Offroad-Express

i no the the whole arb vs chinese airlocker thing has been round for awhile, what im wanting to no who is or has run them and howd they go?any problems?was always gonna buy and arb one but outta aussy i can get a chinese one with a compresser for $1100nz so im very tempted.Thanks Rich

Keep an eye on TM ... lockers come up cheap occasionally

I have one and you get what you pay for. I imported mine directly so it was $800 landed with compressor. An ARB with compressor was going to be over $2000 which I found hard to justify at the time.

Build quality is average, I pulled it apart, de-burred it and cleaned out the crap that was left in there. The installation was alright but I had to modify a few parts as it was meant for a different diff.
The material is not as strong as factory diffs and the gears are supposedly cast.
I used it in the front of my Vitara so it's not in constant use. It does have the problem that it leaks every now and then but it always engages and comes right with a couple of switch flicks.
The compressor valve lasted about a year and a half before I had to replace it.
I've just bought another 2 for it and will have one in the rear so will see what happens with more use and abuse.

I don't know what the reliability of an ARB's like but for light offroading the chinese ones seem to be ok if you can get them set up right.

I have had a Chinese locker for one day till it had a leak in the most Sh** place, and decided not to put it back in, did not want to risk putting it in and having it crap itself again after it had been repaired.

So I have had no luck with my Chinese locker, I have now a big paper weight or boat anchor. Like as other have said you get what you pay for, I have come to the conclusion is dont go for the cheap option and wait a bit longer once you have saved up some money and go with the best brand/quality locker, you will benefit from it later.

Cheers.

Hey thanks for the info.iv had arbs before in other trucks and never had any issues with them.think il just have to save some more n actually get the real deal

muddyplumber wrote:Hey thanks for the info.iv had arbs before in other trucks and never had any issues with them.think il just have to save some more n actually get the real deal

i got two lockers in from china, had them in for about a yr and so far no real problems to speak off, fitting of them was a problem though, carrier bearings "nut" had to be remachined to allow the slip ring to fit, the side seals i managed to blow one out the side and stuff it, so bought some ARB seals and used those, had to clean up the locker itself with the machining and deburr and general clean up, and tighten the bolts holding it together as well!!
rear locker works very nice, front can be tempermental but will go in and out ok, am running from engine driven compressor but using cheinse valves. side gears are a cast item.
unless you can measure/repair/tweak then go arb.
i think if i were to go for more lockers i am not sure which way i would go to be honest, for general offroad and touring, chiense, for competition ARB.

there is a online "test" comapring ARB to chiense, the results are withen 10% of each other for failure, ARB breaks axles, Chiense break side gears and other shit, either way you walking home !!!

not sure if any one has bothers but perhaps you could get the ARB innards and fit to chiense locker if and when it shits it self.

Pedro