is my first 4x4.

 

the factory 4x4 does not lock the wheels, ie one wheel will spin if both not on the ground for front and rear, unless you have a g80 rear differential which is a locker in 2wd and 4wd... it is not a full locking system like you would find on rock crawlers

 

Typically you will find that in 4WD, alternate corners will be engaged. i.e. right rear and left front or left rear and right front. It can be very frustrating as the default setup ensures that the wheel with no traction is the one that's spinning.

I'm getting an LSD installed as we speak. That should give me better traction in both 2WD and 4WD. We're expecting another heavy snow season up here in Minnesnowta.

 

I am thinking i will also install one of these lockers. More so for the piece of mind. I don't really plan on using this for heavy off road. More street than that. Maybe a fire road to my favorite fishing spot. Plan on setting this up for towing sometimes. I have a 15' starcraft that i will tow. I was told sometimes coming up a wet slick ramp is when i might have problems. I think a locker would work. Now i need to figure which one.

 

Is the same in all years?

 

yes, unless you have the g80 locking rear axle