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Differential Locks For Dummies! (Diff Locks Explained and Demonstrated) | Ben Hardy | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Differential Locks For Dummies! (Diff Locks Explained and Demonstrated)
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This content explores the necessity and benefits of differential locks in off-roading, comparing vehicles with and without advanced traction control systems to demonstrate their effectiveness in various challenging terrains.
hey everyone it's Ben Hardy here and in
today's video I'm going to show you guys
if locking diffs are actually needed to
do off-roading and then just the
benefits of locking diffs I'm going to
be using my inos Grenadier as a test
vehicle I think it's the best vehicle to
demonstrate locking diffs because it
does not have a fancy trash control
it so quickly if you're not familiar
with this car this is a 2024 inos
Grenadier it is a new car on the US
market now this car comes with a solid
axle on the front and in the rear it
does not have any sort of sway bar
disconnect now what this does come with
is a full-time four-wheel drive system a
center locking differential and low
range and then it does come with a rear
as well as a front diff lock you notice
with the icons the rear diff lock has
the X over the back axle it indicate
that it's locking that differential
front there in the front and with Center
diff locks it'll typically have the X
over the center with that little
depiction to indicate that it's locking
the center this one's a little bit
different because it has this ball
shifter that's why it doesn't have that
icon on this first go I'm going to be Mr
ego that says I don't need four-wheel
drive low I don't need lockers and I'll
show you guys why this is a mistake so
lockers and would you look at that we're
not going anywhere and on top of that
we're just kind of revving the crap out
and eventually we'll overheat the
transmission cuz we're really pushing
the powertrain to limit so this is why
if you're going to go up steep stuff
unless you're going super fast because
you got like a razor or something put it
in four-wheel drive low it's super easy
right most well every single car you put
it in neutral and most cars are pretty
quick with the
systems this one boom so now we're going
to go up and fourwh drive low and you'll
notice that I've got way more torque now
going down now I'm still going to get
distribution right so in four-wheel
drive low with the center diff unlocked
what the car is doing is it is just
sending it it's not going to send it's
not a perfect 50/50 split front to rear
that's what the center diff lock does is
it makes it so that the power goes
perfectly front to the rear so it just
kind of sending power basically to the
wheel that's spinning the most that's
just how it goes so now we've got the
center diff locked in four-wheel drive
low okay now what this does is like I
said 50% of the power to the front 50%
to the rear but it doesn't equally
distribute it
among the wheels so what you notice is
now same thing I'm starting to you
okay now that's happening
because it's not evenly Distributing the
power from one wheel to the other in the
front axle and in the rear axle so what
will happen is one of them will start
spinning and digging in and it just
sends all the power to that [Music]
[Music]
wheel this doesn't have a fancy active
braking system and so that's what
happens so now what we're going to do is
we're going to lock the rear
differential okay this is going to make
it so that the power again Center Tiff
is locked so 50/50 front to rear so 50%
of the power that is going to the rear
is now split 50/50 right so one wheel in
the rear is getting 50% and the other re
wheel is getting 50% that is going to
the rear so what this does
now is it gives us this push from the
rear and you'll notice that we're still
spinning but we have we got up I would
but we got up a little bit higher
compared to
before so it might seem hopeless at this
point right when you don't have fancy
traction control stuff and and you can
see the you can see the difference with
the tire marks right as we're going as
we're going up here hopefully you can
see that now we're going to lock the
front differential this is going to send
now again 50/50 front to rear and now
we've got 5050 side to side front and
rear so everything is getting
25% of the power everything is
completely locked up and now what you
will see
here is it it does make a little bit of
a fuss out of it but
it's not sending all the power to the
wheel that's spinning the other wheel
that is still getting grip gets power
we're able to finally muscle through it
at this point in the video if you're new
to off-roading I have most likely
convince you that diff locks are the end
all be all that you need to go and buy a
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with the front and
the rear lockers but here's the deal you
can actually get around diff locks let
me show you
may I present you with the Toyota Land
Cruiser now this is the previous
generation Land Cruiser so it does have
a two-speed transfer case but you notice
that it only has a center diff lock it
does not have a front or rear diff lock
so let's take it up the same exact Hill
that the Grenadier needed to be triple
locked for and see what happens just to
make this comparison even we're going to
start off in full bro mode so four-wheel
drive high no diff locked none of
that and you'll notice
and again this has fancy traction control
systems you'll notice that it gets right
up what is it
doing it is taking
it's it's clamping on the caliper right
the the the wheel that's if there's any
sort of spin clamping down there on the
caliper and taking that torque and
distributing it to the wheel that does
happen to have traction and it makes a
big difference now obviously that is not
how you want to off-road what you want
to do is have it in four-wheel drive
low which super easy in the Land Cruiser
and then our multi- Trin select we're
actually going to put to rock and then
we will lock our Center
differential just a parking sensor sorry about
about
that but that's how you actually want to
off-road with this but you will note
that if you have a fancy traction
control system you can get through stuff
that an old school vehicle can't get
through without having all of the diffs
locked and for those of you saying tires
and weight this has narrower tires than
the Grenadier and there is a weight
difference this weighs just over 6,000
lb Grenadier weighs about 6,500 lb but
the Grenadier does have bigger tires so
like I feel like they're pretty similar
and this has independent suspension in
the front so the Grenadier you know
should have better articulation this
does have toa's kdss system now you
notice with this it's even smoother
right because of for dri I can hear the
now you can see it's
really going now you might be wondering
why was it silent the first time that we
and what I have noticed is that the
traction intervention is more aggressive
in four-wheel drive low than it is in
four-wheel drive high and I think that
kind of makes sense right they assume if
you're in four-wheel drive high you're
not going to want random Cal braking all
the time you're going to want a little
bit of power distribution change but not
a lot so this now might lead to some of
you being a little bit confused because
well I thought diff locks were the end
all be all so as you can see
differential locks are extremely useful
especially with vehicles that do not
have fancy modern traction control
systems like the Toyota Land Cruiser or
like Land Rovers or Jeeps or Fords
there's so many vehicles that have these
fancy active braking systems but here is
the most practical advice that I can
give all of you as someone who has taken
a ton of different Vehicles Offroad I
have literally taken every type of
vehicle Offroad I took a Cadillac
Escalade and a Volvo XC90 Offroad a
couple years ago I've taken Wranglers
Offroad I had a Ford Bronco Raptor I've
actually had several Raptors I've taken
Land Cruisers off-road I've taken Land
Rovers Offroad I have taken every type
of vehicle off-road what I have
discovered is that the fancy traction
control systems are really useful on
loose terrain steep climbs that are not
all that articulated they're actually
better than differential locks because
they perfectly distribute the power and
and so it makes the climb or you know if
you're just on a flat terrain but it's
like really deep sand or something like
that it seems to help out a lot with
just navigating that uh situation a
little bit easier however where
differential locks will always win out
is in articulated situations if you get
in a lot of situations off-road where
your vehicle is going to be really
articulated these fancy traction control
systems can only go so far that's where
I discovered the limits with this Land
Cruiser is when I'm really articulated
the system has to sit there and work and
work and work and some sometimes it
eventually gets through sometimes it
just it can't get through and it's like
B man I wish I had a differential lock
in the front or the rear to help out
with that and so you have to be honest
with yourself with the type of
off-roading that you're planning on
doing if you're just going to be going
down a lot of kind of like well paved
not paved but well- groomed uh dirt
roads that just might have traction
issues right because it's slippery an
advanced traction control system is
going to be the best route for you to go
make sure your vehicle has at least that
if you're going to be getting into a lot
of more difficult stuff articulated
stuff you're probably going to want
differential can you technically do it
with a system yes but you have to sit
there and be patient and work through
the situations and sometimes you have to
deal with not being able to get through
an obstacle because you just lack the
proper equipment for that so hopefully
that shows you guys the actual benefits
of differential locks and hopefully that
helps you out with determining which
off-roader you should go based on the
off-roading you're going to end up doing [Music]
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