I did and agree. There are two sides to many things and many mistake this for things being black or white and they miss all the gray in the middle.

There's always two sides to a coin. There's always a balance to be kept. There's always something new to be learned.

I agree with this concept whole heartedly. Currently I bought a 1993 Mitsubishi Delica L300 to convert into an overland camper. I got a high trim model with the rear LSD. But, it doesnt compete with the L400. The L400 practially has all wheel drive, that works on pavement, with a viscous center diff, and you can get diff lockers for it. Sometimes I lament not getting the more capable L400, but you know what, I cant wait to start learning in the L300. There's something to be said for learning a skill, and it would probably be quite boring to drive if the tool just did all the work for you. I unfortunately got an automatic, but wanted a manual for that reason, so I could practice manual driving. This is an issue among all skills. While I'm new to offroading, I am pretty adept at photography. The best advice my photog friend gave me was, immediately take my new camera off of Auto, set it to manual, and never touch Auto mode until I've learned basic skills like manual exposure settings... Its now been 4 years, and I still only use manual settings. I also shoot in raw file format, edit each photo, and use manual focus almost exclusively. Now that I have this skill, I get frustrated with the machinery poorly approximating what I want from it. Meanwhile, there are fauxtographers in my area who charge money for sessions, then ask dumb questions in facebook groups about "why is this photo so blown out, why is this customers photo blurry", etc, because they spent the last year shooting with auto exposure, auto focus, no editing, straight to jpeg, and dont even understant what their camera is doing. To learn the skill fully, that means accepting a handicap, and going without some of the tools available to you. The 2 sides of the coin exist there too though. I learned the hard way that good autofocus and investing in a fast zoom instead of swapping primes constantly is paramount to shooting events and catching moments when I tried volunteering for work events. Now I dont even like shooting for events, even for free, because it feels unethical, my gear simply isnt set up right for fast autofocus on fast zooms (my best zoom lens is effectively manual focus only). I turned one guy down who wanted me to shoot his wedding. I told him to hire a professional wedding photographer. And thats before getting to things like NTSB reports highlighting how automation has sometimes rendered pilots less skillful, and how that played a role in some air crashes, despite the overall lower crash rates thanks to automation.

Andrew, we will all agree that you are a very skilled driver. Yet, we can see in this video that you are damaging the track. You could have made good use of a diff lock for sure. I remain certain that part of the skill is to know when to engage diff lock. In regards to traction control, this piece of equipment will do more damage than diff locks in terms of loss of driver skills. If we keep going this way, we will only be passengers in our cars. I believe diff locks are excellent tools used by experienced overlanders. They should only be used in the right circumstances at the right time. We can agree on that. Traction control, on the contrary, contributes to loss of some fundamental offroad driving skills. You should be hitting hard on traction controls rather than diff locks on my opinion.

@@muddustoverlanding6934 well said mate.

And track building.

Or getting out a spotter and walking it first.

Exactly what I was thinking!🍻

100% Agree

Ditto !

True. Super-powerful brakes have lead to the development of the last minute braker ...

Stability control is far better than any driver.

@@Robert-cu9bm I'm not denying that, my point is that if you've never driven without it, you'll never fully appreciate what it is doing for you, and it's harder to teach someone to drive to the conditions when the car is saving them from every mistake. In that sense, just like 4wding, it really comes down to a need for quality training.

Totally agree, had air leaker in rear and lokka in front of a 2004 ford courier. worked a treat.

I’ve just looked this up and it’s a really interesting option; needing no control cable or compressed air!

It's called gravity mate, something to take into account always :)

I was going to say that I recall them being available in the 80 series Saraha spec.

Very common option for the 80 series, even in the North American spec cruisers.

Toyota offered in the 60 series and 75 series pre 1990 they were cable lockers.

My Australian delivered 1990 80 series Sahara came twin locked from the factory. They are still the same diff center as the current 79 lockers just different ratios.

ASPW doesn’t recognise anything prior to the 105 😂 unless it’s from the 70 series path.

Well said.👍

I was "Treading Lightly" in high-clearance, low-range four-wheel drive vehicles before doing so was "a thing" that got promoted on bumper-stickers and at a point in history when 10-15 Gates Commandos where considered massive off-road rubber and the Dick Cepek catalog had a lot of camping gear in it but not so much in the way of aftermarket vehicle parts. What I see on the trails in the here and now are people that willfully take the most difficult lines on a track because their main point for being on the track in the first place is one of "testing the limits of man and machine." Off-roading has devolved into a low-speed drag race; a cross between a manhood-measuring contest and aftermarket equipment arms race. You can see this, too, right here on KZfaq.

@Caboose Wa - YEP - opposite ends of scenario spectrum. - Locker prevents high speed lifted wheel spin, then hard slamming down (shockloading blowing CV) while at same time forces the high traction tyre pair to scrub on hard surfaces (high torque blowing CV) - fighting it out for a weak link, who wins Locker or CV??

@@kadmow locker wins everytime

@@joels2517 Yes (I was just posing it as if there were a real competition - keeping the debate live )- solid steel Dogs vs Fragile Ball Carriers. SO If Driving Twin Locked - what spare to carry?? - full front Half Shaft assembly. and a balljoint... (the list of course could be as long as ... "Bring a towtruck" )

I agree, a front locker definitely can benefit not breaking front c.v's taking slow and easy with both wheels turning vs someone that is gunning it open diff up hill with wheel spin... just depends how u drive

I agree that one needs to start learning somewhere, but you employ different techniques when using different technology. You will not get the most out of your traction control if you drive it like a vehicle with open diffs, same for lockers.

My old 2nd gen wasn't locked but it still got to just as many places as people with twin locks, I remember pulling a twin locked nissan patrol out purely because he had lockers and thought he would be able to make it

@@chubbs2484 That's a decent point, there's a certain value of learning to drive in something that when it does all go wrong you're nice and easy to recover.

@@hannahranga exactly mate, I think I only ever got stuck in that car twice, once was when I first got it and stupidly didn't check if it had front cvs (it didnt) and another time was when I knew i was getting stuck but just sent it anyway. Probably doesn't help that I learnt to 4wd in a bog stock 1.8l rn85 2wd hilux😂

Very good approach, you will find this learning curve interesting and enjoyable! Have fun! :)

And the G-Wagen had axles lockers in 1979.

In 1973 Jeep brought it out first manual lockers... it was called Quadra Trac. It was a turn button switch in the glove box that you turned on when you got bogged.

Legend has it that a Roman Chariot had lockers in 236 BC.

Malls can be tricky...

@@KTMcaptain he's a real off roader dumb ass

...are most purchases not made on cards these days?

@@karl4834 😂😂

I used to be able to calculate docket amounts in my head faster than a cashier with a cash register. These days though, cash registers are instrumental in calculating stock levels for re-ordering, stocktakes & customer preferences so advertising may be targeted towards them.

@@keithhaycraft3765 Precisely why I was a little sassy on 5stardave's comment. I'm old enough to understand what he's banging on about and see its merit...once upon a time. As you allude to, Keith, it's certainly a different world and the need for farriers has changed too. 5stardave I love being able to do what you're saying, but bosses want no mistakes and computers minimise errors way more than they're failures. And if you're referring to a worse case scenario, well you'd be right but wrong...were going to be be requiring much more than checkout chicks with math,

Everything is always better in the old days 🙄

So you try multiple things to keep the trail in good shape? Fewer passes means less trail wear

It's one of those things where you get it if you need it and use it when you have to.

@@k2svpete I agree. Now, back to looking at brochures of off-road accessories.

That's really funny :-)

Hi Cameron they started earlyer in Europe, i have an hdj 80 from 1992 with factory front and rear lockers

even in 1990 u could get them as standard , VX limited Japanese spec

Like most things in life. If you learn to operate the basic version of a "device" you will be much more proficient once you upgrade to the new or advanced version of that "device". Takes me back to a memory 20 years ago when I was riding a 1980s 2 stroke trail bike, with a couple of blokes who had the latest high compression 4 strokes. Other than the fast trails, I kept up with them all day. At one point, one of the blokes offered to swap bikes for a while so I jumped on the opportunity. From then on, I didn't see that guy (the one on my bike) again until the other rider and me would stop to let him catch up. The guy who had swapped bikes with me had only ever owned that new bike (new technology) so he was missing many skills.

In a mog, for about 99% of the time you won't need full diff lock. They are that capable. Even in places where I should have used 4x4, I didn't and 2wd worked just fine. On sand, maybe adjust the tyre pressures.

404s are so capable off road that I stopped wheeling mine a dozen years ago because there were no real challenges for it (without crossing three states) and I got bored. My Pathfinder on 33s has been a lot more fun because there are lots of challenges for it, and me. Buggies are getting capable enough that they're building tougher obstacles and it's probably time to occasionally wheel the Mog again.

Is this an after market one? If so, which one?

Agree with you. I had both, so had the chance to learn mechanical and manual gearbox driving. Now I own a Range Rover which is fully electronic, and to be honest, I appreciate it as well for the driving ease and comfort.. And I well feel the work of my car. I just hope my Range will remain reliable as it has been during the first 60k km including some good amount of off-rood.

Personally, I think the torque-biasing LSD, such as torsen or quaife, mixed with modern brake based traction control would be the best on/off road system. I'm sure lockers would still be better in some situations, but it would likely be exceedingly rare with good as some traction control systems are getting.