Cheap Air Lockers,, Ex China

[Jafa]

back when the exchange rate was 80 odd, not 50 like now

[mike]

back when the exchange rate was 80 odd, not 50 like now

Exactly. so glad i did it thats for sure. made the decision to go auto way easier

[Jafa]

back when the exchange rate was 80 odd, not 50 like now

Exactly. so glad i did it thats for sure. made the decision to go auto way easier

[badnuz]

I think most people are confusing USD for NZD here, $400NZD for a landed locker? Don't think so.

$350 NZD landed was what I paid when I bought my autolockers landed from the US.

AUTOlockers, not airlockers.....

[wjw]

I think most people are confusing USD for NZD here, $400NZD for a landed locker? Don't think so.

$350 NZD landed was what I paid when I bought my autolockers landed from the US.

AUTOlockers, not airlockers.....

he said locker tho...

[badnuz]

lol isnt that another thread??????

[minefield]

I here some going on about the problems importing from China, What a lot don't understand is china "WANT" to have a good name and will go out of there way to make sure you are happy, ie; I imported synthetic rope , Paying for was a piece of cake an it arrived at my door all parceled up in bubble rape but I ordered 10mm and got 12mm,

I emailed them and told them of there mistake, No problems the sent the 10mm via special air freight received it within 3 days at no extra cost to me

and I keep the 12mm

[Andrew1706]

$350 NZD landed was what I paid when I bought my autolockers landed from the US.

AUTOlockers, not airlockers.....

he said locker tho...

Don't be smart, this thread is about air lockers

Anyway, I'm going to copy Fitzys style and end with a wise quote that you should all pay attention too...

LESS TALK MORE ACTION.

[mudgripz]

I have a friend who is importing some of the airlockers from china and he notes with current very low NZ dollar, import costs etc, it is about $1000 to bring them into the country - incl compressor, switchgear, hoses etc.

Did the autolocker route in my last truck,but have decided to experiment with one of these air lockers. Have one fitted to the rear of my truck, as has a mate, and have given it a couple of good tests - seems good so far.

Will give it a few more club trips and post a review on its performance on this site.

[Moriarty]

This video is better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrrrKmqa ... re=related

What was she advertising? all I noticed was a wsip of blue stuff, I had tuned out the nasal voice pretty damn quickly.

[flyingbrick]

This video is better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrrrKmqa ... re=related

What was she advertising? all I noticed was a wsip of blue stuff, I had tuned out the nasal voice pretty damn quickly.

She was advertising something?!!!!

[T-Boon]

bubble rape

I wanna get me some of that

I think a cheap airlocker id fine, as long as you pull it apart and give it a good lookover beforehand (assuming you know what your looking at) if the fibreglass dude can still do $1500 at the current ex rate i`d be impressed.

[Denby]

I suppose it comes down to what sort of punishment it will get and how critical it is to be able to drive home or even back to the trailer.

I would love to save a mountain of dollars on a front air locker for my Jimny but the fear of buying something that isn't up to the job and then having to spend even more money to get it home and then fix it brings the term "false economy" to mind.

A conversation I had this weekend with a bald Australian alerted me to this YouTube video / informercial / consumer test.


I suppose people's experiences over time will confirm the strength or weakness of the copies.

[mudmike]

Interesting clip, looks like save the extra money and get an ARB or TJM if you want an air locker, or go auto if you can't afford the big dollars. looked expensive if the locker fails.

[vvega]

I suppose it comes down to what sort of punishment it will get and how critical it is to be able to drive home or even back to the trailer.

I would love to save a mountain of dollars on a front air locker for my Jimny but the fear of buying something that isn't up to the job and then having to spend even more money to get it home and then fix it brings the term "false economy" to mind.

A conversation I had this weekend with a bald Australian alerted me to this YouTube video / informercial / consumer test.


I suppose people's experiences over time will confirm the strength or weakness of the copies.

i dont know of anyone that has had a fake one die yet in a truck... but i do believe bulletproof has had some issues with his arb ones as have some others

not many trucks out there that could generate that sort of twist though a axel ...
so whats the differance in the real world ?
just my opinion

[MATT4U]

Look what it took to get the axel out. yo get your locker back your gonna have to chop up ya housing with the way the arb broke the axel.

[gary_in_nz]

i guess it would be easier to use the axel as a "fuse" sort of device, rather than have your locker/diff fly to bits.

its not too hard to break axles and diffs, when using a bit of throttle and if you get a bit of a bounce going or hit a bump or something solid...

[vvega]

i guess it would be easier to use the axel as a "fuse" sort of device, rather than have your locker/diff fly to bits.

its not too hard to break axles and diffs, when using a bit of throttle and if you get a bit of a bounce going or hit a bump or something solid...

i dont know enought about 4wding to comment ... but if thats the case then well..... for a person that breaks axels I guess there is no choice

[Pedro]

i think the crown wheel and pinion would go long before the axles break, it is very rare a axle breaks unless of course it is land rover, so if the difference is 10% of side gears going vs axle i would opt for a china locker, strip it, check it and run it.
would be interesting to see what the max loading are thru a crown wheel and pinion.

Pedro

[vinceandrobyn]

Our ARB locker

[vvega]

thats just nasty
were the axels still intact ??
what ratio ?

[gary_in_nz]

thats just nasty
were the axels still intact ??
what ratio ?

also what vehicle was it in??

[Jezza]

I haven't heard anything good about the front mu arb lockers, how did it happen?

[vinceandrobyn]

Thats right it was a front ARB locker for our MU 4.56 ratio. Not sure how it happened, I wasn't there, but I'm guessing full power landing hard. Bit gutted as we were hoping to sell it and put some more $$$ into our SAS build. It will be binned now, unless anyone wants to take it away.

[KiwiBacon]

Anyone else notice that the chinese locked took similar twist to failure as the arb and the axle spline had permanently twisted. It was very close to axle failure instead of locker failure, which was the same outcome as the arb.

Now stick a stronger axle in and see how much more the arb can take, give us a bigger sample size too. I'd expect at least a 10% variation on such a test and the two results have less than that seperating them.

Data read from the end of that test.
~6900 (couldn't read units) to break the axle in the arb.
~6400 to break the chinese locker.

[J_Dub]

and are they using, just old used off the shelf axles out of wrecked cars? wouldnt they have to take into account 1 axle could have alot more abuse in the past than the next 1?

[badnuz]

Thats right it was a front ARB locker for our MU 4.56 ratio. Not sure how it happened, I wasn't there, but I'm guessing full power landing hard. Bit gutted as we were hoping to sell it and put some more $$$ into our SAS build. It will be binned now, unless anyone wants to take it away.

was the failure due t o the crownwheel/pinion exploding therefore creating stresses beyond the locker? ???? i doubt that the locker would've caused the broken teeth? also, was the locker correctly installed and regulary serviced?

[badnuz]

and are they using, just old used off the shelf axles out of wrecked cars? wouldnt they have to take into account 1 axle could have alot more abuse in the past than the next 1?

they used brand new off the shelf axles...

[timotheus]

Anyone else notice that the chinese locked took similar twist to failure as the arb and the axle spline had permanently twisted. It was very close to axle failure instead of locker failure, which was the same outcome as the arb.

Now stick a stronger axle in and see how much more the arb can take, give us a bigger sample size too. I'd expect at least a 10% variation on such a test and the two results have less than that seperating them.

Data read from the end of that test.
~6900 (couldn't read units) to break the axle in the arb.
~6400 to break the chinese locker.

I thought the same straight away. Id like to see some cromoly axles used and the rating that both lockers failed.

[mudgripz]

I agree with kiwibacon/timotheus above that a 7.5% difference in breakdown point between the chinese locker (round 6450) and the ARB (at 6900) is within the margin for error - a variation you would expect even in products from one company. Very slight differences in the production mix and process with the axles, different temperatures at different times of the day, stresses and variation in the one test rig used etc could easily contribute to that kind of small variation in arb products alone. In fact you'd expect it - and a bit more.

The ARB test is not, from a simple science point of view, an indicator of comparative problems with the chinese locker - more the reverse. It tends to indicate that it is right up with the ARB.

From a driving point of view, I fitted one of these months ago as a bit of an experiment to the rear of my isuzu, and after some trips have to say it is working perfectly. Have couple more canterbury 4wd club trips to do in April when I will give it a thrash, but after that will give a review on findings. Experience still all good at this stage.