Hi All,
I tow my camper with my Jeep, but my Jeep is also very much an off-road vehicle in addition to being my daily driver. I go off-road for work because I do research in mountainous forests off the beaten path. My Jeep is lifted and has recovery points, skid plates and rock sliders, etc. so that I’m good in all sorts of situations. I don’t plan on doing off-road overlanding style towing because we usually stay at state parks with hot showers!
As I am thinking about increasing the off-road ability of my Jeep, I have been thinking of installing a Powertrax No-Slip locker in the rear differential at some point. For those who aren’t familiar with what this is, it basically locks both wheels together when applying torque, so that one wheel doesn’t spin and the other not move. It can increase the ability of a vehicle off-road by a lot! On turns the locker disengages to allow the outside wheel to turn faster than the inside wheel, so they don’t bind. All this happens automatically and mechanically. (The advantage of an auto locker like this is price - $400 for the No-Slip vs 4x that for a selectable locker like an ARB with professional installation.)
Now, the question I have is regarding towing. I can find videos on YouTube and read various Jeep forum posts about how the auto locker changes on-road characteristics a bit, but very little out there on how an auto locker affects towing. This is something I want to know before making a final decision about whether a locker is in my Jeep’s future. So, who has an auto locker (Detroit, Spartan, Aussie, Powertrax Lock Rite, No-Slip, etc.) and tows a trailer? What is been your experience?